Rota Vicentina – day 7
Praia do Barranco – Lagos
Thursday, 28th December 2023
33,77 km – total 225 km
The cows didn’t climb up to the cliffs. Inside the tent, it’s a comfortable 10°C. We’ve moved to the east side, so from the tent, we can see the beautifully colored sky before sunrise.
Jozef makes the last coffee of the trip outside, and we have breakfast: bread with mustard and salami. He also prepares some food for the journey. We pack up and head out by 8 AM. We need to move quickly today to reach Lagos, the final stop of Rota Vicentina, before dark. The trail takes us along the cliffs, and within a kilometer, we meet another hiker. He’s one of our kind—Altra shoes on his feet and a small ultralight backpack on his back. We chat for a bit about how we don’t understand the camping ban when there are campervans everywhere. We didn’t even get a chance to ask where he’s from, but we guess somewhere like the Netherlands. The map shows today’s route will be quite hilly, and it starts right away. We descend from the cliffs to the beach, then head back up.
After an hour and a half, we reach the place we intended to camp last night. We’re moving slowly today. We take a break for a snack with a view of the beach. We look at the map and notice that the trail takes an unnecessary detour inland. Jozef comes up with the brilliant idea to cut through the beach. If it was high tide, we wouldn’t be able to pass, but we’re lucky today. We walk 1.5 km on the beach and save ourselves a long, boring stretch.
The sand is nicely firm at low tide, so the walking is smooth. We still have 24 km to go, and the path goes through some touristy villages. The first one is Salema, where we’re looking forward to a coffee and a pastel de nata, but nothing is open.
The next village, Burgau, is 5 km away. Jozef motivates me with chocolate and the promise of coffee to keep me moving faster. It’s still an up-and-down route—this will be tough.
In Burgau, we find coffee and also buy some bread so we don’t have to stop for lunch at a restaurant. They didn’t have pastel de nata, but they offered a hazelnut pastry that was pretty good. Feeling re-energized, we keep going.
We’re now entering a very touristy area, and the number of people is increasing. We have a nice view of the high cliffs beyond the town.
We take a break for food on a bench: one bun with tuna pâté and another with pistachio cream from Kolatch. We don’t stop in Luz. The trail takes us along the promenade, which Jozef calls the worst half-kilometer of the entire route. Beyond the town, we face our last big climb, up to 105 meters above sea level. It’s a steep effort. At the top, there’s a monument and some pine trees.
On the other side, we can see Lagos stretched out before us. We try to move quickly, but my feet really hurt from the lack of breaks and the continuous walking. We still have 5 km to go, heading along wooden boardwalks toward Ponta da Piedade.
The trail changes a bit from the beach onward, so we follow the trail markers instead of our watches. This is the busiest part of the entire route. It’s a bit annoying to wander around on the wooden paths when we could just go straight, but since we’re here, we take the route. We even descend to Praia do Camilo, thinking it might be worth it. But no, the 226 stair weren’t worth it. We weave through the slow walkers and wonder where the trail will take us next. We’ve already covered an extra kilometer, which feels like a lot with 30 km already behind us and with the end in sight.
It feels like they added this part just to make sure we reached a total of 1,000 meters of elevation. Finally, we reach the river’s mouth. We only have 2 km left along the promenade, past the marina, to the train station. I dig deep for the last bit of energy and do my best to ignore my aching feet. We made it!
We take a photo and then walk another kilometer to the hotel. We’re pretty wiped out. We don’t know why it took so much energy out of us today. We shower, freshen up a bit, and head out to eat at a seafood restaurant recommended by the lady at our accommodation. I have sea bass, and Jozef has swordfish. While we wait, I try to finish writing the blog, but I’m really exhausted. Our eyes are closing over dinner. We can barely finish our meal. We head back to the hotel and go straight to bed—there’s nothing more I can manage.
Conclusion
We walked over 225 km in 7 days. We started in Porto Covo and finished in Lagos. It was a great way to stretch our legs after a long break since August, and we really felt how much our fitness had declined. On these hikes, we spend a lot of time reflecting on life, which motivates us to avoid falling into a routine and to keep walking as much as we can. We hope we’ve motivated you too, to step out of your comfort zone and get walking.
That’s all from us—thank you for joining us on another adventure!
