Santiago do Casem 10/16/21

 


The hilltop castle


Santiago do Casem is this cute village that’s very typical of the rural area of the Alentejo region, it’s old center is all cobbled streets that head up to the castle atop a prominent hill. This town became part of Portugal in 1217 when the then king, handed it over to the local Christians.

Today we walk, and I am so ready.

Little did we know what was in store, my guide book is as useless as tits on a bull, the info is wrong and so is the distancing. It took the three of us to make sense of the day and make it to some accommodation. Me and my book, Bill on google earth, and Patty on Stingy Nomade. we were not ready for today, we thought it was to be an easy first leg with a rest stop at 3 miles where we could buy water and snacks. It took us 13 miles of hard hiking before we saw our first break. We ran out of water and I think the fact I had an apple with me saved my bacon.




It was surprisingly rough and we both made, and lost elevation the whole day. This section was meant to be relatively flat. When we got to the town where we ended this leg, the town turned out to be a small hotel ( which was closed for the season), so no where to stay. We had to walk 8 km off trail to find a bed, which meant we put in 8.5 hours on the road today. When we left we had believed the book which said 5 hours. We all did great but at days end, I was fit to be tied 

None of us feel very good about the info in the guide book , so tomorrow we will be carrying extra water and snacks.  There is nothing worse than having no fuel in your system and knowing you have to keep going to and end that you have no idea where it is.

This is ultra hiking, and these things happen, but if your in a position where you don’t trust your information each day, it kind of takes away the fun



Taking a break


The good thing is it was overcast most of the day, so we didn’t get beat on by the sun, so there is a silver lining of sorts.

We started by hiking up to the castle where the official trail starts, spent some time looking around and then hit the trail, after leaving the castle, the “way” took us through town

N and past an old closed railway station,



it then dropped us into a valley and took us out through rural farmland where we could smell the forest of Eucalyptus trees. After an hour or so, we found ourselves climbing through miles of Cork Oak Trees.


Most had been recently harvested and all the cork bark had been removed from the tree trunks, they then mark them with a harvest date and let the tree replenish the bark. It seems the Cork Oak Trees went on for miles..






As challenging a day that it was, it was great to be out there walking again, and it seems like tomorrow may just be a repeat of today, but I hope not.

6 hours in, and we finally found a place to eat,,,,and we did it proud !

In two days we get to the coast, and I think the whole personality of this hike will change,,,,,onwards we go

Comments

  1. Sallyanne Holmes, GRI, MRE, REDSOctober 16, 2021 at 6:54 PM

    Marvellous shurbs and colours. Onwards and upwards lad

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownOctober 17, 2021 at 12:51 PM

    A real test today, but one you all coped with. Keep the faith and believe better days are in front of you all. If it was easy everyone would do it! Loving following your progress, Brian & Tory 💪

    ReplyDelete
  3. LisaOctober 18, 2021 at 9:47 AM

    Wowza! Are you rewriting the manuals Zulu? Love the pics! You got this!!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. www.thewades1.blogspot.comOctober 24, 2021 at 1:52 PM

    What an adventure. Love the photos and stories.

    ReplyDelete

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