Zambujiera to Odeceixe
10/22/21 a 20 km walk.
Last night was so much fun with Craig and Laura, great food and conversation, but we knew that today was going to be a challenge, even “ the book” says so.
We headed out and stopped for coffee and a toasted ham and cheese for breakfast, then hit the trail.
It immediately went down hill into the ocean inlet, and straight up the other side. Once we hit the top, which took awhile, if flattened out for miles along the cliff top, but through soft soft sand again.
The views were great as usual, but after two hours, we dropped into a beach area with a snack shop for a coffee, it was in “ the book”, it was closed.
So, that was a wake up call, I know better as this isn’t my first rodeo. You never leave in the morning unless your prepared for the day. I sat at breakfast and was too lazy to open my backpack and mess with filling the camelback bladder, I figured I’d do it at the first stop. If I was alone it could have been an issue. Just another rookie mistake. Little fraustrated with myself.
We met some day hikers with a guide at mid day, and the guide said there was a village a mile ahead with a place to eat, and 5here was.on the way there, I drifted off mentally and missed a turn, added a kilometer to my walk, but stumbled onto a, I think, a Red Deer sitting by a fence
At times the trail gave us some relief as it took us away from the cliffs and soft sand, and into forested areas. This presented a new challenge, the foliage got so dense and low that we had to walk in a crouch as the branches tried to Rio our back packs off.
After catching the others, we all got lost, but came across this farm that had Zebra, Asian water Buffalo, ostrich, American Bison, and llamas. A very weird moment.
After lunch at Azenha do Mar, we headed out but someone had a sense of humor, or was drinking, the trail became so extreme it was dangerous and portions had to have rope the help get through.
Soft sand, soft sand, soft sand, for miles but after about 6 hours on trail, we came to the mouth of the Rio Siexe.
It was a stunning view of the beach town and estuary, but not where we were staying unfortunately.
We could see the town-of Odeceixe in the distance, and it was a boring 4 km walk once we got down to the valley floor, along a flat asphalt road into town, a village of 961 people, built on a hill. Where was our accommodation, and the friggin TOP of the hill of course.
Today the Historical way rejoins us and as soon as we crossed over the Rio Seixe, we were entering the Algarve region for real and the hike will change personality again.
We have all had our challenges but are doing great, Patty had her blisters and is a real trooper, Bill had a cold for a few days, and then there’s meeeee, I had Monkey Butt,,,,,,,,,BUTT I have moisturizer……………Tom you can explain that to Lolo later.
Tomorrow we have almost no coastal walk, we start to follow inland a bit, and with any luck, it will be FLAT .
There is this grinding windmill just below our accommodation, a good restaurant just above us, a reservation for 7 pm and bed by 8
Think we'll stick with waymarked camino trails, this hike seems a bit too extreme for us! You won't get a Compostela when you finish but you'll all deserve a medal!!
ReplyDeleteThanks, who is this from, can’t see a name
DeleteThis look so fabulous but obviously not without its challenges. You know that every Camino presents challenges….physical and mental. But there is always friends and wine
ReplyDeleteDamn, your really making Dave & I think twice about WALKING!!! And too bad I didn’t give you Dave’s monkey butt powder- I bought it for him as a joke but clearly it must be useful. My solution would be to walk naked.🤪
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