Portugal's Fisherman's Trail - A 14-Day Hike of Sea and Sand

It seems that just about everyone is going to Portugal these days. Part of the attraction is the generous process for obtaining citizenship there (see this link to learn about the Golden Visa program). And as the USA drifts ever closely toward authoritarianism, a sunny beach-rich and laid back environment looks quite attractive. For me, the attraction was hiking with my wife Helen and two other couples for 14 days along a beautiful and exhilarating coastline. Some people's idea of a vacation may not include a 100-mile walk but it is exactly what we love to do. As an added "attraction", I purposely did not study any of the geology we might encounter while there. - I wanted to be surprised and boy, was I ever!

What's not to like about Latin countries?

There are quaint, seaside villages, great food including locally caught seafood, opportunities learn a foreign languages, and as always, interesting landscapes and friendly people. As Mark Twain wrote in Innocents Abroad, "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness...". How true!

Our course on the Fisherman's Trail took us from Porto Covo in Alentejo to Lagos in the Algarve 

The Fisherman's Trail was designated in 2013 and cobbled together from various pre-existing trails into a long, 140 mile coastal route. It is one of the newest of Europe's long hiking routes. An association of interested parties (hotels, villages, and transport service companies has formed called Rota Vicentina. See that web site for great information on how to hike the trail. 

Stages of the Fisherman's Trail from Porto Covo to Lagos

Some of the 13 stages were longer than I wanted to do (up to 15 miles a day). I requested a bit more user friendly itinerary that would allow us to arrive in villages earlier in the day and more fully experience their charms. It turned out to be a wonderful and enjoyable hike! That's how I answer folks who think walking 100 miles in 14 days cannot be considered a vacation.

The official colors of the trail are green and blue - other nearby trails have other colors

These are the symbols we would follow to stay on course

The owner of Vicentina Travel is Ricardo Estêvão, who came to see us at the start of our trek 

We used Ricardo's company, called Vicentina Travel and he was great to work with. He reserved all of the accommodations for us, set up luggage transfers, provided excellent maps of the area, and was always available via What'sApp to provide guidance when needed. I highly recommend this company. Ricardo also serves on the board of the Rota Vicentina Association.

The beginning - Porto Covo is a lovely, small village of about 1300 residents

The harbor at Porto Covo - the start of our trek is the road on the right

Note the tanker ship beyond the cliff - 40% of imports come into the country at Sines near Porto Covo

Mist from waves hover above a deserted beach on our way to Milfontes

Ice-plant (Delosperma cooperi) was found on top off the cliffs along the entire route

We did see numerous fishermen using long fishing poles along our trek

On day 3, we took a ferry across the Mira River to save 3 kilometers of walking

Some of the route uses short stretches of backroads, but not for very long

A successful catch!

One thing that should be known - there was sand, lots of sand

This is one of the detractions (to some) about the Fisherman's Trail - sand, lots of sand. As I was to learn later, the top of the plateau is composed of a sheets of marine and eolian sand from the last ice age. The oldest sand has been cemented but younger sands are not. The sand is very coarse and there is a secret that makes walking on sand easier - placing feet directly down and then lifting them directly up. The prevents the feet from "pushing off" of the sand, which causes it to 'avalanche' beneath your feet. It means a shorter stride but we used this technique to great effect.

Older rocks underlie the sand and would soon emerge as the coastal plateau got higher

This is hint of what would emerge from beneath the beaches

Did I mention the sand? It was lovely to see!

The views were really spectacular!

Here is the sand (yellow and orange) resting on top of Pennsylvanian sedimentary rocks (dark)

As the basement rocks began to appear, I used an app called Rockd to learn what the darker rocks might be (Note: It is not all that detailed outside of the US but if you zoom out it does show crude outcrop extents and the ages of the rocks). The dark rocks were deposited during the Late Carboniferous (Pennsylvanian Period in the USA), about 312 Ma (Mega-annum or millions of years ago). This was a time when Iberia was positioned closer to northern France and just south of the British Isles. See the paleogeographic maps farther down to visualize this.

On occasion, the trail left the coast and through the nearby forest

This view is just north of Cavaleiro - note the upturned sedimentary rocks

The lighthouse at Cabo Sardão near Cavaleiro

Deformed sedimentary strata south of Cavaleiro

These sedimentary rocks were deposited in a narrow seaway about 312 Ma and are known to geologists as flysch. The term was first applied to similar sedimentary sequences exposed in the Alps. Flysch is sediment that is shed off of ancient mountains and initially deposited in deep water but as the sediment fills in the marine trough it slowly grades upwards to shallow water sandstone. What you will notice in the photo here is that the layers are at various angles that are bounded by thrust faults. Soon after the flysch was deposited it became caught up in a continental collision associated with the amalgamation of the supercontinent Pangaea.

 

This is the paleogeography when Pangaea began to take shape. Land that is colored lightest gray is part of Laurussia also known as Laurasia. It includes North America (upper left), southern Greenland and Scandinavia (all in light gray). The dark gray at the bottom is the southern continents of Gondwana, (South America, Africa, and the Iberian peninsula - located to the left of the small "b". Yes, at this time Iberia was attached to Gondwana! You will notice that in between Laurussia and Gondwana is an intermediate gray color and is a microcontinent called Amorica that was caught in a vice-like manner between the two larger landmasses. This is how and when the folds we were to see on our trek were formed. The collision of these three landmasses created the supercontinent of Pangaea, approximately 300 to 260 Ma. This mountain building event is called the Variscan orogeny (aka as the Hercynian orogeny). Eventually, the Rheic Ocean closed when South America (lower left) would drift into North America to create the Ouachita folds in Oklahoma and Texas, and the Ancestral Rocky Mountains in the American Southwest. Such interesting (and large) considerations in Earth history!

 

Modern-day global map showing the extent of Variscan folds and faults (whitish areas)

Sunset over the beach at Zambujeira do Mar

The beach at Zambujeira do Mar

On day 6 we found a few boardwalks to ease the sandy trail

Luggage transfer is a big business now in this part of Portugal

A head cold I likely obtained in Lisbon kept me off the trail for three days - bummer. But my trail companions were able to continue as I recovered for those three days. I traveled in the vehicles that carried the luggage and was able to converse with the drivers (in my halting Portuguese) about the area.

On day 10, we made our approach to the southwestern most point in Europe, Cabo São Vicente

Getting closer to Cabo São Vicente!

This is the outcrop at Telheiro Beach, just to the north of Cabo São Vicente

Telheiro Beach hosts an iconic angular unconformity and is listed as an International Geoheritage Site by the International Commission on Geoheritage. Check out this link to learn more. And here is another useful link. In the view above, red-colored Triassic rocks (about 210 Ma) sit on top of the Late Carboniferous flysch deposits (far left). A 3-D model of the unconformity can be viewed here. A cap of Cenozoic marine limestone is in turn capping the Triassic rocks. This was one of the detractions for me by NOT learning about the geology ahead of the trip - I had no idea of the worldwide significance of this unconformity while I was there. Overall however, being surprised most of the trip was a plus!

Looking south from Telheiro Beach

A fisherman tries his luck near Cabo São Vicente - his partner brought one up while we were here

A screen capture of where we were!

In this view to the east from the Cape, the village of Sagres is visible in the distance

 Our group entering Sagres where we enjoyed a layover day

A big surprise to me was how many surfer-types there were in Portugal - surfs up!

Statue to Prince Henry the Navigator

In elementary school, I learned (and remembered) the exploits of the Portuguese navigators, who opened the world to Western Europe. Their navigations were conducted in the 15th and early 16th centuries. The names Prince Henry the Navigator and Vasco da Gama loomed large in my memory and I was happy to recall their adventures while on this trip. We were looking at the same coastlines that they honed their navigational skills. These men are credited with initiating The Age of Discovery. Use the links above to learn more.

 

A fort near this point (south of Sagres) is thought to be the location of the Sagres School 

Our layover day in Sagres was wonderful! If you do decide to do this trail, I can highly recommend going slow and arranging for layover days. It is a time to rest up, do laundry and enjoy the surroundings!

Mesolithic monument called Menhir do Padrão between Sagres and Luz

This limestone rock is the last one standing at this location. It was pointed out to us by a taxi driver. He told me that when he was a boy, the farmers used to knock these down in plowing their fields - no one knew what they were! He said he used to ride his moto-cross bicycle over them to 'pop wheelies'. Then it became known that these were part of a Mesolithic culture that lived here some 7500 to 6500 years ago. You can read or about the Menhir do Padrão at this link. 

Although a coastal trail with not much elevation change,
some sections of the trail are very steep and loose!

A lone sail boat seems to be adrift in the Atlantic - we had exceptional weather the whole time

Don walking out of the village of Salema

Looking back at Salema on our way to Luz

Looking east along the trail and the beautiful cliffs

Portugal is land of graffiti and this one, on the ruins of an old fishing plant, caught my eye

This part of the trail revealed we were entering a land of newly-arrived expatriates

 Entering the lovely village of Burgau

Cretaceous rocks were now exposed on the landscape

In the near distance, I spotted something out of place - back rocks seemingly shot up through the shale and limestone. Could it be an intrusive body that was injected after the shale was deposited?

Helen had the idea to take a photo of the feet that had carried us over 100 miles!

That's my feet in the Chaco sandals. I had heard of the sand along the trail and decided that rather than emptying my shoes of sand every so often, I would just negate that need. It worked out fine as I usually do all of my Grand Canyon river trip hikes in these sandals.

After a lovely night in Luz, we looked back to the west at the village

We ultimately came upon the black rock mass and indeed it was an intrusive plug!

We finally made it to Lagos and Ponta da Piedade - Pity Point

The rock formations are wonderful at Ponta da Piedade

One of the many fine beaches in Lagos

Walking to our hotel in Lagos

Wayne and Helen at the end of the trail in Lagos Portugal

Inspired by the trail!

Thank you for reading this far! Hip, hip hooray to my hiking companions!

Thanks to Joe, Judy, Don, Anne and especially Helen for being such wonderful trail mates! I would travel anywhere in the world with you all! Obrigado.