2015, 1^st day of October, 2^nd day on the Fishermen’s Trail.

We left our teepee, at Camping Milfontes and, before we leave Vila Nova de Milfontes, we stopped at Mabi bakery. JB had his favourite breakfast of croissant and caffè latte.

We crossed the bridge over the Mira river and then we found the wood gate at our right.

JB and I were dressing trousers. However, it was getting too hot, so we decided to change for shorts. We had seen nobody ahead or in front of us during the last 2 kilometers we had walked. But right after we had stopped to change our clothes, a couple passed in front of us, then a group of ladies… We were hesitating, waiting, trying to be fast. It seemed there was someone coming every time we were going to remove our trousers. We changed clothes and then nobody else came.

Furnas beach

Feeling much fresher, we walked towards Furnas beach, where we stopped to eat a snack. On the way, we enjoyed stunning views of the river’s mouth and of the town of Vila Nova de Milfontes.

We saw a plant that was unknown for us. It had tomate-like fruits, however the plant was covered with thorns. Later, I found out we were right, that plant was indeed a solanaceous plant (just like the tomato plant), known as devil’s apple.

Yes, it’s the path

We encountered the first challenge on Rota Vicentina a couple of kilometers from Furnas beach. We had to cross the valley of a stream! The problem was not the water, since there was no water flowing, only some puddles. So, there was plenty of dry ground where we could walk. The challenge was to go down the steep bank. The backpacks we were carrying increased the difficulty.

We had lunch on a curious place. It was on a rocky and sandy area right next to the sea. What’s so interesting about it? The sand was reddish and the small and numerous rocks looked more like bones.
We found a bigger rock that we used as table and as support for my umbrella, which in turn was used to give shade from the sun. We ate the leftovers of dinner the day before (roasted cod with potatoes and olive oil).

Suddenly, we were walking next to a large grass field that was being watered. Then we passed through a forest of acacia trees and through a canebrake. And we crossed two wooden bridges. It was at the 2^nd bridge that Fishermen’s trail met another trail, PR1 ODM – PNSACV – Dunas de Almograve.

The fantastic views over the cliffs, beaches and sea were back. Unfortunately, so were the loose sand trails.
JB knees were asking for some rest. JB was feeling a lot of pain, so, when he saw on the map a shortcut to Almograve, he didn’t think twice and led us through that path.
I felt a bit disappointed for not going to Foz dos Ouriços, but we had several walking days ahead of us, so it was very important to JB to save his knees.

We arrived at Pousada da Juventude de Almograve about 2 hours before check-in time. However, we were lucky, because our room was already prepared.
We had plenty of time to wander in Almograve, to go shopping and to cook. We prepared scrambled eggs with broccoli rice for dinner.

There’s a specie of plant, named Plantago almogravensis, that only exists in this part of the globe. Unfortunately, this endemic specie is in danger of extinction. This is a great reason for people to walk on the designated trails.

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