Fishermen’s Trail Day 5

Today’s 16 km (10 mile) stage goes from Vila do Bispo to Carrapateira. It was overcast when we had breakfast on our room’s patio, but by the time we started hiking, the sky had cleared. Another beautiful day. Before leaving town, we stopped at the store and bought yogurt for tomorrow’s breakfast. Today is Sunday, and the small shop in Carrapateira isn’t open on Sundays.

Vila do Bispo isn’t right on the coast but a few kilometers inland. The first 7 km (4.3 miles) of today’s hike were through open, flat landscape, and gradually rolling hills until we reached the coast and Praia da Mateiga. There, the path descended steeply to the small beach before climbing just as steeply on the other side of the bay.

The next beach was Praia da Muracão. The beach was nice, but the large waves made it unsuitable for swimming. Here too, the path dropped steeply, about 70 meters (230 feet) down to the beach, before rising back to the same height at the other end. At the top of this section, we took a good lunch break with a great view of the next beach, the large Praia do Amado. We watched all the surfers trying to ride the waves rolling onto the long beach. Few managed it, but the waves probably weren’t ideal today.

From the northern end of the beach, it was about 2 km (1.2 miles) to Carrapateira Lodge, where we were staying tonight. Half an hour before we arrived, at 2 PM, we received a message that our room was ready for check-in. Perfect timing.We booked accommodation for each stage of this trip over a month ago. In small places, like Carrapateira, accommodations are usually fully booked, and if you find a vacant room, it’s often at a high price. The downside of booking everything in advance is that you have to stick to a schedule, but the stages aren’t that long, so it’s not a problem. High season is starting now. In low season, it’s usually not necessary to book in advance. Our average price is just over 800 NOK (approx. $75 USD) per night.