Tuesday 27 January
Start 6:00 from Casa da Lima
An early start today because I am going to walk the first 15-20 km of my caminho starting at the beach of Areia Branca. My bus goes at 7:00. This means I am up and running at 6:00 already and yes! In time in the car at 6:15. I am surprised: the bus goes to Lisbon, first Orient, then the airport and then Sete Rios where I get on another bus to Praia Areia Branca. Total time little bit more than 4 hours. Hmm, it should be 2 hours when you go directly, I calculate. No problem. My caminho has started already! It is raining of course but reaching Lisbon the sun is shining in a blue sky.
Reflection on first part Lisboa-Lourinha
When I reflect on the first part of this coastal caminho, I know this will also be a lonely and hard caminho. There are no pilgrims here, may be some surfers but this time of the year: no. And since it is winter, I guess the beaches will be empty. It is hard to find places to sleep along the route. Pedrogao camping didn’t have any availability anymore, it is closed I guess, and in Foz de Arelho I cannot find a lot of places to stay. Last time when I ended around this place I stayed at my friends house in Caldas de Rainha. That was a relieve. This time they are not around unfortunately.
There are no arrows here, which makes it more difficult. I printed a description to walk. I found a lot of maps, but I didn’t print that out. It looked like a puzzle. and walking in the rain with a paper map, is not something that works. Also if you look on your phone, your phone will give up too. There is a lot of rain… so I will just go without map. I will get lost with or without map, that is the one thing I know.
First Day Prepared?
Since it is hard to find information about this route I am not sure how many km it will be. I read it is about 15-20 km. I hope it is closer to 15 than 20 km. But this caminho I will count the hours rather than the km.
After doing two times a week of caminho in the pouring rain in October, I know I am better prepared than before. I even have something to put on my legs towards the shoes, we had it against the snow. I saw some fellow pilgrims where it against the rain! I have a good poncho, and under this I will use my raincoat. This time I put my belongings in my backpack first in a plastic bag including my passport. My passport was soaking wet, last time.
Report Challenging Walk
The walk started at noon. The sun is out. I am so happy for the vitamin D!
I see the youth hostel and I walk up towards Praia Paimogo, the fort, then Praia San Bernardino towards Consolacao to Peniche. The red and white route is here too, I follow the signs. It is the GR11 that goes al the way to the north.
I am carrying a bag in my hand with my water some fruits for coming days. But soon I see a challenge, so I stop and put all in my bag pack.
Challenge 1: A hard stream of water going down to the sea, I have to cross here. There is a wooden plank on top. I put one foot on the wood, and it is totally wet and slippery. You can’t walk, so I am squatting and slide to the other side.
Managed!
Unsicher = No
The path is quite wet and sometimes slippery, I need to be careful. There is a lot of wind, so I need to pay attention that I don’t go to close to the ravine. The wind and the sea are so loud, with the sun on top, it is really enjoying. When I feel some large drops and hail, I put my poncho on, it is only a short period.
After the fort of Paimogo, I take the road. I read in the German description of Gertie that, it is ‘unsicher’ which meand not sure. There are a lot of fences, so the path which was there originally is somewhat hard to find. It also said that this path is for the brave ones. So… after some thinking I think it is not for me! It starts to rain too so I am happy that I am on the road, and not on an unstable cliff.
It starts to rain but rhere are only a few drops, some hail but afterwards there is sun again.
After the road loop, Praia Bernardino comes up and I see one man running. I like to ask him about the cliffs. Since I was reading Gertie’s document over and over again I said ‘Entschuldigung’ to him, which means Desculpe, Sorry. Luckily he was listening to music, so he didn’t notice. I see the red white route again and I walk via the cliffs and coast, which is great. I walk with my rain coat and water bottle in my hand, but I need to put it in my bag again. Challenge 2
Challenge 2: A stream that I need to cross.
Managed with some stones, but it was not too deep, my shoes should be able to bring me over dry.
I see a lot of fields full of cabbage, on the other side of the dunes; red ones and the round green ones.
Here is the harvest for the supermarkets, I guess.
The path from Consolacao to Peniche is via the dunes, very close to the sea. It is storming, and this is the first time that my face is scrubbed by sand. Luckily not by cold snow!
Four and a half hour later I arrive at Peniche. A nice short walk today.
Sleeping @ WOT Peniche
I found a cosy albergue in Peniche online. Not so hard, Peniche is the only place on this caminho where I see a lot of places to sleep lots of albergues also. The photo’s look like it is an old factory, and they have a huge space to relax, play pingpong, biljart, and table football. There are caravans inside, and dorms with bunkbeds. It is very cheap only 12,50 euro. I check in, the man is very friendly and carries my bag to my dorm. There is already one man inside wathing football game on his laptop. It turns out that he is already here for a few weeks. He says he is in his room all day because the weather is so bad. I smell that: The dorm smells like the big dorms on the caminho: wet clothes, and male sweat. I go out as soon as possible.
I meet a Dutch lady, she came this morning from Coimbra to Peniche, it took her two hours… I could save some sleeping time here, but I wouldn’t be in Praia Areia Branca but I would be at the end point.
I find a restaurant very close by, just 150 meters. It is not NAU, which the reception advised (all day open), because it is Tuesday and that is just the day that they are closed…. The one I go to is called O Sebastian. I have Sopa de Peixe, fish soup and tuna with shrimps and vegetables. It looks and is delicious.
Day 1 turned out to be a sunny and delicious day.
My Secret… And Tips
Ay Lins tip: Just start
Despite the darkness and rain, the last three months, and storm Ingrid and Kirstin last week: Just start walking your caminho. The weather will be better than you think! The real adventure starts when you begin with the worst possible forecast.
Follow the red-white signs along the coast they will bring you further, the paths are beautiful.
