28 January 2026
Long stretch Around Lagos Obidos
Today from Peniche to Foz de Arelho. It is a long way because you have to walk around Lagos de Obidos, it could be close to 30 km. I am scared for this one. Too long and the road is difficult. I think I can manage if I walk until five o’clock, then it is getting dark. I set my mind to it, and to make sure, I can sleep somewhere, I booked a place in Foz de Arelho, on forehand.
Dry After Storm Kirsten
We were warned by text message that Storm Kirsten would hit at night 3:00-6:00. Well, it did in Peniche too. Wind would reach 100 km per hour. I woke up at night and couldn’t sleep. There was hard rain and something made a terrible noise, just outside our dorm. In the morning we saw that a part of the roof was blown off and was hanging somehow making noise.
Just outside I see the damage already that the storm left behind.
Report: Walk with Dry Weather Again!
9:00 I walk out of the Peninsula Peniche after some cup of teas and my grapefruit.
It is dry and quiet as it should be after a storm. There are a lot of fallen trees, and garbage containers.
I walk in the dunes parallel to the beach, where I hear the noises of the sea. It is heavy trail, going up and down on the sand. The beach is called Baleal, and I choose to go to Ferrel, through town. I don’t go to the little peninsula of Baleal. There is a lot of water, so the top would be flooded, I heard in the hostel and I need to move on. I need to go to the direction of Golf park Bom Sucesso. Quite hard to find this path. I also walk though a terrain with huge villas. I need to go out of this closed part first, to find a normal street. When I finally jump over a wall, I am on the street that would lead me to Bom Sucesso.
At least I think that. There is nobody, and on my left and right are fences, so there is only one path here, and there are some obstacles, some fallen trees. It is nice to walk here, only the thought that I am totally by myself, nobody can help me here, doesn’t make me totally comfortable.
After a long while, I reach the road, that leads to the Golf park. It is a long one, and quite boring. After the Golf Park, I head to the Lago Obidos, and I can walk next to it. It is a great view, there is a lot of water. I see on my Google maps that I need to go from the lake to really pass it. I do think I can continue. There must be a path which connects to the road later on. There are arrows for a Observatory for birds, and there is a marked red-yellow path. When I finally see the Observatory I like to go up to see where I can walk. Everywhere there is a lot of water. Coming closer, I see I can’t pass.
Water is floating from the one side of the road to the lagos on the other side. So I need to go back. It is a long way. A lot of paths are flooded. I just go back where I saw the signs and I need to go to Arelho, out of this middle of nowhere.. Now, I need to speed up. It gets dark here at six, not sure if I can manage that. It is already four o’clock. I walk on a nice path with big trees. A lot fell down. I can still pass luckily. Suddenly there is a lot of water and I need to walk through the water, it is deep. My shoes are totally wet from the inside. Soaked I thought of putting on dry socks, but didn’t help of course. When I see the maps, pic nic tables and the road I am happy. Walking on the road, the road suddenly stops because there is water flooding. No way to Arelho. I take the road that is still water free, but it goes the wrong way. I try to get a lift and a man stops, and brings me to a busstop. Now I am even further away from my end point. The village is called Ameixa and I try to get a lift but the crossing is not the best spot. There is no electricity in this village and I wait for more than an hour before a bus stops! Yes: to Caldas da Rainha, this is a big city. There I can take a bus to Foz de Arelho, where I will spend the night. 18:35 the bus to Foz goes. Because there is no electricity in this city, there is a little bit delay, but who cares in this situation?!
Umbrella and Soup From Today’s Angels
Also no electricity in Foz de Arelho. When the bus stops at the beach stop, I need to walk in the rain, to the house in total darkness. The driver, doesn’t like it and gives me his umbrella. Luckily I could charge my empty phone in the bus to find the house. It only had 3 percent left. I walk in total darkness to the house. It is a scary walk, I see glass and broken things on the ground. Finally I see the house, and this day ends around 19:30. The woman has candles for me. She brings me a small bowl of warm soup and tea. This is it. I am not going outside anymore. All is closed anyway, because there is no electricity. I hope my shoes and socks will dry. The woman took all to her house, where she has a fire.
Dry Day with Soaked Socks and Shoes
Day 2 was a dry day. My feet however didn’t stay dry. It was heavy because todays path is more than 30 km but also because it was flooded on several paths, fallen trees on the street and not a lot of people. Scary to see that there is just no road anymore. Uncertainty made me very uncomfortable. I enjoyed most of the day until I got stuck at bottom of Lagos Obidos, around three. Then I walked very hard to leave the place while it was still light. And the last part with soaked socks and shoes were not so enjoyable anymore.
Sleeping @ Mai Home Foz
This is a private double room in Foz de Arelho. After lot of thinking I booked this one. Normally I wish to have my flexibility. Because it is convenient to stop when you are tired and not when you booked a room. But on this caminho, it is hard to find albergues or guest houses. Of course there are luxury ones for tourists in summer with swimming pools etc.. but I just need a place to sleep and that’s it. A pilgrimage is also something you need to do without much comfort or luxury, otherwise you could just book an all-inclusive holiday, cousin Andre told me once!
The house that I booked is for two people and is 45 euro. Didn’t want to sleep in Innatel, a hotel.
It had a living room, kitchen and it is really nice, but I can’t really enjoy because there is no light. We’ll see tomorrow, if the electricity is working again. The lady of the house, offered to bring me somewhere, Caldas de Rainha.
The storm destroyed a lot in this area. Nobody believes that I will walk long distances.
