São Teotónio

Today is our final day of walking the 4th and original part of the Fisherman's Way Trail. We got ourselves ready and walked to find a cafe for breakfast. On the way we passed a woman who is the street sweeper, cleaning along the side of the roadways with her broom and pan with her bucket on a roll cart. We had a huge omelet with salad and coffee. We walked to the start of the trail. Today we had an undulating trek with short steep ascents and longer descents. We were in sand and more dunes much of the day again. We had narrow paths through pine trees, through bamboo and shorter shrubs. The flowers and succulents have been along the entire trail all 4 days. Some of the paths were right on the cliffs edge and with the strong winds ( thankfully blowing into the bank side) made for interesting, very focussed moments. We came through some really muddy, wet sections as well today. Today at the start of the day we walked on the edge of a safari park where we saw some ostriches up close and in the distance some bison and zebras. The landscape along the ocean continues to present such beauty and different rock formations. We saw a few more storks, a beautiful arch in the rocks, agricultural land with greenhouses and crops, and fishing villages. We had a detour along dirt and paved roads to avoid an eroded area along the clifftop just before our lunch stop in a small town slightly inland.
Our lunch today was soup for me and tomatoes, goat cheese and bread for Anthony. Priya and Joanne had a beautiful seafood rice bowl with lobster, class and prawns. We got back on the trail with a hill climb right away on the steep cliffside and then lots more sand walking. The end of the day we came onto the Praia (beach) de Odeceixe and walked down a road to the river which we followed on a paved road for several km into the small town of Odeceixe. We walked across the bridge and into town, stopping at the only 2 shops in the town. We have a lovely hotel with very kind hosts. We showered, stretched then walked to find dinner. We came to another small town square with 4 restaurants. Unfortunately we picked the one with a very arrogant owner/waiter and he was short on help so Anthony and I got our food first and ate it then several more minutes later Priya and Joanne got theirs. 3 if us tried the octopus and Anthony had pizza. The nicest part of the evening was enjoying the homegrown verbena tea made by our host. We had a taster of Joanne's carrot cake she bought and a piece of Priyas chocolate. The tea was so good and just what I needed. I seem to have a cold that just came on when we arrived.Read more