I am now sitting in a cafe in Salema with a glass of smoothies and a slice of caramel cake, with the cafe playing Air, Balthazar, Metronomy, and Beirut and while my feet—especially my right foot—are feeling kind of funky because of the tension from walking on the rocks yesterday, I’m feeling great and accomplished because it’s official: I have completed the most difficult stage of the fisherman’s trail.
The Sagres - Salema stage is the only stage that is classified as “difficult” by the Rota Vicentina website. The rest of the stages are classified as “moderate”.
And oh boy, I had been dreading this day ever since Day 3. On Day 3, during that long, neverending stretch into Zambujeira do Mar, I was planning my exit strategy. One of them was that I would skip the hardest stage, which is this exact stage. My rationale was if I struggled through Day 3 (classified as “moderate”), how could I ever make it through the most difficult stage of the Fisherman’s trail? The Berliner that I met in Odeceixe had worked in Salema for a few months, and when I told her about my exit strategy, she said, “Salema? Oh, I wouldn’t hike in Salema”. I was even more convinced that skipping this stage would be the best thing to do.
Well, that was last week. This morning, continuing to walk—like I had always done these past nine days—just seemed right. At this point, repacking my backpack and assembling my little breakfast had become an almost automatic routine. I don’t know what I would do if I decide to skip the stage. Should I still wake up early? How do I even get a taxi? My accommodation in Salema only alows check ins from four in the afternoon. What will I do for the rest of the time I’m in Salema?
Somehow, given that my feet feel fine and I feel okay overall, continuing to walk seemed to be less complicated than figuring out how to call a taxi.
I started the day early, really early. The German woman in my bunk bed room was true to her words; she is an early riser indeed, and she was already awake at 6 in the morning. After 5 or 6 bunk rooms I’ve stayed in on this trail, I don’t think I’ve met anyone who wakes up that early! I figured that this is a sign for me to also start my day early, so I climbed down my bunk bed, took my bag out of my locker, and prepared my breakfast.
We had breakfast together; mine a cup of espresso, two cups of yogurt, the chocolate muffin that I bought from Vila do Bispo’s Lidl yesterday. She apologized profusely for waking everyone up, but I told her I’m glad that she wakes up early because it forced me to get started early - something that I always aspired to, but never managed to do until today.
She packed swiftly, and while I was still finishing my espresso, she headed outside. But before that, she took her time to wish me a good hike. “It was so nice meeting you! Have a good rest of your hike.”
I followed suit soon after. A couple of minutes after sunrise, I found myself leaving Sagres. The restaurant where I had my dinner with Claus was still visible, but it was far… very far. The hostel was right on the trail, so that didn’t took me long. I noticed that the sun seemed a little bit moody, and I wondered if today would be cloudy because it was so, so dark but then I realized that I am just very very early today.
I didn’t see any other hiker until kilometers later, where the mother-daughter pair that I came across with in Arrifana caught up with me. I let them pass me by so I could continue walking without being rushed, and I spent the entire walk listening to Villagers. So far, so good.
I covered the first 10 km easily, and by 10 in the morning, I was already halfway. No difficult climbs yet, but I had read a blog post that suggested hikers to have lunch here because the next 10 kilometers would be very tough, and there would be no restaurants after this until we reach Salema.
Last week, I would be inclined to agree, because at that time it seemed that this journey would be exactly that: hot and tiring and lonely… but soon I was proven very, very wrong. The weather did get better: after Odeceixe, the temperature hovered at around 25 maximum. While still hot, it was much, much better than the 30 degrees at the start of my walk. It is tiring, but I found that my body adjusted to it quickly, and I found myself a pace that I could sustain. Lastly, I felt like I was never that alone anyway. “I met a lot of people,” I smiled. I wanted to tell him about all the amazing people I’ve met, but the day was still long and I had 10 more tough kilometers to go, so I had to get going. When I paid, he sent me off with a good luck. “Enjoy the hike, lady from Indonesia!”
Up until this point, the hike had been easy. Sure, an ascent and descent here and there but nothing too steep. The real trouble started 11 kilometers in, when I arrived in Praia da Furnas.
There are two ways to continue to Salema from here: follow the waymarked trail (which means climbing up the hill, going down) or continue to Salema on sea level by crossing Praia da Furnas to Praia de Figueira directly.
The latter is only an option when the tide is low, and oh boy this was such a tempting option. Why climb hills when you can walk barefooted on the beach!? So of course, my first instinct was to check out the beach, hoping that the tide was low enough I could easily cross to Praia de Figueira…
I took off my shoes and took my first steps on the beach. It took me longer than I should have to realize that apparently the beach was a nudist beach… so I looked like a loon in my hiking attire.
As I walked further east in utter embarrassment, it became clear to me that making it to Salema on sea level would be a no go. The tide was still too high, and following the waymarked trail seems to be the most sensical option. So all of this walking on the sand was for naught.
If this happened last week, I would have broken down and cried myself over my backpack. The mishap meant I had to retrace my steps, adding possibly another 1 km on the beach sand to what is already a long day, before many climbs no less! It is truly the worst time to make a navigational mistake, and the embarrassment of accidentally waking into what appeared to be a nudist beach with a fully covered hiking attire—not even a swimsuit!—just made it worse.
But instead of ruminating over it, I sat down on a lone rock, put down my backpack, cleaned my feet from sand, put on my socks, drank my Sumol, heaved a HUGE sigh, heaved another huge sigh, stood up, hoisted up my backpack, and marched on towards the valley where the waymark was pointing towards. I mean, do I have another option?
It was not my greatest moment, but I was proud of myself. It’s truly, truly wild how I’ve changed in just a few days, and it made me reflect on the conversation that I had with the German woman in my dorm room just the night before: there are many life lessons you can learn… just by walking.
Despite feeling pretty optimistic, at the same time I was hoping I’d come across someone I know. Claus, Eric, Paula, Leonie—just, any familiar face, please. I didn’t want to walk with people, but I wish I could have someone walking ahead of me to guide me to the right way or tell me if I’m about to do something stupid—like attempting a beach shortcut when it wasn’t low tide.
The climbs just seemed neverending… but I knew that it will have to end at some point, so I just kept going, and going, and going. I remember sitting under a pine tree, exhausted, and I finished up all of my Sumol that I had transferred to my smaller water bottle. I must have sat there for a good fifteen minutes, but I was just so tired, and I was mentally preparing myself for yet another climb… only to find out that I had emerged out of the woods onto a regular street. I have arrived in Salema!
Throughout the hike, I was worried about Claus. This stage is tough; he has done many hikes all over the world, so I’m sure he is fine, but at the same time I couldn’t help but to be worried, especially when remembering my own stumbles and mishaps and his injured right hand. As I walked down the streets of Salema, I felt a pang of guilt: maybe I should have walked together with him, or at least offered to. I texted him, asking if he has made it to Salema safely.
I am back in my tent now, getting ready to sleep before the final day tomorrow, but a few things have happened since I was chilling in the restaurant drinking my smoothies, so let’s recap.
A couple of hours after I sent the message, Claus eventually got back to me. “I am in my apartment now. I came together with Eric and Leonie. They are on their way to the camping site now.” As fate would have it, literally ten minutes after that, I heard voices that I’m familiar of getting closer to my tent.
“Eric? Leonie?” I shouted. It was dark outside, and we could barely see each other, but I could make out their shadows and backpacks and trekking poles.
Leonie shouted, “you’re here!”
Eric showed up in front of my tent half an hour later, he picked me up so we could all go have dinner together. “Cough, cough, cough,” he literally said. “Do you know that the Bedouins cough three times to knock on each other’s tent?”
“But those are not real coughs,” I said. He fake-coughed to get me out of the tent, then we headed to the restaurant and met Leonie there.
I told them how I was a bit worried about Claus, given today’s treacherous terrain. Eric burst into laughter. “We spent almost the entire afternoon with him. That man is a champ. He guided us, showed us the waymarks. He’s the man I’m least worried about!”
Turns out they spent almost the entire day with Claus, and they even got a chance to swim in the beach together. “He was so happy like a little kid,” he added. I was relieved to know that he was with the company of people I know. We just laughed so, so much over wine and The Whitest Boy Alive playing in the background (whoever is in charge of the cafe’s playlist is amazing), recounting how each of our hike went until we were the last patrons in the restaurant.
In my tent, just as I was about to go to bed, I read a message from Claus: “if you can take a look at the stars in the east, that is the planet Jupiter.” I walked out of my tent, looked at the sky to find a cloudless sky with so many stars and what I assumed would be Jupiter in the east.