The plan we worked out 4 days ago has been working perfectly. Bus trips to and from Lagos. The Vila do Bispo to Sagres hike. My solo hike and Sally’s day at the beach. Like a fine tuned piece of machinery. Which means, time for the wheels to come off.
Our bus to Salema leaves at 7:50am this morning, putting us on the trail by 8:30am. We were up at 5:30am, dressed, breakfasted and out the door by 6:25am for our 15 minute walk to the bus stop. The bus was a few minutes late. There were about 8 of us waiting. Like the pro bus riders we have become, I opened the storage compartment under the bus for our packs then entered the bus to pay. “Two to Salema, please.” I told the bus driver, offering a twenty euro note. He fiddled with his pay machine, then looked up and said, “No Salema!”. One of the riders behind me said the same thing. He held up his two hands and crossed his index fingers as if warding off a vampire.
Mentally, I iwas momentarily staggered. What? I had checked the bus schedule 20 times in the last two days. Where had I gone wrong? We exited and removed our bags from the storage bin and watched the bus pull away. Now what?
We checked the schedule again. Yes, this bus goes to Salema. But up at the top of the column one of the codes stated this bus only goes there on school holidays. I had missed that detail. Now, what were our options? The next bus to Salema was at 12:15pm. It could work because we had a short day of hiking, only 6 or 7 miles. But not optimal. We could hitchhike, but it would require three separate rides unless we got really lucky. How about a taxi? Try Uber?
We requested an Uber ride. For more than a 14 minutes we waited while Uber searched. No drivers available. Sally walked across the street to a surf school tying surfboards to their roof of their van to ask if they were going our way and could give us a ride. They were super helpful and gave us some taxi friend phone numbers. Then Sally remembered seeing a taxi stand in town at the main square. We walked to the main square and found the phone number on their sign. I called, explained our need, asked if he could drive us to Salema and how much it would cost. He said he could, for €25. I said great and he showed up five minutes later. 25 minutes and €25 later we were on the trail in Salema. Crisis averted and only 20 minutes lost (taxi is much faster than the bus) and only €17.50 more.
Our hike started by climbing up from the beach to the bluff on the road, then dropping down the other side to the next beach. This theme repeated itself for the whole 7 miles, allowing us to accumulate about 1500’ of ascent and descent.
At each of the beaches surfers abounded, but we noticed a pattern. They had to work really hard to get past the breaking waves, fighting the waves and a strong onshore wind. Once out, they seemed loath to catch a wave and if they did they only rode it for a few seconds before bailing off and paddling out again. We talked to a few later in the day. They said it was really tough conditions.
About lunchtime we entered the beach town of Burgua. We were following the same painted markers we have been following from the beginning. We were lead down alleys, steps and narrow streets to the beach level. Here the pounding, high tide surf was pressing against the bulkheads and a road just above the water level. Very cool. We crossed, then climbed up to a terrace with benches to eat the lunch I was carrying.
Our destination was the beach town of Luz. We walked about a mile of low ground, just out of the pounding surf’s reach to enter the town. It crashed against the rocky shore sending spray into the air which the wind caught and occasionally blew our way. We entered this quite swanky town and chose a cafe with outdoor seating to get something to drink. I had tea, Sally a raspberry beer.
As we were finishing up we noticed the beer glass would make a nice gift for John Sanford, something that has become a tradition. We asked the waitress if we could buy a glass. She had to check inside with someone and came back with an answer of no. hmmmm . . . Sally started kidding about stealing one with a man outside with us. He turned out to be the owner. At some point he laughingly said, “I can’t sell one to you, but if you stole it I couldn’t stop you.” Sally took that as tacit approval to walk off with the glass. She returned to the table and pilfered the glass, hiding it under her sweater for added effect.
We walked the 1/2 mile up from the beach to our hotel, stopping on the way at a grocery store for a little food. We didn’t need much because our 4 star hotel for the night was providing breakfast. A note. We are not 4 star hotel people, but the two we have stayed at were the least expensive rooms we could find in the towns.
We vegged in our room for a couple hours, then walked to a Donar Kebab place for dinner. Sally had an incredible Greek salad, I another Kebab. Great meals. €12. That’s the way to stay on budget even with an unexpected taxi ride.
After dinner we returned to our room, wrote, watched some videos, read and called it quits about 10:00. What a great day!
First beach after Salema.
On the actual beach. This common on this day. Rare on the earlier days of the hike.
As we get closer to Lagos it gets more populated. Houses and condos everywhere.
But, the beaches and bluffs are still amazing!
Entering Burgau
Working our way to the beach
Almost to the beach
At our lunch spot in Burgua
Approaching Luz. Pounding surf and windy.
Yep, it’s windy.
Sally in the act of theft
Kreed, does this skeleton of a building look safe? Not to me! Remember Portugal had a horrendous earthquake (7.7 or greater) in 1755 that flattened nearly everything.
You’re absolutely right Mr. Caley - that’s not a building I’d want to be in if an earthquake were to come through! Thanks for sharing some structures along the way :) I love following along!
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