Me and a goof friend of mine walked the Via Algarviana that is ~ 300 km long and connects Alcoutim and Cabo São Vincente 4 years ago. I recently discoverd some handwritten notes from that time and therefore decided to write a blog about it. Portugal and this trek are pretty amazing and for me it was also the first trek I walked together with somebody. Before that, I was an exclusive fan of travelling alone.
But let me tell you one thing: being on a journey on your own can provide you with a lot of insights. But being on a journey together means that you also confront things about yourself and your relation to others that you, being alone, would never even think of – as you would always stay in your own mindbox.
I have heard about that from many trekking fans already, but never experienced it myself to this point: best friends seperate after a trip like this, other meet there and get married - you never know what will happen.
For my friend and me, all went well: apart from the joy of walking, lot´s of fresh air, amazing landscape, awesome fresh fruits and the ear-candy of portuguese language, we definitly know that we are friends for live since that!
Our trip was also pimped with some extras:
first, we wanted to walk the path the other way round. Not because we were nostalgic about our rise against teen times, but because Alcoutim is not that easy to reach, it would have cost us one more day. But it also ment that we had to read to route discription backwards and had a more difficult time to find the signs along the road.
second, the only time during the year where 2 weeks of our schedule matched were in July and August. Have you ever tried trekking in high summer in Portugal...? You better have enough water with you...!!
third: we went for bivouac for the whole trip as we (or at least I) were short of money and we didn´t want to depend on guesthouses that might be close or full. This way we discovered many hidden places and had an amazing time sleeping under the vast sky and it´s stars of Portugal.
So we started from Capo São Vincente (where my friend almonst fell down the cliff by trying to find a treasure of geocaching...) and went on our way from the Algarve to Alentejo.
The whole route was segmented into sections up to 30 km which made it a little challenge, especially with the climate in high summer season. We passed the three different zones of the Algarve, the coastline, barrocal and serra (mountain) and kept away from the popular loud resorts on the coastline. Portugal has a very special beauty that makes me feel absolutly happy every time I am there.
As like on any trek, we also had to face some obstacles. Latest at day 3 we had discoverd, that my friend was deadly afraid of free running dogs in villages and I was absolutly unable to handle a smartphone and it´s GPS at that time. So we went through little villages holding hands with a bunge of barking dogs behind us and were on a never endig quest for a plug-in for the GPS my friend had to handle.
We had it all, inland along forest paths, open countryside, several quaint villages, hills and mountains of the Serra do Caldeirão and Serra do Monchique and the natural protected flora and fauna of Costa Vincentina natural park and finally: the small city beach of Alcoutim, a well deserved drink and our favourite food during the trip, a melon cutted in half, eaten with a spoon.
The whole trip passed by again in one afternoon: without shoes, backpack and some air for the remaining blisters in our amazing guesthouse.
We had deep conversations about the moon and the universe, childhood memories, our families, future plans – and also hours of silence, simply enjoying the view, the nature, walking and being curious about the thing coming up.
I enjoyed the walk very much and I am much more open to non-solo travelling since then :)!