This is one of our more challenging walking trips and suits confident walkers who are reasonably fit and comfortable walking for around six hours a day.
We walk every day and average about 8 miles, with some days shorter and others a little longer. There are plenty of ups and downs, although no individual climb or descent is usually more than about 500 feet.
What makes Portugal more challenging is the terrain. Some trails are rocky, sandy and uneven, and unlike the Dolomites, there aren’t cable cars, chairlifts or many opportunities to shorten a walk once we’re underway.
But we’re not marching from A to B with our heads down. We’ll stop for photographs, lunch, beautiful views, villages, beaches and anything else that catches our attention, and we’ll walk at a comfortable, sustainable pace.
Distances don’t always tell the whole story. Eight miles over sand, rocky trails and uneven coastal terrain can feel quite different from eight miles on a smooth path.
You don’t need to be fast or an athlete. But you do need to be comfortable completing the day’s walk. And if you decide one morning that you’d rather take a day off, that’s perfectly fine too.
Walking isn’t simply an activity we’ve added to this trip.
The walk is the journey.