Continue walking south via Portugal

[marekiau]

Hi hopefully walking Sep/Oct next year and will have Nov/Dec free also, is it feasible to continue walking south maybe ending Algarve or even Costa del Sol? Would prefer reasonably waymarked trails but anything would be given a try!

 

[Diogo92]

Hi hopefully walking Sep/Oct next year and will have Nov/Dec free also, is it feasible to continue walking south maybe ending Algarve or even Costa del Sol? Would prefer reasonably waymarked trails but anything would be given a try!

Hello. You can go from Santiago to Fatima, that way it's very well marked with blue arrows. After that, well, it could turn out to be more difficult, but last week I've meet a couple who have done the same thing, but ending up in Lisbon.

I think that the worst thing that you will face is the weather, and the low marked terrain after Fatima.

Best Regards
Diogo

 

[marekiau]

Hello. You can go from Santiago to Fatima, that way it's very well marked with blue arrows. After that, well, it could turn out to be more difficult, but last week I've meet a couple who have done the same thing, but ending up in Lisbon.

I think that the worst thing that you will face is the weather, and the low marked terrain after Fatima.

Best Regards
Diogo

Thanks - what weather should we expect? I've been in the south of Spain at christmas and it was very mild - like a nice UK spring!!! I expect west Portugal would be wetter/colder in Nov/Dec though? Are there good long distance trails in Portugal?

 

[peregrina2000]

I think it would be very difficult to walk south on the Camino Portugues (I believe Margaret Meredith did this a few years ago and had some difficulty, but she is now on the Frances so I don't expect her to post on this for a while!). The crowds coming towards you will be very small, so you can't rely on seeing people to indicate which way to go.

There is no waymarked path from Faro that I know of. There is, however, a marked trail from Sagres to Santiago de Cacem (given the town's name and the fact that there is a Santiago in the local church suggests to me that it was at some point on a Camino). This route has recently been developed by the government -- some details here:
http://www.rotavicentina.com/?lang=en I was in Sagres last spring and saw markers and a walker or two.

As far as the weather goes, it's a crap shoot. I lived in Lisbon for two academic years -- 2004/05 and 08/09. The first winter was sunny, mild, glorious weather (bad for the land, the forest fires, and the crops but a delight for us). The second winter was payback. LOTS and lots of rain. You may get one of these two extremes or a nicer combination.

There are other posts on the forum about this, so if you do a few searches you will find a lot more more information. For instance:

http://www.caminodesantiago.me/comm...southern-coast-of-portugal.17932/#post-131232

http://www.caminodesantiago.me/comm...utes-starting-lagos-or-from.13689/#post-92467

http://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/santiago-to-lisboa-nov-dec-2010.10111/#post-61956

http://www.caminodesantiago.me/comm...go-de-compostela-to-lisbon.20816/#post-163028

 

[Diogo92]

Thanks - what weather should we expect? I've been in the south of Spain at christmas and it was very mild - like a nice UK spring!!! I expect west Portugal would be wetter/colder in Nov/Dec though? Are there good long distance trails in Portugal?

It really depends from the years. We are now catching a harsh cold wave, with temperatures decreasing to numbers below the average for this time of the year. Normally, November and December tend to be cold and rainy. So be prepared

You have a very good trail in South, that you can do, either near the coast or through the mainland called Rota Vicentina. Beside that, you have a lot of trails, some of them small, like 50km, and other big like Rota Vicentina. It really depend of the area that you want to trek. The problem with trails here in Portugal, it's that sometimes they are only marked once, and that they don't renew the markes.

Best Regards
Diogo

 

[marekiau]

I think it would be very difficult to walk south on the Camino Portugues (I believe Margaret Meredith did this a few years ago and had some difficulty, but she is now on the Frances so I don't expect her to post on this for a while!). The crowds coming towards you will be very small, so you can't rely on seeing people to indicate which way to go.

There is no waymarked path from Faro that I know of. There is, however, a marked trail from Sagres to Santiago de Cacem (given the town's name and the fact that there is a Santiago in the local church suggests to me that it was at some point on a Camino). This route has recently been developed by the government -- some details here:
http://www.rotavicentina.com/?lang=en I was in Sagres last spring and saw markers and a walker or two.

As far as the weather goes, it's a crap shoot. I lived in Lisbon for two academic years -- 2004/05 and 08/09. The first winter was sunny, mild, glorious weather (bad for the land, the forest fires, and the crops but a delight for us). The second winter was payback. LOTS and lots of rain. You may get one of these two extremes or a nicer combination.

There are other posts on the forum about this, so if you do a few searches you will find a lot more more information. For instance:

http://www.caminodesantiago.me/comm...southern-coast-of-portugal.17932/#post-131232

http://www.caminodesantiago.me/comm...utes-starting-lagos-or-from.13689/#post-92467

http://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/santiago-to-lisboa-nov-dec-2010.10111/#post-61956

http://www.caminodesantiago.me/comm...go-de-compostela-to-lisbon.20816/#post-163028

 

[marekiau]

Thanks - that Rota Vicentina looks to be a good help.