Tonight we are in Huelva, having taken an afternoon train south from Merida. We arrived around 8 and are only here overnight. We checked into our hotel, a short walk from the train station, and found a fabulous tapas bar in the old town where we asked and followed our waiter's recommendations. Hard to go wrong with food and wine in Spain. But now we are looking forward to a whole new adventure in Portugal.
We have had quite a few ideas - post it notes - about our time in Portugal. Walking on the Rota Vicentina trails was our first idea and the one that has stayed with us. At various times we thought we would walk on the Via Algarvina to connect with the Rota Vicentina and we even thought about flying from Lisbon to Madeira to spend some time on the Levada trails. But those ideas have fallen away. And made room for others.
We will walk for a week or so south to north on the Rota Vicentina (map below) most likely via a combination of the inland Historical Way and the coastal Fishermen's Trail. Depending on how much we move between the inland and the coast, and will likely finish our walk on the coast in Porto Covo.
When we leave the Rota Vicentina, we will have some days in and around Lisbon, Sintra and Porto. From there, our feeling at this stage is that we will walk on the Camino Portuguese Coastal Way from Porto to Santiago. Unless we decide to do something else!
But first we have to make our way to the Atlantic coast of Portugal. Tomorrow we'll travel by bus from Huelva to Lagos and another bus to Vilo do Bispo. We'll stay two nights in Vilo do Bosporus (luxury) as our first day's walking will be a circuit route down to Cabo St Vicente and back.
In the meantime I wonder if those 4 or 5 hours on the bus will give us time to learn enough Portuguese words to get by at least for the first day. Hope so.
Hasta luego.
J x
Rota Vicentina - Fishermen's Trail in blue, Historical Way in green.
