Tonight The French and I are staying in a wonderful 'tourisme rural' about 3-4 kms south of Odeceixe Monte Joao Roupeiro is what we know in Australia as a country B&B and in Spain as a casa rural. Monte is situated just off the path where the Fishermen's Trail meets the Historical Way. We walked here today from Arrifana.
The owners of the casa, Gregorio and Lordes, and their staff are very kind and welcoming. Coffee and home made chocolate cake on arrival. And the casa and grounds are beautiful. They speak little English but, happily, Gregorio has some French which he seems keen to practise. Earlier tonight he drove us in to Odeceixe and deposited us at a restaurant he recommended (cuisine typique et pas cher - typical cuisine and not expensive, he explained). Gregorio insisted we call him when we finished dinner and he would come to collect us, which he did, and we are now 'home'. Such kindness. How did it come to this?
A little backtracking. Today is our fourth day walking on the Rota Vicentina. It became apparent early on that, unlike our time on the remote Camino Mozarabe, there are a lot of people here and accommodation is not so abundant, at least at the moment. Travelling in the way that we do, it's easy to lose track of time and dates. It took us a while to 'twig' that it's holiday time in Europe, and Easter weekend as well. I wrote some days ago about having to spend a lot of time - hours - scurrying online to secure reasonable accommodation for the week, as we hadn't booked beyond our first town.
Also we hadn't factored in that this area is not just for hikers. The Vicentina national park and coastline attract large numbers of short term visitors, like us - hikers, cyclists, surfers and holiday makers. Hikers looking for nightly accommodation as they walk up - or more often down - the coast are just a small part of the floating population. Who knew? So at this time of year - and with the wonderful weather - we soon discovered that winging it was not really an option, if we wanted to have accommodation we'd be happy with, at the right price.
When I hopped on to Booking.com in Vilo I discarded the most expensive and the low scoring, and ended up with a combination of private rooms and hostel dormitory beds and one tourisme rural - in almost every case we booked the last room or bed available for each night.Two nights ago in Carrapatiera we had beds 3 and 4 (bunks) in a 4 bed dormitory room in an outstanding hostel, bright and modern with wonderful facilities. We enjoyed a comfortable and peaceful night there. Last night we had our own room and ensuite in the Arrafina Ocean View Guest House which, despite being neither in Arrafina (we had to walk an extra 2 kms after arriving) nor having a view of any ocean, was also very comfortable, with breakfast included.
And for tonight, the Monte tourisme rural. I liked the idea of being outside of the town and stopping short of Odeceixe by a few kms would also even up our distances between today and tomorrow. It was late yeserday afternoon when we were settling in to Arrafina (not quite) Ocean View Guest House that it dawned on me that, while breakfast is included at Monte, dinner isn't. And we are 3-4 kms from the nearest town. Hhmm. Most of their guests arrive .by car, not on foot - so going out for dinner is not an issue for them. For us on the other hand - after a day's hiking the thought of not having a decent dinner - well it doesn't bear thinking about.
We quickly got on the phone and, once we established that Gregorio spoke some French, Domi explained our dilemna. Would we be able to have dinner at the casa or take a taxi into nearest town? No, Gregorio would drive us. Pas de probleme. And pick us up for our return. And that's exactly what happened. Though on the way to the restaurant he took us via the beautiful beach at Odeceixe - where we will walk tomorrow - and when we arrived back tonight he walked us around the grounds and told us the story of how he and Lordes had begun this 'project' which is now a wonderful maison with 14 rooms and apartments. A truly delightful man.
Today marked our fourth day on the Rota Vicentina. Except for the first day down to Cabo S. Vicente and back, we have walked mostly on the Historical Way, just 'flirting' with the coast every now and then. But when we leave this beautiful casa tomorrow morning, we leave the Historical Way and will walk on the Fishermen's Trail for the next 80 kms or so up the cost to Porto Covo, where our time on the Rota Vicentina will come to an end and we will head to Lisbon.
We've loved every day on the Historical Way - peaceful paths, changing landscapes, challenging ascents and descents in the hills and valleys, river crossings, wonderful wildflowers, encounters with charming locals, including the four legged ones. My standout was the community of goats we came across yesterday - so many spring babies. Who could imagine turning a corner and seeing such a beautiful sight.
And now we are looking forward to a complete change of scenery - on the stunning coastline. We've had a small taste but, from all reports, the best is to come.
A demain.
J x
PS. Thank you Domi for the beautiful photos - the llama and the dragonfly.
The owners of the casa, Gregorio and Lordes, and their staff are very kind and welcoming. Coffee and home made chocolate cake on arrival. And the casa and grounds are beautiful. They speak little English but, happily, Gregorio has some French which he seems keen to practise. Earlier tonight he drove us in to Odeceixe and deposited us at a restaurant he recommended (cuisine typique et pas cher - typical cuisine and not expensive, he explained). Gregorio insisted we call him when we finished dinner and he would come to collect us, which he did, and we are now 'home'. Such kindness. How did it come to this?
A little backtracking. Today is our fourth day walking on the Rota Vicentina. It became apparent early on that, unlike our time on the remote Camino Mozarabe, there are a lot of people here and accommodation is not so abundant, at least at the moment. Travelling in the way that we do, it's easy to lose track of time and dates. It took us a while to 'twig' that it's holiday time in Europe, and Easter weekend as well. I wrote some days ago about having to spend a lot of time - hours - scurrying online to secure reasonable accommodation for the week, as we hadn't booked beyond our first town.
Also we hadn't factored in that this area is not just for hikers. The Vicentina national park and coastline attract large numbers of short term visitors, like us - hikers, cyclists, surfers and holiday makers. Hikers looking for nightly accommodation as they walk up - or more often down - the coast are just a small part of the floating population. Who knew? So at this time of year - and with the wonderful weather - we soon discovered that winging it was not really an option, if we wanted to have accommodation we'd be happy with, at the right price.
When I hopped on to Booking.com in Vilo I discarded the most expensive and the low scoring, and ended up with a combination of private rooms and hostel dormitory beds and one tourisme rural - in almost every case we booked the last room or bed available for each night.Two nights ago in Carrapatiera we had beds 3 and 4 (bunks) in a 4 bed dormitory room in an outstanding hostel, bright and modern with wonderful facilities. We enjoyed a comfortable and peaceful night there. Last night we had our own room and ensuite in the Arrafina Ocean View Guest House which, despite being neither in Arrafina (we had to walk an extra 2 kms after arriving) nor having a view of any ocean, was also very comfortable, with breakfast included.
And for tonight, the Monte tourisme rural. I liked the idea of being outside of the town and stopping short of Odeceixe by a few kms would also even up our distances between today and tomorrow. It was late yeserday afternoon when we were settling in to Arrafina (not quite) Ocean View Guest House that it dawned on me that, while breakfast is included at Monte, dinner isn't. And we are 3-4 kms from the nearest town. Hhmm. Most of their guests arrive .by car, not on foot - so going out for dinner is not an issue for them. For us on the other hand - after a day's hiking the thought of not having a decent dinner - well it doesn't bear thinking about.
We quickly got on the phone and, once we established that Gregorio spoke some French, Domi explained our dilemna. Would we be able to have dinner at the casa or take a taxi into nearest town? No, Gregorio would drive us. Pas de probleme. And pick us up for our return. And that's exactly what happened. Though on the way to the restaurant he took us via the beautiful beach at Odeceixe - where we will walk tomorrow - and when we arrived back tonight he walked us around the grounds and told us the story of how he and Lordes had begun this 'project' which is now a wonderful maison with 14 rooms and apartments. A truly delightful man.
Today marked our fourth day on the Rota Vicentina. Except for the first day down to Cabo S. Vicente and back, we have walked mostly on the Historical Way, just 'flirting' with the coast every now and then. But when we leave this beautiful casa tomorrow morning, we leave the Historical Way and will walk on the Fishermen's Trail for the next 80 kms or so up the cost to Porto Covo, where our time on the Rota Vicentina will come to an end and we will head to Lisbon.
We've loved every day on the Historical Way - peaceful paths, changing landscapes, challenging ascents and descents in the hills and valleys, river crossings, wonderful wildflowers, encounters with charming locals, including the four legged ones. My standout was the community of goats we came across yesterday - so many spring babies. Who could imagine turning a corner and seeing such a beautiful sight.
And now we are looking forward to a complete change of scenery - on the stunning coastline. We've had a small taste but, from all reports, the best is to come.
A demain.
J x
PS. Thank you Domi for the beautiful photos - the llama and the dragonfly.
