This stage we walk down the wooden steps to the coast, that's at the bottom of the hotel where we slept last night. After this luxurious night, it's back to: backpacks on, and back to hiking. We descend quite a bit until we reach the coast. From here we will follow the beach as far as possible. Maybe the whole 22 kilometres to the campsite, but that depends on the tides. The water is low now, but already starting to rise. We walk below beautiful red-coloured cliffs, which consist only of sand. It's no longer the rock we've seen in recent days. The cliffs are also getting a lot lower and, as far as we can see now, they are the last of the Algarve. Looking ahead, all we can see are the white sandy beaches and the flat inland. The beach is interrupted only by the town of Quarteira. We walk along the tide line, so even though it's almost 10 kilometres, we get there quickly. Decathlon is easily situated along the route, so we do some shopping for the rest of the trip. We walk along the promenade for a bit until it ends at the edge of the built-up area and we enter the beach again. At the side of this beach there is a single high dune and some hills; further inland, a wetland begins that extends beyond Faro. The beach bars we pass are all closed. We continue along this narrow strip between salt and fresh water.
Meanwhile, the water rises a lot and the ocean is wild. The weather is still stormy and we walk bent against the wind. Because of the higher tide, we need to walk higher up on the beach, and it's quite a slog through the loose sand. But it doesn't take long before we see a boardwalk that will lead us to the village where the campsite is located. We gladly prefer this option after having walked 20 kilometres on the beach. It gives us nice views of the lakes and inland. The decking runs between small, old, coloured houses. They are low fishermen's houses built into the dunes. Apparently Saturday is laundry day over here: at almost every cottage the laundry hangs out to dry. Not much further, we walk through a large car park to the other side of the built-up area to the campsite.
It was a nice, fast walk along the beach. That again makes this stage completely different from the previous stretch of Algarve. Bet we're going to miss the cliffs...😉
