29 March 2026
Eastern Fishermen’s Trail
Eastern holiday arrives and we are going to the Algarve to walk the long distance Fishermen’s trail. The part from Lagos to Arrifana. People say that the trail goes from North to South, but the arrows are in both directions, and I prefer to have the sun in my back. This is why I choose to walk from South to North the first time. And now I show this trail to the rest. It is a caminho with family.
This time I go by car. We are with four Cinta, Eef (both ten years old) Jaap-Willem and me. So the choice to go by car is easy. It will be around five hours driving south to the coast.
We follow the stages of the trail. Lagos-Salema is split in two: Lagos to Luz and Luz to Salema. With Willeke, we did this the first day. Now with the family it is better to take it easy on the first two days. It will be a quiet training day of around 11 km along the coast.
All Booked!
I heard from a friend, who wanted to walk the trail too this holiday, that all was full. On the trail I hear it a lot from the other people too. Lagos is big, full of tourists, here it is not difficult to get something without reservation. But on the trail, you only pass little villages and there is not a lot of accommodation. If there is a group of surfers already and a few walkers, it could be full in the villages.
Last year in June, I didn’t book on forehand, it was good but I advise others to prepare well. The villages are so small in between, there is not a lot of choice or it is really for tourists, meaning that the prices are not the ones for pilgrims. This time I prepared all in January. I wanted all arranged for the whole family! It was so early in the year that I had a lot of bargains too. This time we don’t have to worry about accommodation anymore! It feels good, there is always some excitement when you don’t book in advance, especially in the Algarve along the coast, where tourists, surfers and trail walkers visit the beautiful region all at the same time.
Day 0 Travelling and Sleeping @…
We sleep @ Lagos City Centre Guest House & Hostel. Friendly desk, a kitchen and small balcony! They have extra beds, so we order an extra bed in our triple room. It is really great to have a kitchen, a couch to relax outside the room. Jaap-Willem prepared Risotto at home already, here we only have to warm it up, delicious!
This place is behind the Pousada Hostel where I stayed last time.
And again night life is vibrant, because The Garden Restaurant has a bar and cocktails too, we hear the people outside until after midnight.
Lagos Walk – Easy – 11 km
After a slow start of the day we finally leave at 11:30 and I have all bread for lunch in my backpack. Jaap-Willem carries four litres of water. He needs a lot, and there are not really stops in between. Normally there is one cafe on the way, but it is always the question if they are open.
We start near the beach in Lagos and we go up and down on the wooden boardwalk where I know there is the first sign for this trail!
It starts easy. Every few 100 meters there is a stunning viewpoint. I go to every viewpoint I see. I think I missed a lot of these great views. Willeke remembered that it was very cloudy when we walked, but I imagine because we had to walk 22 km, we went without going to every viewpoint. Today we have a lot of time, so we take our time. When the view points are done, we walk a long straight way. It takes longer than we hope and around 14:00 it is quite hot and Cinta complains immediately:
“Mam, you said it wasn’t a caminho, but this I consider a caminho, not a trail”.
Walking with children is really something. Every time when I look backwards to see where they are, I didn’t see them. They were strolling and stopping and when they approached one of their backpack wasn’t on the back anymore. They were standing still all the time.
My tips for them: The secret of a caminho is to walk with your backpack on your bag, and preferably walk and not stroll and try to walk more than a km without stopping.
This Day 1, the first 11 km leaving Lagos is so surprising. I enjoyed all the stops I made now. To start the two first walking days with these short stages is very nice. ‘Slow down’ works for me!
Sleeping and Eating @…
Club House CVL
Finally around five we arrive at the beach in Luz. I go to the hotel first and Eef is accompanying me as she has to go to the toilet again. The other half of our group is already in the ocean. We stay in Club House CVL, a four star hotel. It had three swimming pools, and a friendly, and according to Eef a ‘stiff’ man at the reception. It looks like the hotel had better days in the past, but we were very happy with all this. Everything more private than dormitories is luxury for a pilgrim. But also for the girls, they had their own hotel room, private swimming pools, and a bath. And they did it all after the walk, swimming in the ocean, in the swimming pool and making music in the bathtub.
Curry and Pizza House
There are two Indian restaurants and we choose for the one with the best ratings of course. A funny note: They sell pizza’s too. When you crave for pizza, you can have them here. It is because they own another restaurant, a pizzeria in town.
It is a cosy restaurant, the waiter is very friendly. The pineapple drink is nice, the samosa is delicious, and the naan is the best Jaap-Willem ever ate, Cinta loves them too so we order more. After we finish all the curries, the waiter comes with some candies and the bill. The girls snatch all the candies from the guy, and are ashamed of themselves They laugh the whole night about it.
Facts of the Day
Waking up: 8:00
Start walk: 11:30
Blisters: 0
Pains: Cinta: sore thighs because they rub against shorts (tip for tomorrow to wear a legging)
Falls:0
Climbs: No
Caminho (boring long straight flat paths according to the girls): No
Steep climbs and descents: No
Arrival time: 17:00
Time to relax after the walk: Yes
Swimming in the ocean: Yes
Swimming at the swimming pool: Yes
Bath: Yes
Interested to read Day 1 Lagos-Salema when I walked the trail with Willeke end of June last year? Read here about it.
