30 March 2026
Luz – Salema – Easy to Average
I make the sandwiches in our hotel room for lunch and we start at 9:00 after eating one sandwich as breakfast. Let’s see where what time we will arrive at our end point in Salema.
The sky is blue, it is again a sunny day. The mornings are are still cold and windy but after an hours walk the jackets and sweaters go in the backpack, a few hundred meters later the sunscreen on our arms and we are ready to make some kilometers!
Today I see the girls every time I turn around. They are walking in a good pace! My secret for caminhos from yesterday, helped obviously! Still every time I have a look, I see the back pack of Eef in her armpit. They need to get their candies, licorice and chewing gum out of the backpack and I don’t know what else.
More Sweat Today
The path is easy but more difficult than yesterday. Actually I can’t remember that I had tough times last year, except the burning sun. It was in June-July and I remember a part where there were only rocks where you had to balance on it for a long stretch. I do remember I said to Willeke several times that it would be too steep for Jaap-Willem. The climbs and decents are too heavy if you suffer from instability like him. It will be a surprise what he will do this trail.
I correct: we could call this stage average, especially when you paste day 1 and 2 together.
Difficulties: Climbing Start
For the girls it certainly looks more of a trail today with climbs and descents. This is what the girls like. Jaap-Willem needs me to hold on to, especially going down. Jaap-Willem has fear of heights and difficulties with his stability when climbing and descending. It is because of his heavy stroke he suffered from a few years ago, after which he was in a wheel chair and had to learn everything from scratch. This day 2 is a real training day for him.
Eef worries about Jaap-Willem because she know sees he has to lean on me, and his face is totally wet. She asks me if everything is okay with him. I told her that he suffers from fear of heights.
Refreshing Dive
When we reach a stone beach, we jump in the water, and Jaap-Willem goes to the only cafe on this beach to buy water. Ours is finished. He comes back with 2 bottles of 1,5 liter of water. Whoops it is 4 euro each! Very commercial. Next to the cafe on the beach there is a ATM machine… What a strange view. Well we need water, ours is finished already and we may need it. We have to refill the bottles of the girls too.
Important Stop at Gin Bar
We are reaching Salema via de Rua de Pescadores, Eef needs to go to the toilet. We are in town so we go to the nearest bar. While waiting, Jaap-Willem ask if they have alcohol free beers. Yes! Very different than in our area in Central Portugal along the Caminho Santiago and Fatima, where that is still unknown and not really common in local cafes.
I have a chat with the bartender. When he hears we are going to NAU Village to sleep, he tells us that they have a cart who bring the guests up and down. It is quite a steep climb he says, better to do that without backpacks, or with this cart. “Call them”, he says!
I call them and yes! Somebody will come and pick us up. They will also stop at a supermarket for our 6 liters of water and bread for the next day. Our walking day ends around here at 16:00. We sit down and wait for the cart.
Sleeping @…
With the cart we go up to NAU Village. Eef wants to know everything and asks how many rooms there are, she likes to stay in a private one with Cinta like the day before. Mauro the cart guy tells us that it is a big house with a big kitchen and everything. He brings us to the reception. They are friendly and this reception already looks great. With our keys we leave the reception and Mauro shows us the big pool, and then he goes back downhill to bring us to our house. What a surprise: It is a four star luxurious house, with a dining room, living room, two rooms with two bathrooms, and a large bubble bathtub, oh there is a washing machine too. We are excited, we start to wash all our clothes and the girls are so excited, they don’t even want to go to the swimming pool. They play in the house. I call the reception again because we need to cook in this beautiful kitchen including good cooking materials:
“Could Mauro take us to the supermarket again?”
“Yes, of course!”
It is 18:00, it will be his last ride. He explains us he is the only driver now because it is still March. Tomorrow the high season starts and there will be more people to drive the carts! May be this is also the reason why I booked this place a few months ago, it was within the pilgrims budget of 50 euros per day for accommodation, not really expensive for what we have.
Facts of the Day
Waking up: 8:00
Start of Walk: 9:00
Blisters: 0
Pains: Cinta slight muscle ache
Falls: 1 of Eef on the stones at the beach, because the water came closer, 1 of Cinta on her belly because she wore the backpack on her belly not able to see the floor, and having a different balance.
Caminho (boring long straight flat paths according to the girls): yes
Steep climbs and descents: Yes
Time to rest after the walk: Lots
Swimming in the ocean: Yes
Swimming at the swimming pool: No
Bubble Bath: Yes
Arrival time: 16:00
Read more about this stage of the trail that I walked last time with Willeke. I slept in a bungalow on the camping site and I remembered we had to climb up to that place, which was quite exhausting. As much I liked to show the nice camping site with tipi tents to the rest, NAU Village had my attention, and with the cart for the last part and the supermarket, we all were very happy pilgrims.
