22,5 km 24 May 2026
Sleep @ Releash Aljezur
Willeke booked our first day and found out the place was owned by Dutchies. After the journey to Aljezur we start our trail here in Aljezur Releash. It is a very nice holiday place and we talked to 4 pilgrims. There was a kitchen, a place to sit, relax, and there was also a garden, which we didn’t see. We received a code, so we didn’t meet the owners. There was a wedding where they went too.
The house was in the center of the city. I have been in Aljezur two times, and I stopped at the busstation so I never saw the center of the town, near the big supermarket Intermarche. It was very nice with a big square and some restaurants and a great view on a castle.
There was a fan in the so it was not too hot in the room.
A Bakery
Unfortunately we miss The Bakery in Arrifana one stage back, where we went to last year but there is another bakery close by…
I got this tip from Canadian Pilgrims that stayed @ Casa da Lima, they first walked the Fishermen’s trail and walked further north to Lisbon, and started the pilgrimage to Santiago here. They said that after Aljezur there is a nice bakery where you can sit and eat all kinds of nice baked goods. So this is where we go to. Our first stop this caminho. So if you are like me and don’t eat breakfast before heading of you can stop here. Actually when you do have breakfast, you can stop here as well; Willeke doesn’t skip a meal and snacks in between are also welcome!
Easy and Stunning 1st Day to Odeceixe
From the busstation the path goes along the river. It doesn’t matter on which side of the river you walk. We preferred the dirt road where tractors are because we guess the other way would be a street with cars. We take a photo of the old bridge and walk until we come at the city Rogil. Here is the bakery our pilgrims talked about. It is indeed a big bakery and a special ‘design’ one, with few products displayed beautifully, normally it is not like this. We had to draw a number, not bad but it means it could be busy.
It says 17 km on the milestone
The hard shout of the small Portuguese lady:
“NEXT”, in English makes Willeke shiver. Later, I hear the shout too, interesting, this shouting in a cute bakery with top products displayed and just a few people inside.
After this town, we walk further. It is on an asphalt road, but there are not a lot of cars, it is not so disturbing as the other pilgrims told us.
Praia Odeceixe Before the Town
Ready to dive into the cold ocean at Praia Odeceixe we jump in. It is warm so cooling down in the cool water is really good. We prepare us for another 3 km to town. But first we drink something upstairs at the beach café alongside the road. We try to figure out which way we have to go and where the milestones are towards town. We find out that our Guesthouse Dorita is here at Praia Odeceixe! We are ready, we don’t need to walk further. But we are not totally happy because we need to do the extra tomorrow then and today we still have energy and time. Who knows how our day will look like tomorrow?
Cross the Water at Low Tide
Sitting on the terrace we see a lot of pilgrims coming down to the beach from the cliff. They walk through the water at the other side behind the beach. The water is quite high. Where are they going, and do we need to cross the water too?
Sleeping and Eating @ Casa Dorita
We check-in at our hostel, it is a restaurant and pension, with small rooms. The people working were friendly Bernardo tells me that we have to cross the water tomorrow in the morning at 6:30 afterwards it is high tide, and it is not possible anymore. Then we have to walk via the bridge which is a few km further. It could save us 8 km.
“Really?” I shout out:
“8?”
Willeke looks on a map and finds out that it is a back and forth to town where the bridge is. It is part of the trail. We have to think what we want but we are not going to walk back and forth especially not if you don’t even sleep in town. In fact we are lucky that we have a house at the beach side and we cut some km. The only thing is that we have to wake up at 6:00 in the morning. It is not a bad thing in the heat. So we go for wet legs in the morning which also means that tomorrow will be an easy day. It will be just like today less than 20 km.
We have an early dinner at the restaurant. They are opening at 8:00 so we need to take breakfast with us. We come back later for the breakfast. Just to give them time to prepare but now it is busy in the restaurant. No problem, the man is making it for us without any stress. This is our surprise of tomorrow!
