We start this 7th stage at the campsite of Armação de Pêra. The 7th stage of this trip, but with the stages of the GR5, this is our 100th! A milestone 😃
We've decided to split this 24-kilometre stage into two parts. The weather has become quite turbulent overnight, a lot of rain is forecast for this afternoon and the stone-lined paths can get slippery very quickly. So when we get to Albufeira, we will take the bus back to the campsite, and head back here tomorrow to walk the rest of the trail.
We start the route walking towards the village and the coast. Arriving at the ocean, we turn east again and walk past the fishermen's huts, colourful boats and large fishing tools. A very different picture from the Algarve's touristy coastal towns we've passed in the past few days. We enter the beach and walk as close to the water as possible, as that is where the sand is the hardest, trying not to get our feet wet.
The ocean is rough with high waves and the sky is dark. On the horizon, it's almost impossible to distinguish the water from the sky. We walk down the long beach to where the rocks reach the water again and further on we enter the dunes.
On this stretch, the cliffs and rocks are quite lower than where we have been walking the past few days. So for us, this meabs less climbing between the beaches. However, there is a tangle of paths in this dune landscape and the right path is sometimes hard to find. But fortunately, as long as you keep the sea on the right, you can't get lost. Here and there, the erosion of this soft rock is clearly visible. We pass several sinkholes. In some, the sea water flows underneath us.
Meanwhile, the sky above us has cleared up a bit, but when we look behind us, we see heavy dark clouds. The rain is coming... Fortunately, it's not long to Albufeira. After a quick break, we head a bit off-coast and walk pretty quickly along the harbour into town. It drizzles when we get on the bus. Only a small stretch of about 8 kilometres remains for tomorrow. If these go like today, we'll have an easy one tomorrow.