How difficult is the Fishermen's Trail (Trilho dos Pescadores)?

The trail starts at Praia de São Torpes with the Sines industrial zone still behind you, and the first ten kilometres of low cliff and small coves into Porto Covo are the gentlest walking it ever offers. From Porto Covo the real character sets in: dune track, frequently loose enough to sink into, running above one beach after another past Ilha do Pessegueiro and the Malhão sands. That is nearly 20 km of it to Vila Nova de Milfontes, and the surface rather than the climbing is what decides the day, so signed timings and your own tend to part company. Milfontes is the largest town of the northern half and sits on the Mira, which the marked route crosses by the road bridge at the edge of town, about two kilometres of tarmac either side. Past Praia das Furnas the going firms up onto sandy track and low cliff for the run down to Almograve. Villages and cafés come more often on this stretch than anywhere else on the route.

Navigation: Blue and green stripes on posts and rocks, walked in either direction, with crossed stripes marking the branch you do not want. Easy going with the sea on your right. The only real decision is at Vila Nova de Milfontes, where the marked line turns inland through the town for the bridge and the boat crossing is unsigned as part of the route.

In poor weather: Wind is a sand problem here rather than a balance problem: an onshore blow moves loose dune sand about and gets it into boots and gaiters. Rain actually helps, packing the dunes down into something that walks. At low water the hard beach strips below Porto Covo are firmer and faster than the dune track above them. There is almost no shade in 45 km.

Escape options: Porto Covo, Vila Nova de Milfontes and Almograve all have bus stops within a few hundred metres of the trail, and Ilha do Pessegueiro has one at km 13.7. Between there and Milfontes the dune track runs 1 to 2 km from the nearest tarmac with nothing on it, so a problem in that stretch means walking out.

The best of the northern coast and the first stretch that feels committing. Red and ochre fossil dune sand out of Almograve for the first couple of hours, slow work, and then around Cavaleiro the surface turns to gravel farm track and the cliff line becomes continuous. The lighthouse at Cabo Sardão stands above the stacks where white storks nest on the sea cliffs, dozens of nests in use, which is not something they do anywhere else. Entrada da Barca is a working fishing cove with a steep drop in and climb out. Zambujeira do Mar, above its own bay, is the only town on the stretch and the natural halfway break. South of it the path narrows and runs close to the edge for a long way, with a couple of short sharp pitches, before quitting the coast at about km 80 for lanes and the Seixe valley into Odeceixe.

Navigation: Reliably marked in blue and green along the cliff edge. Two signed variants leave Almograve and rejoin after about a kilometre, so either is fine. The rest is a matter of staying on the seaward line where farm tracks run off inland.

In poor weather: This is the most exposed part of the northern coast, with the path on an actively eroding cliff edge and nothing to shelter behind, so wind is what shortens the day rather than rain. Rota Vicentina's own guidance is that the cliffs are in constant erosion and the route is not one for anybody uneasy with heights, which is worth taking at face value on the narrow stretch south of Zambujeira do Mar.

Escape options: Cavaleiro and Zambujeira do Mar have bus stops on the route. After Zambujeira there is no bus stop at all until Odeceixe, roughly 18 km, though Azenha do Mar and the Entrada da Barca cove both sit at the end of tarmac lanes and are reachable by car.

The recovery day, and the only part of the trail that spends real time away from the sea. The route drops to the Seixe and crosses into Odeceixe, and with it out of the Alentejo and into the Algarve, then follows the south bank of the river out to the beach and the viewpoint above the river mouth. From Praia das Adegas it is back on low clifftop sand track past Baía dos Tiros and the Samouqueira pines, and then the coast is left behind for good: farmland, gravel track and quiet lane through Rogil and down into Aljezur, which sits inland below its castle. Lower, more sheltered and better populated than anything either side, with settlements coming often enough that the day never feels remote.

Navigation: The split at Odeceixe is the thing to get right: blue and green stripes for the coastal line, red and white for the shorter inland one. Beyond Rogil the route is on tracks and lanes with more junctions than the cliff sections, so the waymarks need more attention even though the walking is easier.

In poor weather: Lower and more sheltered than the cliffs either side, so wind matters less here than anywhere else on the trail. The trade is mud: the valley ground near the Seixe and the field tracks after Rogil hold water after heavy rain, where the sand elsewhere drains straight through.

Escape options: The best-served section for bailing out. Odeceixe, Rogil and Aljezur all have bus stops on or beside the route and are only a few kilometres apart, and the inland half is never far from a road.

The steepest section on the trail and the one that most often gets underestimated. It leaves Aljezur inland on lanes with an early climb, picks up forest single track, and reaches the sea at Praia da Amoreira before running on cliff path and cycle track to Monte Clérigo. From there the sand takes over again for about 6 km over Ponta da Atalaia, where a stork's nest sits on a rock stack just offshore, and into Arrifana. Past Arrifana the trail turns its back on the cliffs for most of a day, on sandy farm and forest track through cork oak and stone pine that give far less shade than they look like they should, touching the sea only at Praia do Canal, until the dune system behind Praia da Bordeira brings it back to the coast at Carrapateira. Beyond Praia do Amado it commits to the cliff edge properly: narrow single track, a steep drop to each beach and a long climb straight back out, the worst pitch saved for the last couple of kilometres and the same ground carrying on into the next section.

Navigation: Blue and green throughout on the coastal line, red and white on the inland alternatives, and the route divides at both Aljezur and again twice in the couple of kilometres before Arrifana. Those last two splits are where people wander, because the informal tracks along the field edges look as walked as the signed one.

In poor weather: The inland stretch from Arrifana to Carrapateira has almost no usable shade and is the part of the trail heat hurts most, since the sand slows you at the same time. On the cliff single track after Praia do Amado the path runs close to the edge on rock and loose stone, so strong onshore wind makes a real difference to how fast the steep pitches go.

Escape options: Monte Clérigo, Arrifana and Carrapateira are the only places on the line with road access and any services, with bus stops near Arrifana and at Carrapateira. The cliff stretch after Praia do Amado has no road anywhere near it and is the one part of this section you cannot easily be picked up from.

Two different walks either side of Sagres. The cliff pitches carried over from the previous section finish within a couple of kilometres and the trail turns inland over open fields and gravel roads to Vila do Bispo, which is unhurried, easy going and a genuine change of pace. Then the southwest corner: back onto the clifftop below Torre de Aspa, narrow rocky single track over Ponta Ruiva and the banded cliffs at Praia do Telheiro, and out around Cabo de São Vicente, where the lighthouse stands a few hundred metres off the line. Past Sagres the trail swings east along the south coast and is mild at first, through Martinhal and Barranco to the small beaches at Ingrina and Zavial, where a loose-rock descent hints at what is coming. From Praia das Furnas on it becomes an almost unbroken sequence of short steep pitches on loose stone, in and out of Praia da Figueira and Praia Santa, and that ground runs past the end of the section without letting up.

Navigation: Two places matter. The signed split about 6 km past Vila do Bispo, where the coastal blue and green parts from the red and white inland Historical Way. And a turn roughly 2 km before Sagres where the trail leaves the road for the cliffs; miss it and you walk the roadside into town on worse ground with worse views.

In poor weather: The corner between Vila do Bispo and Sagres is the windiest ground on the trail, clifftop with nothing to hide behind, and the open field walking before it feels the wind more than it looks like it should. East of Sagres the concern changes: the loose stone and worn clay on the descents at Zavial, Furnas and Praia Santa are slippery when wet, and that stretch is slow enough in the dry that rain can push a late finish into the dark.

Escape options: Vila do Bispo and Sagres both sit on the route with bus stops on it. Between Sagres and Salema, roughly 19 km, there is no bus stop and no village, and the hardest ground on the trail is in the last part of it. The beach car parks at Ingrina and Zavial are on tarmac and are the only realistic pick-up points in that stretch.

It opens in the last of the hard ground, steep loose pitches down to Praia Santa and back out, and then it simply stops: Salema ends it and nothing afterwards is difficult. Low limestone coast follows, short ups and downs, the Roman ruins at Boca do Rio, the cove villages of Cabanas Velhas and Burgau, and quiet cliff path into Praia da Luz. The one sustained climb of the section comes on the far side of Luz, straight up onto Rocha Negra, and is followed by open clifftop to Porto de Mós. From there the trail joins the boardwalks and steps around the stacks and coves of Ponta da Piedade and stays crowded to the end, through Praia do Camilo, Dona Ana and the town beaches into Lagos. A busy, well-trodden finish that feels nothing at all like the west coast.

Navigation: Straightforward, and the waymarks hold up even through the rough ground at the start. Around Ponta da Piedade the trail mixes with tourist boardwalks and viewpoint spurs, so the line is less obvious than it has been all week even though nothing is at stake. Several people finish at Dona Ana or the marina; the marked route carries on through the town to the station.

In poor weather: Rain matters more than wind on this section. The loose stone and worn clay on the pitches down to Praia Santa are slippery wet, and the descents to the small beaches west of Burgau are on the same stuff. Once past Luz the clifftop is open with no shelter, but it is short.

Escape options: The easiest part of the trail to leave. Salema, Burgau, Praia da Luz and Porto de Mós all have bus stops within a few hundred metres of the route, and Lagos has the only railway station on the trail, at the finish itself.