(Lagos) I took the train to Lagos – which afforded me a look on the Algarve countryside. The deep red earth, vegetation dusty green at this time of year. Almond trees blossoming, orange trees, some palm trees, lots of bushes.

Lagos itself is a tidy little tourist town, which manages to retain a low concentration of tourists even at this time of year. I think there must be a high proportion of british, based on the number of indian restaurants, and the fact that the first person who spoke to me had a Geordie accent.

I checked into the local youth hostel, and then left for a long walk around the coast.

Sunny day, deserted cliffs and beaches, a pastel de nata in my bag – enough to have me happy as a clam. I walked along the cliffs for a few hours.

Today it started raining. I pursued my first plan, which was to go to the Cabo de Sao Vicente. I was alone in the bus. The Cabo is a rocky cliff topped by a lighthouse, pretty scenic. But well, the weather was bad, and i didn’t see any obvious walking paths, so i went back to the bus after exchanging some words with local fishermen.

But instead of going back to Laag’sh, i got on with plan B, which was to walk from Salema to Burgau – several people had told me it was a very scenic walk.

Do you sometimes come up with a plan, that you realize is not such a bright idea, but you push on anyway, because fuck it (or other such rational explanations) ? Well, this was one of those.

So i got off at Salema. It was raining. I started the walk with no other walking equipment than good walking shoes and a bag of honey-flavoured cakes (thank god for those).

It turned out to be quite a trek along the cliffs. The red earth has a good proportion of clay, which makes it slippery when wet. Sometimes i mistook a small dried-up stream for a path.

I had to cross a small river (boots off and hoping nobody had chucked in any beer bottles). I met with a sheep and goat herd, and matching herder – energetic business, a lot of shouting and whistling (i tried to record the soundscape with my iPhone, the herder, the bells, the sheep bleating). I passed an abandoned shack with noises inside, and didn’t stop to investigate.

The rain kept on going. I was soaked through but kept warm by moving. Nobody else on the trail at all, which was fine, but if I’d slipped, it would have taken a long time for anyone to find me (well, except if my danish roommate had worried).

I ended up in Burgau, finally, and had to wait 20 minutes for the bus, while chatting with a local road worker – amazing how far you can get with some spanish, place names and gestures.

Anyhow, i was frozen by the time i got back to the hostel. Now it’s a hhhhot shower and dry clothes later, but i can’t imagine I’ll be doing much more today.

Great, this quiet, the waves, the birds, the smell of juniper, herbs and the sea. I could get used to this, although a little sunshine wouldn’t go amiss.