Hiking Dude Blog

Kelly and I decided to fly to Europe and hike for a month or so during August and September, 2024. The Tour du Mont Blanc is very popular so that was the main route we wanted to do, but it takes less than 2 weeks to hike. So, I looked around for another trail - as long as we were paying to get to Europe, we figured we should stay as long as possible.

The Plan:

I found the Kungsleden (King's Trail) in Sweden which is ~400km long, but the northern 60km or so is the most popular. It's above the Arctic Circle and gives us the opportunity to hike up Sweden's tallest mountain, the Kebnekaise. So, that was one more week taken care of.

The West Highland Way in Scotland is another very popular trail and is about 100 miles long. Coincidentally, it passes Scotland's tallest mountain, Ben Nevis. That trail would fill our time window.

So, researching and planning commenced in earnest. Which trail should we hike first? Do we camp or stay in lodging? What food do we need? How about water?

I quickly learned that backpacking in Europe is a lot different than on the long, wild trails in America. It seems there is very little area in Europe that is more than a day from a village of some kind. So, most people just walk for the day and then get a meal and stay in lodging each night. All three trails had similar infrastructure that supported that style of hiking.

Both Sweden and Scotland allow 'wild camping' along the trail, so we decided to carry all our gear as if we were in the wilderness. Unfortunately, camping along the trail is not allowed in much of mainland Europe, including the TMB route through France, Italy, and Switzerland. We decided we would camp whenever possible, and use a hostel or other lodging when required. It also became clear that restaurants and stores are abundant along the West Highland Way and TMB, but not on the Kungsleden.

Looking at the popularity of the trails, crowd size, location, and time of year, it made the most sense to start with Sweden which was the farthest north and least crowded, then Scotland, then TMB. The TMB is very crowded and we expected much of the crowd to thin out in September. Historic weather data showed that mid-August to mid-September should be nice weather in all three locations. This would also allow us to start with dehydrated meals from home and use them up in the first week, limiting the amount we needed to carry.

The Start:

Things don't always go as planned. Actually, they rarely do. The more precise and detailed a plan is, the less likely it can be followed. That's why I enjoy estimating how far I'll walk each day, where I'll stop for the night, and how many days a trail will take. Then, as soon as I start hiking, I only use that at a reference to see how well I guessed rather than as a set-in-stone schedule to follow.

Once you start reserving transport, lodging, or services, you get locked into a schedule that is much more difficult to break out of. That happened big time on this trip, so I'm glad we made a plan that was as flexible as possible.

We bought air flights for August 13 to Sweden, then to Scotland 10 days later, then to Geneva 12 days later, finally back home from Geneva on September 19. I figured that many days was plenty to cover the distances, and if we finished sooner, we could explore towns in the area. I also reserved a hotel and a hostel in Sweden for our first nights before starting the trail, as well as bus tickets to get to the trailhead. Anything else would be planned and purchased a few days before it was needed as we progressed.

Before we left home, the weather in Scotland and on the TMB was nice and sunny - the forecast for Sweden was a week of rainy weather. That turned out to be correct and our week on the Kungsleden was quite damp.

As we finished the Kungsleden, the forecast for Scotland was a week of rain while the TMB continued to have nice weather. That turned out to be correct and we hiked through many wet days on the West Highland Way.

Finishing the West Highland Way, the forecast for the TMB turned to rain for at least the next week while Scotland was clearing off. So far, we had the worst weather timing possible. If I had planned the order to hike TMB, Kungsleden, West Highland Way then we would have had good weather on each trail. Hindsight is 20/20 vision, I guess.

The Big Switch:

We decided yet another 10 days of rain was not going to be much fun. So, we searched weather forecasts for all of Europe, hoping for some other place we might hike. All of Europe had rain forecast except for the very southern coast, including southwest Portugal.

On our rest day before our evening flight to Geneva, we found the Fishermen's Trail and it sounded like the right distance, but we had no time to do much research about it. We checked into airfares and how to reach the trailhead. It was doable, but expensive. We already had flights paid to Geneva and home from there, so we would have to buy tickets from Geneva to Lisbon and back - cancelling our current flights would have been very expensive and not saved much travel time.

We took the flight to Geneva, finally reaching our hotel at about 1am. A final check of weather just to be sure still showed Portugal=SUN and France=RAIN so we bought last-minute tickets to Lisbon for the next day. It was the best spur-of-the-moment decision I've ever made. Almost two weeks of sun and sand exploring a new country was fabulous! I did check the TMB weather from Portugal a few times, just to see if it had been a good decision - we would have had at least 7 days of rain, including 3 days with some snow!

The Review:

You can read about our 3 hikes over 30 days covering 300 miles at these: Kungsleden, West Highland Way, and Fishermen's Trail report pages. I'd be happy to answer whatever questions you might have about the trails as well.

Hike On!

September 15 - The last mile or so always seems to take so long. Winding into Lagos around 4:00pm over a massive network of boardwalks to keep the hords of tourists off the eroding cliffs, we walked the last mile to our lodging for the night. It was a great day of hiking to end on.

Our hike started at a bit after 10am since we chose to wait for a shuttle from the campground back to the trail. But, we got a nice breakfast before leaving so we started fed and hydrated.

A big climb right out of Salema, followed by a drop back down to the sea and another climb up, warmed us up quickly. We had a few more such climbs but not so many as yesterday. We still managed to sweat quite a bit today in the warmer air and steep hills.

The ocean views were many and beautiful, and there was more packed clay than sand or rocks on the trail. This, along with the long boardwalks, made the day overall a fairly easy 15 miles. I saw a couple more fishermen, but still no fish caught.

We met a nice couple from Holland at a snack break in Luz and enjoyed chatting with them awhile. We were also stopped by a young lady asking about so many people with backpacks. So, she got a Hiking Dude sticker to check out the blog.

Tonight, we had grilled sardines and grilled golden bream at a restaurant recommended by our host. Our walk through the big city of Lagos was fun. The tight old streets are packed with people. Our airbnb lodging is right in the old town and is very comfortable.

We now have a day off in Lagos tomorrow after hiking around 300 miles over the past month.

Check out my current location on the map.

September 14 - Yet another beautiful day hiking along the coast of Portugal. Most of the day offered great views south over the Atlantic but we worked for them.

The first 6 miles of trail had only 2 climbs and the rest was mostly flat up on the cliffs. The cliffs here on the south shore are quite a bit lower than the West Coast.

The lower plateau made the 10 climbs in the second 6 miles a bit easier. They were still on very steep and rugged trail, but at least they were never more than 200 feet of elevation. A dozen of them were enough to tire us out, though.

The trail itself is much more rugged here. Straight up rock hillsides with lots of loose gravel and scree made slipping an easy activity.

At the hallway point, we stopped for a coke at yet another beach bar. It was a very nice rest break before starting all the little climbs.

We arrived in Salema around 2:30 and had 90 minutes to wait for a shuttle to take us a mile out of town to our campground. We got a coke and enjoyed some shade by the beach. Salema is definitely the most touristy/expensive town so far.

The mile of road to the campground is very narrow and windy so our plan is to delay our start tomorrow and take the first shuttle down to the town at 10am.

We found a flat area of dirt for our tent and got a simple dinner at the camp restaurant, and that was the day. Tomorrow is our last, long walk.

Check out my current location on the map.

September 13 - Friday, the 13th, what could go wrong? Well, nothing actually. Today was a very pleasant uneventful day in which we reached the 'Edge of the World'.

After what is becoming our typical breakfast of fruit, yogurt, and granola, we walked out of Vila do Bispo on our last southbound hike in Portugal. Our 13 mile hike was all on dirt road except for about 3 miles.

Once we left town, we could see forever in all directions since the plateau here is so flat. Water towers that we had passed days ago were still visible on the horizon and the edge of land where Portugal dropped to the sea was ahead of us.

Surfing is big business around here and we've become used to surf school vans flying past on roadwalks. This morning was the same, but that was the only traffic on this fairly peaceful hike.

We reached the western cliffs as we've done for the past week and followed them south to Cabo de Sao Vicente lighthouse where we could go south no more. This is known as the Edge of the World because it is the most southwest spot in Portugal, the Iberian Peninsula and Europe. It's the last but of land sailors would see when seeing off on adventures.

Today, it's more of a tourist trap with tour buses and gaggles of people stopping for selfies and then moving on. We found a sheltered spot for our sardine lunch and then hiked up the road.

From here, we take a big left hand turn and will be hiking east along Portugal's south shore for a couple days. Right away, the sea below us is a different color and is begging us to jump in. But as we're still over a hundred feet above that's not happening for awhile.

The last part of our hike into Sangres consisted of a wonderfully wide and smooth walkway along the road and some trail along the cliffs. This bit of trail, as well as a small section just north of the lighthouse, was extremely rocky rather than the sand we've become accustomed to.

Tip: If you are tempted to just walk the fast, easy road into Sangres from the lighthouse, you you will miss the first very beautiful views down into the 'new' ocean. The small extra distance and rougher trail are worth it.

Arriving in Sangres around 1:30, we found our lodging for the night and then headed to the beach which was just a 10 minute walk. It was beautiful, but the water was as cold as any mountain lake I've ever been in! Maybe as we head east it will warm, but I doubt it.

After our beach rest, we did our usual showers, groceries, and then dinner so we're ready for our penultimate day of hiking tomorrow.

Check out my current location on the map.

September 12 - This was definitely a day of ups and downs.

We slept in and then had some plums, cocoa, and bread for breakfast at the hostel, so we didn't get out of town until almost 9:00, but the dirt roadwalk was pleasant to the coast.

The official Fisherman's Trail route had us drop down to three separate beaches today. That also means three climbs back up to the plateau! Each climb was about 400 feet and some were steeper than others.

Since the hike today was only about 10 miles, we decided to divert off the official trail which went inland, and stay on the coast another couple miles before heading inland to Vila do Bispo. This meant adding two more of those climbs, but we got to spend some time walking along almost a mile of nice beach.

I'd really recommend doing this, but with one change. At a four-way intersection about 6.5 miles south on trail from Carrapateira, stay on the yellow/red marked trail rather than the green/blue Fisherman's Trail so you tend west to the coast instead of straight south to Vila do Bispo.

When you drop down to the first beach, which is Prais de Barriga, just walk out onto the beach and follow it to the left/South for at least 2 miles to Beach Castelejo where you can follow the road, then trail, Southwest to Vila do Bispo.

This gets you on the beach for a long, pleasant walk with only one additional climb.

We met a few more German hikers - surprise! But, the trail was not very busy today. We did see a trail friend from Austria named Katie so we're looking forward to maybe running into her again.

We stopped on one beach for a sardine and crackers picnic and on another for a snack while we watched waves crash onto the rocks.

The hike ended with the typical roadwalk into town where we are staying in someone's apartment that has been changed to a lodging similar to AirBnB.

The wind was very strong today and the sun bright. It was a great day for walking.

With a little effort looking for a place that would take more than just cash, we enjoyed a dinner of sea bass and grilled shrimp in a tiny restaurant that was full.

Vila do Bispo is the first town on this trek that has had a 'real' grocery store, AND it has an Aldi store that we might visit on our way out of town tomorrow.

Excitement for today: my floppy sun hat got whipped off my head by the strong wind and almost down a steep hillside, but we retrieved it before it got away.

Check out my current location on the map.

September 12 - This was definitely a day of ups and downs.

We slept in and then had some plums, cocoa, and bread for breakfast at the hostel, so we didn't get out of town until almost 9:00, but the dirt roadwalk was pleasant to the coast.

The official Fisherman's Trail route had us drop down to three separate beaches today. That also means three climbs back up to the plateau! Each climb was about 400 feet and some were steeper than others.

Since the hike today was only about 10 miles, we decided to divert off the official trail which went inland, and stay on the coast another couple miles before heading inland to Vila do Bispo. This meant adding two more of those climbs, but we got to spend some time walking along almost a mile of nice beach.

I'd really recommend doing this, but with one change. At a four-way intersection about 6.5 miles south on trail from Carrapateira, stay on the yellow/red marked trail rather than the green/blue Fisherman's Trail so you tend west to the coast instead of straight south to Vila do Bispo.

When you drop down to the first beach, which is Prais de Barriga, just walk out onto the beach and follow it to the left/South for at least 2 miles to Beach Castelejo where you can follow the road, then trail, Southwest to Vila do Bispo.

This gets you on the beach for a long, pleasant walk with only one additional climb.

We met a few more German hikers - surprise! But, the trail was not very busy today. We did see a trail friend from Austria named Katie so we're looking forward to maybe running into her again.

We stopped on one beach for a sardine and crackers picnic and on another for a snack while we watched waves crash onto the rocks.

The hike ended with the typical roadwalk into town where we are staying in someone's apartment that has been changed to a lodging similar to AirBnB.

The wind was very strong today and the sun bright. It was a great day for walking.

With a little effort looking for a place that would take more than just cash, we enjoyed a dinner of sea bass and grilled shrimp in a tiny restaurant that was full.

Vila do Bispo is the first town on this trek that has had a 'real' grocery store, AND it has an Aldi store that we might visit on our way out of town tomorrow.

Excitement for today: my floppy sun hat got whipped off my head by the strong wind and almost down a steep hillside, but we retrieved it before it got away.

Check out my current location on the map.