One week after completing the London marathon (her first), the author embarks on a long-distance backpacking trip across southern Portugal with her partner, outdoor writer Harri Garrod Roberts.
While this grandmother of two is confident she’s fit enough to tackle the 300 kilometre Via Algarviana trail, how will she cope when the temperature soars, no-one speaks English and drinking water is in short supply?
Follow the author as she hikes the tough, undulating route through depopulated villages and beautiful mountains of inland Algarve, and gradually succumbs to the charms of a region that remains off the beaten track despite being so close to popular sandy beaches.
Away from the bustling resorts, the couple spent their days discovering a varied landscape of rolling hills, dry orchards, cork forests, and agricultural terraces. In the evenings, they enjoyed village life, traditional cuisine and the extraordinary kindness and hospitality of local people.
The Via Algarviana: walking 300 km across the Algarve by Tracy Burton is available from Amazon and is priced at £2.99 (Kindle edition) and £5.99 (paperback).
The Via Algarviana (‘Algarve Way’) is a fully waymarked, long-distance trail from the Spanish border in the east to the Atlantic Ocean in the west. For more information about walking the Via Algarviana visit the official website. A printed guide with individual maps of each section, plus all the link routes are available free of charge (postage is payable).
For more photographs of the Via Algarviana visit Pinterest.
