A good book, and good but tough walking!November 20, 2001 20 out of 21 found this review helpful
This book is pretty well the only guide to walking in Portugal, so it's pretty hard to give it anything less than 4 stars. The authors have also obviously spent a lot of time following the routes - and probably marking them with shepherd stones - because the descriptions of the paths are excellent. The wildlife guides, though rudimentary, are also useful. However, the book does have faults. The maps in the book are next to useless - you have to rely on the text to work out where to go - which is a shame. Another minor issue was the lack of advice about what to wear. I wish I'd been warned to wear trousers. It was hot and I wore shorts, but my legs got torn open by the gorse that I had to wade through! While the country is very beautiful, it is only slowly waking up to the potential of walking tourism, and the paths are left to get very overgrown. It's worth the effort though - and this book helps to make it possible!
