A Welsh author with strong local links is publishing a book on a long walk through Portugal which took him through the backlands of a country with a split personality.

Stephen Powell, a former Reuters correspondent, started his walk inland in the northeastern corner of Portugal in September 2018. Six months later, after following a zigzag route of nearly 1,500 kilometres, he arrived at the surf resort of Sagres, on the southwestern coast of the Algarve."It was, by a considerable distance, the longest walk of my life," said Powell, a lifelong walking enthusiast. "It was a fascinating immersion in a country which historically has been very intertwined with Britain. ’’Both countries have in their time had global empires and now, on their post-imperial journeys, they are taking very different paths. ’’Portugal, of course, is much smaller, it’s a country of 10 million people. ’’The Portuguese take it as given that their future lies within the European Union."Powell discovered a country with two very different personalities. The cities of Lisbon and Porto and the coast of the Algarve are world-renowned tourist destinations, vibrant and wholly attuned to a world of modernity. But inland, many villages are dying, victims of a decades-long flight from the countryside as people leave home to seek work and a better life."The demographics of Portugal are most striking," said Powell. "About nine million people live in the western half of the country, mainly on the coast. That leaves just one million people in the eastern half and in some places there the population density is lower than in the Highlands of Scotland."In sparsely populated lands, conventional accommodation can be scarce. "I remember walking into one inland town called Cuba," said the author. "Cuba is on the plains of the Alentejo, well away from tourist routes. ’’I asked a woman and her son walking their dog if they knew of any accommodation. ’’They took me to the local fire station. The son had a contact there and he explained that fire stations sometimes put up pilgrims. ’’The firemen were very friendly and I spent the night in the ladies’ bathroom, stretched out on a wooden bench. ’’I was told that no-one would actually use the bathroom except me."Powell warmed to the Portuguese, appreciating their hospitality and their readiness to have unhurried conversations. (He spent nearly five years as a reporter in Brazil, so he has a good grasp of the Brazilian variant of Portuguese and gradually got used to European Portuguese.)"Spontaneous gestures can really touch the heart," he said. "On one occasion in central Portugal I was walking in steadily falling rain. I was wearing waterproofs top and bottom, but one woman saw me and decided that this was not enough. ’’She crossed the road and thrust an umbrella into my hands."Twice during his Portugal walk, Powell headed back to his Crickhowell home to rest during the shorter days of autumn and winter. He said that Crickhowell felt like base camp throughout his Portuguese odyssey.His book, "Walking Europe’s Edge, Reflections on Portugal" was published by SilverWood Books of Bristol on September 23. It is on sale for £10.99 at their website, silverwoodbooks.co.uk. It will also be available on major websites like Amazon.In 2018, Powell published his first travel book, "The First Toast is to Peace, Travels in the South Caucasus". This recounted journeys in Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia.Since late 2019 Powell has spent most of his time in Portugal, but he has kept alive his links with Wales, taking part in weekly Welsh-language Zoom conversations with a group based in Gilwern.