Silves to Portimão

We have reached our destination! It's been a fantastic trip. Here's a quick report on our last day of cycling.

We can confirm that the castle in Silves looked as beautiful at sunrise as at other times of day.

We had a final hotel breakfast and repacked our panniers for the last time, then set off. Rather than going directly to Portimão, we went up the Arade river - again, lots of scenic roads, orange groves, fig trees, farm animals, etc.

The main point of the detour was to visit an impressive dam and reservoir.

Having got up to this high point we came back down towards Silves, then onwards towards the coast.

Most of this stretch was really beautiful, but we had the slight drawback of a busy road into/through Portimão. This was mostly unavoidable as we were dropping off our hired bikes at a very fancy bike shop. Fortunately we survived the traffic and the people at the shop were very helpful. 

So we said 'thank you and goodbye' to the bikes, and headed off into the centre of Portimão on the bus to meet up with my family - but not before being befriended by some British cyclists who had just finished their ride for the day. Quite funny that it took us the whole trip to find any other cyclists to talk to.

Today's statistics: 38.2km, 405m of ascent 

It's been a brilliant trip, with many happy memories to look back on, and a wonderful introduction to bike touring (and gravel bikes) for me. We were so lucky to have minimal mechanical problems (no punctures), excellent weather, and friendly places to stay. I'm very grateful to Stephen for planning (and replanning) the route, and for keeping me going throughout.

Next up, a week of relaxation and recovery, with lots of time with my family by the pool and on the beach. We are feeling very lucky!

Overall statistics: 477.9km, 4349m of ascent 

Sagres to Lagos

Another great day of cycling behind us. We started off a bit later than usual and slightly paid the price in terms of heat, but it all went very well over all!

We started off by heading out of Sagres back through Vila do Bispo, even passing yesterday's lunchtime café. The first part of today's riding was into a strong headwind, just to wake up the legs properly. 

We did most of this stretch on a road alongside or near to a major road, which we were warned was in a poor condition. But it was a much better condition than many roads we've been on!

There were some lovely views of the Algarvian hills. We also spotted lots of interesting nature including three hoopoes, many snails clustering on weeds, and the classic trio of almond trees, carobs, and figs.

As we continued, we spent more time close to the coast, which meant lots more amazing views round bends in the road like this.

It was a day of lots of hills - one particularly steep one was after a stop in Salema (where we had a much needed refreshing drink), before Burgau.

Quite a lot of the route was following EV1, which sometimes gave us a helpful green line to follow on the road. Much easier than looking for tiny signposts and quite fun.

We could feel we were getting into resort territory. In fact we went right through Praia da Luz.

From there it wasn't too much further into Lagos, our destination for the day. We enjoyed a big meal, a relaxing time next to/in the pool, and a lovely evening stroll to see some sights.

Treated ourselves to some Algarvian delicacies too!

Today's statistics: 41.9km, 629m of ascent. More ascent than any other day (except Sesimbra to Melides), compressed into a relatively short distance.

Praia de Odeceixe to Sagres

Hello from Sagres, where we have finished day five of our tour. And it's been another lovely day.

If yesterday morning was a little Alen-grey-jo (Stephen's pun...of course), today was full blue sky right from the start.

We had an early walk onto the beach then had breakfast overlooking it. We had also found out that Odeceixe is one of the 'seven wonders of Portugal' in the beaches category.

We began the day's cycling with a bit of climbing away from the coast and a short section of gravel, then along a nice flat road through the memorably named village 'Maria Vinagre' and south to Aljezur. There Stephen was able to get a new spoke put on his back wheel by a friendly man called Nick from Grimsby. We can recommend his business, Hashtag Bike Rentals, if anyone needs an urgent repair in the area!

We were relieved to have this sorted out and, freshly provided with water, biscuits and bananas, set out on a long stretch of scenic roads, having decided in advance to reduce the gravel quotient for the day. This was partly because we weren't sure when we would be getting moving. (In the end we had left Aljezur around 11.)

A lot of this stretch was in the very scenic Natural Park of the Southwest Alentejo and Vicentine Coast. There were lots of winding roads through wooded valleys (and some quite deserty hills), with gradual ascents and smooth descents. It was hot, but there was a good breeze to keep us cooler. Being solar powered, I think I was having more fun than Stephen!

We passed near or through some small towns, including Bordeira and Carrapateira, but kept moving as we were conscious the day was only getting hotter. Having made excellent progress through the day's mileage, we stopped for lunch in Vila do Bispo.

We found a good establishment to eat where we each had soup, a bifana, a Sumol, and a pastel de nata, as well as an Ucal/galão (you can guess who had which of those). You can't say fairer than €20 for all that.

After Vila do Bispo we had about 5km of gravel, which was surprisingly enjoyable. 

Then it was back onto roads for a detour to the Cabo de São Vicente, the most southwesterly point of mainland Europe. For us, another notable fact is that it's the start of EU cycling route 1 (worth a Google). So we each had a photo with the 'kilometre zero' marker.

We enjoyed the views from the cliffs. It was incredibly windy so we were careful not to get blown over the edge!

Then we had an easy (wind-assisted) roll into Sagres along the aforementioned route 1, which was red (excitingly).

We had great fun seeing how far we could go without pedalling, which turned out to be quite far. We even overtook some guys on an ebike.

We've had a very nice rest of afternoon/evening in Sagres. We visited the hotel spa, swam in indoor and outdoor pools, and went to a sandy beach which we almost had to ourselves. It was slightly sheltered from the fierce wind, so good for a quick dip.

We rounded off the day with another solid meal at a restaurant in town. Ready for a good sleep and another day of pedalling tomorrow. It will be a change of direction as we'll be going predominantly east (and a bit north) rather than south (and a bit west).

It will also be a shorter day - today was bigger than each of the remaining days.

Today's statistics: 73km, 657m of ascent 

Porto Covo to Praia de Odeceixe

 Hello from Praia de Odeceixe!

We are feeling so fortunate to be here on this wonderful trip. Another excellent day today.

After a good breakfast at our bike-friendly hotel, and pumping up the tyres, we set off southwards. The weather started cool and cloudy and we made good progress, stopping on the bridge over the river Mira near Vila Nova de Milfontes.

We made another brief stop by a traditional windmill in Longueira, for purely photographic purposes. The village felt very typical of the Alentejo (the region north of the Algarve), with low whitewashed houses with coloured window surrounds and stripes at ground level.

The countryside that we were mainly passing through also felt quite Alentejan. We went through more eucalyptus and cork oak areas, but also a lot of farmland. We saw all kinds of vegetables being grown: as well as the usual melons, beans, cabbages and tomatoes in smallholdings, today we saw huge fields of sweet potatoes, butternut squash, yellow squash (pictured), pumpkins, and raspberries (in polytunnels).

Although most of today's route was on paved roads, including a section on our much favoured N-120, we also did a long stretch on a beautiful coastal path, which makes up part of the Rota Vicentina, a network of walking and cycling trails in this part of Portugal. The views were really stunning, and the gravel surface wasn't bad at all, which, combined with the slightly cooler temperatures, made it a very comfortable morning.

After leaving the trail we unfortunately discovered a minor problem in that Stephen's bike had a broken spoke. We were planning to stop for lunch soon anyway, in Zambujeira do Mar. So with a nice orange juice and bifana to help, we came up with a plan for getting it fixed. We hope this will be okay in practice on Tuesday morning.

The sun came out while we were eating, and we took in the views of the ocean before setting off again.

Two short and sharp climbs in quick succession were followed by a very unexpected field, potentially even more exciting than a field of squashes - it contained ostriches and zebras.

I don't think any of us could have predicted this safari experience when we set off!

There wasn't much further to go after this, just another 20km or so of good roads, passing through some small villages. We soon reached the town of Odeceixe, which was very scenic, and from where we could follow the river back to the coast. This also marked the point where we crossed from the Alentejo into the Algarve, which seems to have come round very quickly. 

It was just a short distance onwards and upwards to our destination for the night, Praia de Odeceixe. We couldn't be much closer to the Atlantic - we can hear the waves crashing at this moment. We enjoyed some beach time with an ice cream, a walk along the river, and a paddle in the sea in the late afternoon.

We're staying the night in a room over a fish restaurant where we have just had a delicious meal, with sopa do dia (vegetable soup), lulas (squid), dourada (bream), bolo de brigadeiro (chocolate cake), and baba de camelo (caramel mousse), not to mention a drop of the house white, Monte Velho, to celebrate the halfway point. It couldn't be much better than this!

Today's statistics: 67km, 500m of ascent