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 

Lagos to Silves

Nearing the end of the tour now, and still enjoying it thoroughly!

The day started with a beautiful sunrise seen from our room, and a hearty breakfast, then a gentle roll out of Lagos. 

We followed a cycle route along the railway for a while, which was fun. We saw our first train since Lisbon. This path also took us past some areas of water including a fish farm.

As we went inland, most of the day's route was in rolling Algarvian landscapes, with some small villages, much agricultural interest (a few pigs, sheep, fruit trees of various sorts), but mainly just lovely views from quiet tracks or roads. 

The heat was intense, so we were glad to arrive in Silves just before midday - learning yesterday's lesson, we had set out much earlier.

The hotel kindly let us check in very early and also gave us a room with an amazing view of the castle.

After a refreshing shower the next stop was lunch and some very light sightseeing in the town. 

We had some downtime by the pool (and in it) then headed back out at sunset for a stroll and dinner. We were pleased to see many storks in residence by the river.

We found a handy restaurant for dinner, full of locals and tourists, for a good meal of piri piri chicken with chips, rice, and salad.

Then back to the hotel to sleep it off and get ready for a final day of cycling. 

Today's statistics: 43.1km, 365m of elevation

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