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
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