Quarteira to Olhao via Faro

Went back to sleep after the dogs, bird horses, and chickens woke me me up at 5am. Man they are loud.
Finally hit the the road at 10.30 and was in a sort of pissed off mound. Decided to go to Faro. On the way hooked up with this old guy who was on a racer. In said good morning to him and he replied good morning back and that was it , we were riding partners for the next 30 kilometres. I didn't ask how old he was but he must of been in his 60s going 70s. I could see he was holding back for me on the hills but on the straights I kept up. Soon the kilometre past and when we hit Faro I wanted to offer him a drink but before I had a chance he pointed towards the beach front. That was it, my riding partner was off. I shouted thanks and he just gave a salute. A unsaid companionship that crosses age and race. Nothing more nothing less. Then I remembered I wasn't pissed off anymore.

Here are some photos of Faro old town..

Hello Civisation. The Algarve Wecomes You.

The tree lined roads in to logos was simply stunning. The ever changing climb and decent of the landscape tell you something is changing. Its seems that as you approach the coast the land rises before the descent down to life. Logos now seems distant in my mind now that I'm in Portimao. The famous rocks of priaia rochca stand out and remind me of when I was young on family holidays or have i just seen them to many times on travel brochures. I stop and take a break to full look at them and snap away with my camera. I rode slowly along the beach front looking at all the shops and bars getting ready for the summer madness. I can now hear different ascents, German, French, Irish, English and Portuguese. This is tourist town in a state of ready ness. The lobster look is never far away and the poor pain skin victim seems OK with the third degree burns.

I ride around the bay and hope to see signs for a campsite sooner than later. My luck is in and I'm soon setting up the tent and settling in for the night. Enjoy the photos..

Nothing much happening in Aljezur

A late start again.. Must be getting lazy! The truth is I got up early but really needed to charge up some batteries and as the campsite had FREE WiFi I took full advantage. Spoke my daughter and the guys at work on Skype which was great. Really nice to see them hard at work. Then spoke to a very close friend who told me some sad news.. Get well soon Robert. Sending all my love to you my dear friend.. Wishing you strength and speedy recovery.

So I consider today as a days of rest a catching up with friends and family. Still manage to cover 38 miles on hilly roads with a facing wind at times. When the wind is hitting you full on, its really hard.. Oh before I forget. A big thanks to George.. You know why mate. You are very kind... Back to the cycling. As I was saying, riding in to wind really takes it out of you and when you factor in hills the energy levels really drop. Also the weather has got as lot better and the sun is out much of the day and there lies a new problem. Burning and heat stroke. I really felt the heat on my arms and knew they were getting burnt. So I put extra sun cream on.

 I also stopped early today. I didn't want to risk getting court out in the heat and having to ride a further 15 to 20 miles. I am fully aware that I'm out here by myself and can not afford to get I'll. 

There is so much thinking ahead, do I have enough water, how far is the next village, do I have money and do I have communication /battery power. I know I'm only in Portugal and you would think there's people all around but one thing I have learnt is you can not take it for granted. I have ridden for three hours and not seen a single person or car. So be prepared. Take no chances.

So tomorrow I hope to hit the south coast of Portugal, The Algarve baby.. People and life.

Don't go to Sines

Today finished pretty much how its started, slow and uneventful. Left last nights campsite at 11.30am and hit the road to Sines. On arrival I found that the whole place is an oil / petrol refinery of sorts and nothing much to say other than don't bother going there unless you work for a petrol company and find that sort of thing interesting.

Did have an interesting meeting with a bird who joined me for my morning coffee and saw an interesting sand rock formation on a deserted beach and a deserted beach. Enjoy the pictures.. See ya .

Crossing sands dunes from Peniche to Ericeira

So I've rain, winds, hills and a combination of all three. To add the list is vineyard gravel trails, dirt paths and now sand dunes. I thought it would be a great idea to miss out a big part of today's journey by take a local short cut, as told to me by a group of local mountain bike riders. They did look at me a bit weird thou. So the first part was a hill. Then a dirt path along the top of a cliff. This then turned in to gravel path which farmers use to water their grape vines and not forgetting pushing a 45 kilo bike thru 200 metres of sand dunes. So much for short cuts. To top it all the last 2 miles into Ericeira was pure punishment of hills. I'm still smiling..