clairedavieswriter

So how are you doing the end-to-end of Portugal? This is the general idea:

Starting from Faro:

(Technically the water taxi wharf was the furthest south I could get)

We’ll make our way to the country’s most northerly point, which, according to my calculations (and I’m making the rules here) is the old customs post at Cevide. All being well, we aim to arrive there on 23 May. We’re going to spend a big chunk of the trip on the N2, which I’m hoping will be something like Spain’s N-630: a route which has largely been rendered obsolete by newer roads. Traffic-wise, it was certainly a delight to ride on for most of today

Which is more than can be said for the section of EuroVelo 1 we used to get out of Faro. I mean, really, is this the best they could do?

But in all honesty, my mind was preoccupied with the challenge that lay ahead:

And sure enough, Guillaume hadn’t exaggerated. It didn’t help that he took us on one of his famous short cuts, which involved a 30% hill that started like this:

And ended like this:

But fortunately that was the only time we had to get off and push, and soon we were back on the N2

And as we climbed the views just got better

And the scenery just got emptier

Eventually, after climbing for 50k, by which time the cork oaks had given way to eucalyptus and pines

We reached 577m above sea level, our highest point of the day. It was a significant moment but we got a bit giggly about how small I looked in the selfie

I’ll be honest, today was very hard work, especially in the heat. But as always we found sights of interest along the way, like the way traditional Portuguese tiling was used on this old school advertising:

And this roadside distance marker:

We appreciated the thoughtful provision of a shaded picnic bench at exactly the moment we were ready for lunch

Which consisted of a sanduiche de queijo, in case you’re interested, made for us in the bar where we had a mid morning coffee

After a glorious swoop downhill from the high point, we spent the last 20k in what could have been Western Australia, what with the dry heat, the eucalyptus trees…

And the apparently endless bush:

When we reached our destination, we found they had really gone to town with their cycle infrastructure (you can see virtually all of it in this photo):

It was a challenging day, and our sense of achievement was in no way diminished when two cyclists at our guest house told us they had ridden 125k and climbed 3,000m off-road. That’s just unnecessary. This on the other hand, was essential:

And despite the challenges, I can confirm we achieved our task for the day: