28th October (sunny, cold and windy) 47 km

One of the things I love about cycle touring is you just never know what is going to happen each day.

We woke today in our hotel room in Lagos at 7am – due to daylight saving finishing overnight, it was a lot lighter than 7am the previous morning.  Got the wages done and then downstairs for another delicious breakfast courtesy of the MonteMar Hotel.  Today we had arranged to cycle to the air bnb my cousin Pippa was staying at with her husband Phil.  They were in a small town called Mexilhoeira Grande (if that was the grande, I’d hate to see just plain old Mexilhoeira.  I'd probably struggle to see it to be honest!) about 20 km north east of Lagos.  We had to cycle past there anyway due to bays, rivers, inlets etc and the bridges to get across them and thought that will be a nice easy ride.  We could have lunch with them and then camp in the campground 10km further on.  If we felt like cycling further, there was another campground about 10km past that one.

So we had the day all set out, with contingency plan if needed, and set off to see Pippa and Phil about 11.15am.  It was a nice enough ride, into a raging headwind, but still enjoyable in the fresh air with the haze about the hills having been blown away and their ridges standing out against the blue sky.  Unfortunately, a lot of the ride was on a main road but luckily there was usually a good sized hard shoulder to ride on.

As we cycled along we saw some cork trees that had their tops cut off and stork nests on top of them.  I feel Doctor Suess could have a blast with this whole scenario with these oversized birds and their massive nests and unusual trees.  People walk to gawk at those storks on corks and talk and talk and talk.  Are you sure it was a stork, and not a hawk or a morepork?  Speaking of hawks, we also saw about twenty eagle-type birds between Mexilhoeira Grande and Figueira – having googled it, I think they may have been Bonelli’s eagles.

Anyway, we got to Pippa’s around lunchtime and it was really good to see her again and finally meet her husband Phil.  She hadn’t met Pete either so we realised we hadn’t seen each other for at least 30 years!!  We had a wonderful lunch and a great catch-up with both of them and about 3.30pm decided we should leave for the campground, just in case we had to go to the further one for any reason.  It was an easy ride and we stocked up at an Intermarche before doubling back to the campground.  Pete said with the new time that 4.30 was a good time to be finishing for the day so we had plenty of time to set up for the night before it got dark.  I agreed.

We pulled into the campground at Alvor and asked how much for the night.  Now bear in mind, in Portugal, we haven’t paid more than 12 euro a night for a campground, but for some reason these guys wanted to charge us 23 euros!!!  I was thinking well they must have actual grass to be charging that – Pete was just thinking, no freakin’ way!!

So we pedalled off for the next campground.  The wind was still cold and strong but at least it was mostly behind us.  As we cycled through Portamao, we saw and heard about twenty people practising playing their drums in unison – nothing earth shattering, but another cool little thing we saw along the way.  We came upon the charming village of Ferragudo and were tempted to stop by a hotel as it was getting very cold, but we persevered, knowing the campground was only about 2km out of town.  

Ferragudo

Finally got to the campground and went to check in, only to be told it was a private campground for members only.  It was nearly dark by this stage so we pleaded with the security guy but he said No, he was just security and didn’t have the authority to let us in.

So there we were, nowhere to stay and night closing in at the earlier time of 6pm.  We kept pedalling in an easterly direction hoping to find a hotel of some sort or maybe even a freecamp.  However, there was just nothing.  At least we seemed to be in a very nice area – lots of nice houses but no hotels.  We eventually came upon a 5 star hotel, but they were completely booked out but said we should find something in Carvoeiro.  By now we had been cycling in the dark for an hour with no lights and came upon the 4 star Hotel Carvoeiro.  Four stars we were thinking – what is this gonna set us back?  Went in and asked the nice young man on reception if they had any rooms and how much they were.  He said Yes, they had rooms and he could give us one for 54 euro, but if he gave us the booking.com discount, it would be 45.  Wow! We nearly hugged him.  And what a beautiful big room he gave us – even let us wheel our bikes across the tiled lobby and down the carpeted corridor to our room.

It was only 7pm when we checked in but felt a lot later.  Luckily we had picked up those supplies at the Intermarche and didn’t have to splash out 16 euro each for dinner.  So we just holed up in the room for the night, enjoying being out of the wind and the cold.

Pete here: Ask some women what makes them happy and you may receive replies such as, getting their hair done, nails done, shopping for clothes, shopping, full stop. Exotic holidays, five star resorts, cruising in the Med. Not many, if any, would still have a smile on their face, cycling in the dark without front lights, on pot holed streets, in a supposedly hot country which is experiencing an arctic blast at present. Freezing cold, nowhere to stay, checking out any spare ground at the side of the road for possible freecamps, even though it is covered in rocks and nothing else. The riding is dangerous, but like everything else in life, she faces it with a positive attitude, always expecting the right outcome. That is Julia and that is why I love her so much.