Sublime Beaches

September 21, 2022

Vilamoura to Faro

Breakfast as always to start a good day. I read that these sublime breakfasts may be a thing of the past when we get to Spain, which gave me pause. I will have to adapt.

We left our lovely hotel/apartment and cruised around to find the bike path we could see people enjoying from our delicious breakfast on the terrace. There were so many egrets that I first thought they were flags on some sort of practice area on the golf course. I stopped to take a picture of the one black sheep in the bunch, and managed to lose the CN in the first 1.5 kilometres of today’s ride. Oops. I did the tried and true, stopped dead where I last saw him and waited. There were about four different directions he could have gone, and true to form, I was watching for him, looking the wrong way. He was very cheerful about it considering he went a fair distance before he realized I wasn’t there.

We felt pretty secure last night. A quadruple deadbolt. You wouldn’t want anyone to steal the golf clubs.

He stuck out like a sore thumb. I loved his beak.

Then we cruised down to the beach. The morning ride was truly the definition of poking around. We rode along the beaches and the marinas all the way through Vilamoura and Quarteira. These beaches are unbelievable and go on for kilometres. We came to the touristy commercial area and it was pretty great too.

An ugly black plastic boat. Somebody liked it.

We reached the end of the road and path, literally, and it was time to head up to the Eurovelo 1. We saw some more bike signs today, although we really didn’t see any more bike tourers. We seem rather a rarity around here. We cruised through golf resorts, lots of golf resorts, high end developments, fire ravaged areas and stopped for lunch in Quinta do Lago. Talk about high end. Where we stopped was full of the shops that most people can’t afford. It was pretty interesting. I keep using that word.

We went past several areas that had been ravaged by fire.

Golf resorts usually meant bike lanes which was nice.

We were on a dirt path here and didn’t realize we were right next to a golf course until there was a bit of an opening in the trees.

EV 1 has a sense of humour. We bailed off this the first chance we got. We had a good laugh here. This is where the golf course was to our immediate right. We heard the fellow hit, and then the f word. I said to Keith, start looking for golf balls.

First up after we escaped the sandy track was a quiet paved road and then it was back to N125, which wasn’t moderately busy on the way into Faro. It was very, very busy, so it wasn’t the most pleasant ride into town.

Like everywhere in the world, there was construction. Theses guys had great high viz suits.

Once more, the CN led us unerringly to our hotel. There was one small glitch when we wanted to continue on the bike route next to the railway tracks but it was gated and locked. We were trying to figure this out when a man stopped his vehicle and called out to us. Seems the owner of the land is having a dispute with the city and so he put up the gate and locked off the bike route. Fortunately the wonderful man who stopped gave us excellent information that the next busy street had a bike lane and we were off, very grateful that he was so thoughtful.

The dispute is about money I suppose. It usually is, isn’t it.

We have explored the old town in Faro, climbed the cathedral tower and had dinner. We are off to Tavira tomorrow for two nights.

They exhumed the bones to make this when the cemetery was getting too full.

A great picture taken by a cyclist from Portland.

The Algarve has been beautiful. The British Hawaii or Mexico I would say. We see many similarities. We could also see ourselves coming for a month to one of the quieter places to escape the cold. Pack a couple of Bromptons and the golf clubs and it could be a great holiday. We are glad to have seen it. However, for bike touring we preferred the Alentejo and the spectacular scenery, and the smaller town vibe.

Today's ride: 41 km (25 miles)
Total: 579 km (360 miles)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	7
Comment on this entry	Comment	0