April 8, 2022
Comporta to Sines
Today we were following the Eurovelo 1 and Ann was leading as she wants to practice being the navigator with Rides with GPS. We had plotted what should have been an easy 50km, with little climbing and the weather was an ideal 17°C with intermittent sun and cloud.
It was all roadside riding, mostly with not much traffic, through sandy scrubland with some pine, eucalyptus and a flowering tree with very pungent yellow flowers. I looked it up and found it is called the Mimosa and, although pretty, is considered an invasive species in Portugal.
After an hour we had done 15km and we were already sore. My hands, wrists, shoulders, back, legs all hurt, and the contact spots with the bicycle seat really hurt! We stopped under a tree and stretched for a few minutes, then focussed our minds on being grateful that we were in a warm place, with two months ahead of riding our bikes and no fixed agenda, and that even though we are in reasonably good shape, the first few rides of the season always take some getting used to, so we stopped complaining and it didn't seem to hurt as much when we got back on the bikes.
Lunch was a grocery store salad (which this being Europe, the InterMarche has a cafe with outdoor tables that were mostly empty on a cool day) and a delicious espresso and nata pastry for desert.
The next 10 km stretch we zoomed along beside the A-26 autoroute which at least had a good, wide shoulder and not much traffic, but we were glad when we could turn off onto an un-numbered road that meandered through fields and villages the last few km into Sines.
The town of Sines somehow combines the seemingly incompatible mix of industrial chemical and refineries, a busy fishing port, a sizeable yacht marina and a beautiful crescent golden beach right in the middle of it all. Back from the beach is a small core of freshly painted, holiday flats and elegant restaurants, with rather sketchy neighbourhoods on the sides. On our Booking app, we saw none of the smaller, family-run hotels we prefer so are staying in a high-rise, chain hotel that seems designed for package tours. But it is bike friendly! On arrival, the concierge was very welcoming and motioned for us to bring our bikes into the lobby and then to the handy, left luggage room that has a bike rack with built in locks!
We wandered down to the port, but were too tired to make it to the beach, so we meandered back to a small grocery store to pick up ingredients and Ann whipped up a home made pasta dinner in the room kitchenette.
Good thing tomorrow is only 35km!
Today's ride: 54 km (34 miles)
Total: 111 km (69 miles)
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