Lagos to Silves

April 15, 2022

After a leisurely breakfast and slow packing up, we were on our way by 10:45 am. Not bad but we will have to be leaving earlier as the temperatures warm.

The route today was broken into two parts, first 24 km along the Eurovelo 1 beside the coast to Portimao and then heading inland, into the hills 20km to Silves.

We left Lagos on the riverside quay, stopping to wait for the recently built pedestrian drawbridge that was raised so a resplendent sailboat can make its way into the marina. In no time the bridge is back in place and we push our bikes over it along with many pedestrians.

The trail takes us beside golf courses, beaches, salt flats and inland waterways before joining the N125 for the last 10 km into Portimao. We sometimes question the logic of RideswGPS as instead of staying on the wide shouldered highway, alongside the coast into the city centre, Rides sent us up and over the headland into the downtown. Granted it provided us with glimpses of suburban life by cycling through the warren of cobblestone one-way streets, but by then we were hot and hungry and felt that if we had stayed on the highway, it would have been quicker (although perhaps not as safe) and provided equally interesting vistas of the coast.

We had packed a lunch with our leftovers so we sat under the shade of a tree on a park bench on the waterfront promenade to watch the boats, birds and others out for a lunch time stroll.

Fortified, we were soon pedalling up hill and Ann was getting to test out her new cassette that has 32 teeth instead of 26! “ Wow, life’s a breeze now!”

We passed vineyards, orange groves and hills, yes plenty of hills. Finally it was the last downhill into Silves and RidesWGPS foiled us again. Instead of staying on the reasonably quiet secondary highway directly into town, we were led onto back lanes across one more hill and then down onto a roughly paved road -which ended at a cliff. We could see our hotel for the night just across the void but the road had been washed away and our only choice was to push our bikes back up hill. Looking closely we saw a missed turn onto an even rougher dirt road that eventually got us to the main road and our hotel. We are amazed that Rides even knows about such tracks, and more so that it would route us onto them, so we will have to be more careful and compare their routes with Google satellite views to determine which is the better option.

An hour later we had showered off the dust of a 31 degree day and were sitting on a covered patio delving into another delicious fish dinner. All is well on the Weary cycle journey.

Back lanes into Portimao, pausing in the shade to admire the flowers.

We could have been on this road into Silves

We can see the hotel pool, but the road ends abruptly

From the castle we could see our hotel, the paved road that was washed out and, just barely, the dirt track that took us down.

Today's ride: 44 km (27 miles)
Total: 381 km (237 miles)

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Jacquie GaudetIt took me a long time to learn to check the routes created by RWGPS but that’s really only possible on the website (and challenging with the iPad Mini intake on the road).
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2 years ago

ann and steve maher-wearyYes we too are using an IPad mini on the road which makes checking the routes more challenging.
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2 years ago

Kathleen WearyWow! We should build a draw bridge like that in ottawa!
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2 years ago

ann and steve maher-wearyTo Kathleen WearyThe pedestrian infrastructure is amazing. Montreal is coming but so much more can be done. We have seen so many neat things built to facilitate getting over/ under highways,through mountains. Baena to Jaens cycle Plath was wonderful. So many trussle bridges
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2 years ago