October 12, 2013
Layover in Faro
A loop east along the Ecovia
After sleeping in until 9, we woke feeling surprisingly refreshed. The day started with a very promising omen - in the night, the church across the street sprouted a pair of storks! What could be more hopeful than that? Now we are almost assured of a great tour.
Today's ride was a shakedown - an easy loop to the west along the Atlantic, mostly along the Ecovia - a cycle route of sorts that kept us for the most part away from busy roads and instead on an interesting mix of dirt, sand, broken pavement and secondary roads, often through lovely stretches of coastal lowlands, and intermittently lost. The route is quite poorly marked, and I'm sure we would have done far worse if I hadn't charted it out first on our GPS. As it was, I suspect that we added close to 10 miles to the days ride due to pursuing dead ends and doubling back. Originally we planned to bike to Albufeira, but after completely looping back where we came from on a 5 mile false start, we decided to lower our sights a bit and stop short at Villamoura.
Very nice ride though, except for stretches of the coast that are wall to wall resorts and golf courses. Just a few miles inland it's quite lovely - rolling hills of pine, olive, citrus groves, cacti and bougainvillea. We returned to Faro not long before 6, in time for another stroll around town before dinner.
Elevation log: 1800' today, 1800' total.
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2 years ago
Today's ride: 45 miles (72 km)
Total: 45 miles (72 km)
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2 years ago