November 2, 2019
Aljezur, and some transitions
We’re staying in a hostel, something we don’t do so often because we tend to prefer more privacy, but it ends up as a positive experience. Over breakfast we enjoy comparing trip notes with Cilia and Valissa, a bright and adventurous young French couple from somewhere near Strasbourg. They’re traveling by bicycle also, following the coastline from Lisbon to Faro, and are off today for Lagos - a longer ride than we decided to take on today because again we’re uncertain about the rains. Might as well keep our days short for now so we have a better chance of fitting a dry ride in.
Hostel Nature is a nice place - clean, new, friendly, with a green conscience. The owner, whose name slips me at the moment, is new to Zambujeira - she and her partner took on this place just three months ago, after moving here from Karlsruhe. It looks like a lovely place to live.
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Today’s ride
We’re at a transition point in our tour, in several regards. We’re at exactly the halfway point of our 13 week tour. We’ll leave the Alentejo today and crossing into the Algarve. We’re leaving the Atlantic Ocean behind and are angling southeast to the Mediterranean. And, after six weeks of a generally southern trajectory, we reorient ourselves and head east for the remainder of the tour.
Like yesterday, today’s ride doesn’t amount to much. Another short twenty miler, but with a bit more climbing than yesterday. A fair amount more climbing actually, much of it that we’ll spend walking rather than biking because the roads are too steep and the surface too jarring to pedal.
We were wishing we were doing more walking here, so we’re getting what we wished for I guess. We forgot however to specify that we prefer walking without pushing loaded bicycles. Be careful what you wish for.
Other than that though, it was a fine ride. Other than the rough dip and climb at Carvalhal Beach and the trek up through Odeceixe, most of the day’s ride was on lovely and quiet if undramatic roads. Mostly, we were grateful that we stayed dry. There were more than a few times today when it occurred to me how mad Rachael would be at me for picking this route if we were pushing up these slopes in the rain and biking through sandy puddles.
And don’t fail to watch today’s video - it’s a good report on today’s road conditions.
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Dadgummit blah!
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Aljezur
Continuing with our newly normal routine, we arrive in Aljezur before one - too early to check in to the hotel, but just right for grabbing a light lunch somewhere. Over tuna salads we catch up on journals and keep a wary eye on the weather, then hurriedly pack up and dash to our nearby hotel when showers begin.
An hour or so later, we venture back out again for a walking tour of this small, ancient town. Aljezur is a modest but interesting place, just large enough for a leisurely afternoon’s exploration. It’s an ancient settlement, dating back to the Iron or possibly even the Bronze Age; but its more modern history began with the Moorish occupation. They built the castle a thousand years ago to protect the port, and held it as the last Moorish outpost in the Algarve until it fell to the Christians in 1249.
For dinner, we took a leisurely 100 yard stroll to the surprisingly sophisticated Varzea restaurant, where we celebrated the various transitions and the completion of 2,000 kilometers. Rachael raved at length about her butternut squash soup, possibly the best soup she remembers having anywhere.
Tomorrow, Lagos and the Mediterranean!
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Or, you could ride with our friend Gay, who can turn a slobbering pack of wild reservation dogs away with a simple "Got, you dogs! Go home or I'll ring your head off! Go on!"
https://www.cycleblaze.com/journals/porridge/springfield-to-pickstown-herding-dogs-on-empty-roads-in-indian-country/
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Ride stats today: 20 miles, 1,300’; for the tour: 1,318 miles, 70,000’
Today's ride: 20 miles (32 km)
Total: 1,320 miles (2,124 km)
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