After a nice three plate breakfast (why cyclists enjoy hotels where breakfast is included), I did a bit of recon to find the least stressful way out of Huelva. Within a kilometer of our hotel one gets the cycle track heading west. The trick was to find the right combo of streets.
Once found, you’re on a 2 km bridge across a river, currently no cars allowed (separate bike lane anyway), then we took the cycle track that avoids busy A497 for several km. We thought about staying on all the way to the ocean, which would have added about 8 k , but a very stiff south wind influenced our decision to head west.
We then traveled to Cartaya through a beautiful pine forest, reminded me of Donana National park south of Sevilla. After a cortado and sandwich in Cartaya, the route went to dirt to avoid a busy highway section. Reaching Lepe after 6-7 km, we decided to try the busy highway. It’s fine, there’s a 2 meter wide shoulder.
Dan had the honor of the first flat, a prickly pear bit into his rear tire. My electric pump proved its worth immediately (you get 4 complete tire fills of road tires before the battery runs out). We reached Ayomonte, and had to wait about 30 minutes for the 15:00 (Spanish time) ferry, enjoying a bottle of gazpacho and chatting with two Americans, one had lived in a town only 25 km from where Dan and I live.
Tonight’s hotel, a pousada ( the Portuguese version of paradores), is terrific. The wood fired pizza oven was a big atttaction. I decided it would be a fun trip to link together several of these hotels sometime. We also enjoyed a glass of Portuguese spanking wine, to celebrate Fathers Day. Dan and I get to celebrate two this year 😀.
Rain is in the forecast tomorrow. It was supposed to rain here today too. So, we’ll see. We booked tomorrow in Tavira, a short 30 km away, to give us options. Can dump gear off at hotel and ride sans panniers if the weather holds. Since we’ve both ridden the coast west of faro over to Lagos, we had intended to take a train anyway, for that section as it’s very built up.
View of the littoral near Huelva from the cycle track
The pousada in Vila Real de Santo Antonio was a significant upgrade from our Huelva hotel, and still less than 100 euros a night including breakfast. .
