Lisbon to Setúbal

November 2, 2024

This first day of riding was the only day for which we had a plan, and it didn’t go according to that plan. We still rode from our hotel in Lisbon to our accommodation in Setúbal, the only accommodation booked ahead other than the Lisbon hotel, just not the way we planned.

Thinks started out okay. We packed up, stashed our (collapsed) bike cases and carry-on suitcases at the hotel and rode to the ferry terminal. We arrived at 10:20 and there was a ferry to Calcinhas at 10:20 and another at 10:45. But between seeing that info screen and walking to “Sala 4” for the ferry, things had changed. There was a tape barrier across the way to Sala 4, complete with security guard. He informed us and another cyclist that the next ferry to Calcinhas wouldn’t be until 4 pm. Apparently there was a problem at the Calcinhas end. Meanwhile, the info screens has changed to this:

All the red entries are cancelled sailings to Calcinhas.

The Seixal ferry had a few spots for bikes. The other cyclist had his bike at the other end.

I had chosen to start from Calcinhas because the EV1 went that way and I didn’t see a reason to deviate. However, now our only option was Seixal, the one I’d discounted because it looked like it would dump us in interchange hell. It did. We survived, though we did make an adjustment en route. The first several km weren’t worthy of repeating, never mind photos. Just ride!

After joining the EV1 route, we eventually came to a “fluffy” forest, all rounded trees like umbrella pines and cork oaks. Unfortunately, the traffic was fairly heavy for the narrow shoulderless road, perhaps because it was a beautiful Saturday on a holiday weekend.

My bike with its new setup: a new larger handlebar bag (Ortlieb Handlebar-Pack Plus) is bigger than my old Ultimate 6 Plus so I can use my smaller panniers. The new bar bag is also less boxy so it’s more comfortable to carry off the bike.

Eventually the forest road ended and we were riding through villages. We stopped for lunch at the Aloha Café at a crossroads and had excellent falafel wraps.

The road surface reminded us of Sicily: rough, though technically asphalt. Then we came to the unpaved section shown on our RWGPS route and it was fine, no rougher than the asphalt and smoother than the cobbles in Lisbon. More up and down and then, at the beginning of a descent, the dreaded dead-end T signs on both sides of the road. But the signs weren’t new and RWGPS had routed us through. Sure enough, at the bottom there were cars parked beside the road and a barrier across with an opening for pedestrians and cyclists (and a couple of small motorbikes). No idea why the road was closed to vehicle traffic, but it was the best part of the ride all day.

The car-free section was just beautiful. It was getting late, though, and we couldn’t dawdle.

The open-sided tunnels (certainly not snow sheds here) looked quite new.

Of course, the car-free section ended (at a beach that looked very nice and seemed a popular destination today).

View from the beach. It wasn’t really that dark to my eyes…

A few more ups and downs and we were on the waterfront road in Setúbal. Our apartment was not far past the ferry terminal. Treetops, found on Booking.

Our host had left us a bottle of Peninsula de Setúbal wine, so we decided to eat in. It wasn’t far to a grocery store where we got a roasted chicken, packaged salad, and bread to have with the wine, plus breakfast supplies. On the way, we passed several restaurants advertising “choco frito”. Fried chocolate? We looked closer on our return walk and saw that it’s fried cuttlefish, a Setúbal specialty.

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Today's ride: 63 km (39 miles)
Total: 63 km (39 miles)

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