Silves to Faro

November 12, 2024

It wasn’t a spectacular day today, just an A to B where B was just a convenient stop. I had hoped it would be more special when I planned the route, but I can’t say that it was.

Nice spot for a bike portrait across the way from our accommodation. Drive train out because I’d just finished lubing the chain. Yeah, I know bike photos should always show the drivetrain, with the cranks just so, but since I always dismount on the left, this way isn’t natural for me.

That’s our little house for a night, the yellow one behind the car. (The car was there the entire time.). The house was excellent value for 50€.

Leaving Silves. Last night’s dinner spot is in this block, on the left.

We started with almost 25 km of highway riding. Then a too-short interlude on quiet roads and more highway.

Then we were riding through greenery as we entered Vilamoura. It seemed like it should be a quiet road, but it wasn’t. Eventually, the green park became a golf course and then an area of luxury villas. All very car-based, so perhaps that was the explanation for all the traffic. We arrived back at the Atlantic at Quartiera, with its long expanse of beach and had lunch at a forgettable restaurant across the street from the beach. I would have preferred something like a takeaway sandwich and cold drink on the beach, but Al wanted a coffee, so a restaurant it was. We didn’t see a café that served food.

After lunch, we rode again through an area of luxury villas, then followed a narrow road with unexpectedly heavy traffic (where was everyone going? in such a hurry?) until we turned off onto the Ecovia do Litoral.

I’d had high hopes for a peaceful ride through a park area on the Ecovia. Instead, we got a rough road, some full-width puddles that we walked around, sand patches, and then a wider gravel road that seemed to be a popular place to dump construction waste. There were a couple of illegible old Ecovia signs but I guess it was an idea that got built but never maintained. We were happy to return to asphalt as we approached Faro.

After finding a room at Happy House, we went for a short walk in the old town. Faro hasn’t much to offer, in our opinion, other than being a place with plenty of accommodation and dining options at the right distance from our last stop.

Arco da Vila is apparently one of the premier sights in Faro. Not today, though.

In Faro. The street was too narrow to get more than this in the frame. My back was against the wall.

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Today's ride: 63 km (39 miles)
Total: 399 km (248 miles)

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