May 7, 2022 - Sintra to Estoril - Return to Cycle-OPOLIS (Tour 22) - 2022 🇵🇹

May 7, 2022

May 7, 2022 - Sintra to Estoril

Back on the bike to the edge of the world

Hotel - Casa Londres, Av. Fausto de Figueiredo 143, Estoril

Heart

Comment

I guess if I said that I biked to the ends of the earth today, I would be somewhat correct. In fact, to the end and back again to tourist-ville.

Before getting to the end, I woke up in that garden paradise once again. Knowing that it might be a few years before returning I went back out to the garden for a few more APs. Breakfast was as delicious today as yesterday, but had a bittersweet taste to it, since I would not be here tomorrow to enjoy it yet again.

Another AP of the sun rising over this heavenly place. -- Sintra, Portugal

Today's breakfast was quite good with a big assortment and lots of it. This morning there were only a few of us in the room but I think there were many more guests in the place. -- Sintra, Portugal

I was there to eat around 8 am so I could be out riding as early as possible since the forecast was for it to be sunny and about 26 C and I had a way to go with substantial climbing.

I thanked the staff again for such a wonderful stay, loaded up the bike then rolled out and away from the former Pensao Residencial Sintra, now the Hotel Sintra Jardim. My route took me right back to the Sintra Palace, then I had to figure out which spaghetti strand of the bunch of roads would take me along N375 and toward Cabo da Roca. At this point, I had pretty well decided I would take the three or four km descent down to the Cape since so much else of this trip has been an intermingling of time threads - 1982 mixing with 2003, mixing with 2015, mixing with 2017, mixing with 2019 and now adding 2022 to the mix. It had to be done to wrap up this timey-wimey wheel-turning odyssey.

I took the N375, which I had followed in 2003 as well. This waterfall is slightly changed but still very pretty. -- Sintra-Cascais Natural Park, Portugal

After a bit of back-and-forthing, the GPS and I figured out which way to go. It was a road I had thought was actually a dead end, but it was not. It did kind of bobble up and down as I headed west but soon buildings tapered off and I was increasingly in jungly forest of the Sintra-Cascais Natural Park. The little waterfall that trickled down the stones, the stone walls, trees hanging over the road, former mansions and palaces and I wound through the mountains. There was enough climbing, too, but after having taken a day off and having been here so long, there was no need to get off of the bike and walk. By now, that was for babies.

Since I was not actually on EV1, I had to use the GPS to guide me and it kept screaming at me to get off of N375 and N247 to take the smaller and quieter tiny roads and paths, but I was having none of that. There was traffic, but not too much, and it was respectable. There were so many road cyclists out on the road that I think the drivers are simply accustomed to them all being here so give a wide berth every time.

Approaching the Cape I could see what looked like pea-soup-like cloud cover down toward the tip of the continent. As I started to cycle on Cabo da Roca Avenue, I could see heavy cloud cover up ahead. It started as little wisps of white and not being able to see the end of the road - it just disappeared into the mists. Then it became full cloud cover and strong headwinds, though I was going downhill so that was alright. Out by the lighthouse and actual position marker for the westernmost point of continental Europe, the cloud/fog cover was so dense that it was hard to make out people a few tens of metres away.

The sign is readable again! On a clear day you would see the blue water and brown cliffs but today the clouds were zipping along the ground obscuring everything and turning a hot day into a pretty chilly one. -- Cabo da Roca, Portugal

Where other times there had been loads of people snapping pictures of the cliffs and water and marker, there were maybe five or six. Whenever someone new would come they would kind of laugh and say, I guess the cliffs and water would be nice if the fog was gone. I did not mind it at all as it gave the 'ends of the earth' a very mysterious and almost eerie feel to it. But it was cold and windy so I had my coat on.

The stone marks the latitude and longitude of this location which is the westernmost point of continental Europe. -- Cabo da Roca, Portugal

I took a few photos of the white foggy surroundings, which could have been anyone's white wall in their house, then started the long uphill back up to the N247 highway. I suppose that strong wind behind me helped as it did not seem to be that much of a climb. Halfway up I re-emerged into the baking sun so off came the coat once again.

I made a right turn onto N247 and headed along this coastal highway for the rest of the way. Lots of downhills, I second-guessed myself for a moment, thinking if I had made a mistake it would be quite a climb to retrace my steps. But when I came to Guincho Beach I knew all was well... so kept on rolliing.

The N247 goes right beside Guincho Beach such that sand piles up in some sections. -- Guincho, Portugal

The road had quite a lot of traffic in both directions but there was now a dedicated bike path so I got right onto it. Some cyclists stuck to the road while other were on the paved red bike path. There were line markers to keep people to their sides, so the going went quite quickly with that very strong tailwind. The bicycle and pedestrian traffic increased as the road rounded the southwest tip of land as it turned eastward toward Cascais, Estoril and eventually Lisboa.

This was the range of those who had rented bicycles. I knew they were rentals because they were usually bright orange or bright yellow or they had a rental sign on them, or, better still, they were weaving all over the place because they were not really at-home on a bicycle. I stayed vigilant!

On my previous time along this route, I had thought Boca do Inferno was no longer here, but I was wrong - it was the way the road was placed that I had missed it before. Though built up with junk shops and garbage-food stalls, I caught a quick glimpse of the huge chasm and hole through the rock and out to sea. Because we had walked to this point in 1982, I knew that now I was very close to Cascais and approaching the end of today's ride. Sure enough, I crossed the little bridge across the inlet then came around to the main beaches of Cascais and the 'wavey' lockstone courtyard across from the beach and in front of the Irish pub. I didn't stop for anything at the pub, but it still looked open though it was almost fully obscured by contruction walls and tarps.

Behind all of that construction lies a little Irish pub that has been there for years and where an acquaintance who runs a brewery on the Canadian east coast, is now too busy to visit. -- Cascais, Portugal

With the GPS set to Casa Londres, it said it was only a few km away. I cycled the busy but slow road through Cascais but as the road left town and flowed into Monte de Estoril it was really busy and really fast so I used the walkway to cycle, dismounting the time or two a pedestrian came along. The traffic was just too fast for me to be comfortable.

I turned up from the main road to my guesthouse and rolled into the courtyard. There was a new owner who said he took over three years ago, just before covid hit - he seemed very wistful and said things still weren't back to normal, so I am not sure if they will survive. I was able to store my bike in the same place as before and was able to check in right away, with the owner helping to carry my bags up to the room. Not the same room at all, this one is nowhere near as nice as previously.

I didn't waste time since lunch service would be done in restaurants and I walked up the street to the place I had been looking forward to re-visit... to find they are closed on Saturdays. Too late now for lunch service, I kept going up the street toward the Pingo Doce supermarket for snacks now and breakfast tomorrow (no longer iuncluded or available here). On the way I and a few other pedestrians noticed a pigeon that seemed to have difficulty flying and even wandered into traffic and was almost hit. The other walkers and I jumped into action to corner the pigeon and eventually hand-carried it and placed it into the adjacent park out of harm's way. Interesting how a pigeon brings people together, a couple from Germany were two of the bird savers and for the next block or two we chatted with them being excited to hear I was from Canada because they 'love ice hockey'.

I went to the supermarket for an Asian pasta dish of some sort, some oranges, juice and croissants - some for today and some for breakfast tomorrow to guide me into Lisboa!

Other than a bit of reading and a nap, I'm not sure what else I will do today. A while ago I contacted my contact, Filipe, who assured me he had my box ready for the return flight to Canada. I asked if I could take him for a beer and actually as it turns out, he will come by the hotel tomorrow night and I will take him for supper somewhere nearby. If he is available, it seems I will also be hiring him to bring me to the airport early Tuesday morning with the bike from the hotel. I know I can do it with the Metro, but it would be so much easier door-to-door.

Today's ride: 42 km (26 miles)
Total: 556 km (345 miles)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	4
Comment on this entry	Comment	0