Our next adventure begins with a train ride from Coimbra to Lagos, our first destination in the Algarve region of Portugal. We had one train switch to do in the small town of Tunes, where we would move from the high speed train (travelling at 200 km per hour) to the regional service from Tunes to Lagos. As we watched the speed of the train and the minutes tick away, we realized we were going to be too late to make our connection. We had wifi connection on the high speed so I started looking at plan B, which appeared to be the next train an hour later. As we pulled into the station 14 minutes late, there was one train sitting there. We were ecstatic to see that it was labelled as going to Lagos… they had held the train for us. Well us and the many others that also got off at this station to take the regional train.

Here in Lagos we had a tiny apartment booked in the old historic district. It was small and had everything we needed including a bonus washer and dryer.

Our bike tour does not start until Monday so we are taking a few days in Lagos to explore this beautiful sea town. It is very much a surf town, and much more of a tourist center.

We were able to find a walking tour scheduled for this morning so we could explore the area. Our guide was Brodie, originally from Melbourne Australia, and still had a bit of an Aussie accent. He has been living in Lagos for the past 15 years and was very knowledgeable and entertaining as he shared the famous landmarks and history.

We travelled on the local “train“ that does a loop around the city.

It has been a quiet few days in Lagos which is quite ok as we prepare for our ride next week.

It is an interesting town with two distinct demographics. There is the young, hippie, surfing crowd and the older retired looking for a quiet place to hang out crowd. We are still trying to figure out which one we fit in.

One of the things we have discovered is that the Algarve is not the place to come if you want to learn the Portuguese language. There are so many English speaking tourists in this area, that they automatically switch, even when Ed tries so hard to impress them with his newly acquired language skills.

We started the day with a walk on the beach. Waves were really rolling in, so no tour boats were operating today. We found a wonderful cafe with a spectacular view of Praia da Batata- Potatoe Beach. Apparently a boat filled with potatoes capsized in this little harbour and the fishermen aptly named it.

Afternoon was a walk to the scenic lookout at Ponta da Piedade. We took the safe rout via the road for most of the way as the coastal pathways seemed to be a little close to the edge for those with a fear of heights. Spectacular views of the beaches and the unique coast made the journey very worthwhile. Along the way there was an up and down climb to Praia do Pinhao and Praia de Dona Ana.

So many pictures, I am not sure where to start today!

We had a thunderstorm roll through in the early hours which is very uncommon in this region. But by the time we got up, the sky was blue, the sea was calm and it was already a beautiful 20 degrees. We had checked out a boat tour the other day, but the water had been too rough. I messaged them to see if they had room on their first boat at 9:30am, and the did!

The adventure was with Lagos Grotto Trips.(Connie Santos). Our boat driver Ivo and commentator/guide Gee. It was a boat tour of the famous Ponta da Piedade. We enjoyed the beautiful coast of Lagos with its rock formations, numerous caves, unknown bays, and quiet beaches. Our skipper took us right into the caves and Gee pointed out so many hidden gems. The tour only lasted about 1 hour and 15 minutes but it was amazing. We have so many pictures it’s hard to decide which ones to post.

After a trip to the supermarket to pick up supplies for supper and lunch which was leftovers from our huge breakfasts that have been delivered each day, we headed out once again to get a look at the beautiful rock formations from above. We traversed a few different trails today, but only stayed where we felt safe to go. It is quite disturbing to see how close to the edge some people go!

To Sagres and beyond!

Today our first task was to navigate the bus system to get to Sagres. Some people ask how we know how to get places, and the simple answer is we don’t. What we love about Portugal is so many people speak English, so we tend to ask questions and we can normally understand the options. There is an app called Rome2Rio that we also use. This helps by listing what options are available and a ball park price range. For example, when we put in Lagos to Sagres, it told us that by bus was the recommended option. When we got on the bus, we showed the driver where we wanted to end up and he was so kind to let us know when to get off.

Our hotels for the next week have been booked through the bike tour. Definitely a little more up scale than what we are used to. We arrived in Sagres around noon, but our room was not ready as 3 pm is check in so we headed out to explore. This is definitely a surf town with numerous surf shops. We headed to the information office to get a local map and ask what the must visit spots were in the next 6 hours. With our map in hand we then headed off to the beach to kill 2 birds with one stone. Grab a coffee and check out the beach scene. The day was overcast and a bit drizzly so the only beach goers today were surfers. We had a quick caffeine jolt and headed off to explore the Sagres Fort, which is one of the southern most points in the Algarve.

We had to pay a 3€ admission to the fort, but it was definitely worthwhile. A beautiful walk around the perimeter of this point of land, a historic fortress, and a great place to have our picnic lunch aka leftovers from our breakfast.

We headed back to the hotel shortly after 2pm hoping for a bit earlier check in, and we were to meet someone from the bike tour to receive our bikes at 3pm.

With bikes in hand, we decided to head out to do the first 10 km out to Cabo de Sao Vincent, which is the western most point in all of Europe. This is where the original explorers came to look out over the ocean when they thought it was flat to see the end of the earth. Our ride out and back was just as the sun was starting to set so the view was spectacular.

Our bikes are more like cruiser bikes. Normally we look for smoother, lighter, faster. But I think in this case we have clunky, heavy, slower. We are not going to speed through this journey, we will take our time, hopefully be able to follow the maps we have been given. Our daily goal will be to enjoy the journey, and just get to the next 4* hotel that someone else has arranged for us.

Bike Trip - Official Day 1 Sagres-Lagos

The hotel had breakfast included so we fueled up before we hit the road. Our back packs will stay behind as part of the trip includes a shuttle service for them. Our bikes came with 1 side pannier each and a handle bar bag do we had lots of space to carry the essentials with us.

Before dinner last night we made a quick stop at the “China Store”. Every town seems to have one. Locals say they are the store that is always open even on holidays and Sunday’s. They normally have a real mix of items. We were able to find 2 high visability vests that you will now see us sporting so we stand out on the road.

We made a stop at a grocery store to stock up on water on our way out of town. At about 2km, we left the main highway and travelled on an old highway road that ran parallel to the main highway until we came to Vila do Bishop. Here we left the main road area and started on dirt roads and paths.

It was very slow going at times, with lots and then lots more of climbs to do. We are spoiled at home with good equipment and having the rental bikes makes us appreciate what we have.

We stopped for a quick lunch in Salema. We had rain off and on in the morning, never torrential, just a misty rain, just enough to keep us wet.

The afternoon was tough going and we were off pushing our bikes many times. We did have the option of e-bikes when we had booked, and upon reflection this may be something we would consider next time.

Bike Trip Day 2 - Lagos to Portimao

Today was a much better day for riding. The weather was perfect, no wind and no rain. Our total distance was expected to be around 35 km so we took our time along the journey.

As we left Lagos behind, we followed a trail that ran along side the regional train tracks. We came to a spot that appeared to be an oyster and fish farm.

We had to head north before we could head east to go around the river.

We came to the small fishing town of Alvor that seemed to have a really good vibe. It wasn’t as touristy as other areas, and as we left we noticed a large indoor pool that appeared to be set up for lane swimming.

We came to the next town of Praia de Rocha, definitely a tourist town with its amazing beach. We thought this was where our hotel was as our guide book had pointed us here, but it turned out that we were about 10 minutes further up the road near the marina.

The hotel had a rooftop pool, so we took advantage of this area to have a poolside nap and recharge. The water at only 23 degrees was too cold for our blood, but it felt good to put our feet up and relax for a few.

We wanted to head back down to the beach area to check things out and our hotel offered a shuttle that ran every hour. After a quick shower we changed and headed out again. We were blessed with an amazing sunset. The colour of the rocks are so unique with the layers of different colours, each representing a different period in time. If they could only talk.

We caught the last shuttle back to our hotel at 5:45, and had a quick dinner at the terrace snack bar.

Lots of fresh air and riding, I know we will sleep well tonight!

Day 3 - Portimao to Albufeira

What sums up todays adventure is, “being a little misguided”.

The directions we were provided with the tour are in a paper format, in a booklet that Ed has to tie to his bike. Day one when we encountered \240rain, many of the pages got wet and were ripping out. They are very detailed, but we are also finding sometimes not 100% accurate. Todays stage had 74 turn directions. Unfortunately, we ran into issues with a few of them. But very glad to say that we did arrive at our correct destination.

We had another wonderful breakfast at our hotel, fueling us with energy for the morning. We headed out of Portimão over a very long 1km bridge to the town of Ferragudo which we quickly entered and then left behind.

Out next urban interaction was at the town of Logao. We filled up with a quick 10 km espresso with the locals at a little cafe. Here is where we first ran into issues with directions. After a few detours and a bit of guesswork we were able to get ourselves back on track.

We were right at a grocery store so we decided to stop and buy supplies for our lunch that we would have later on the way. In the beautiful town of Armacao, we stopped and enjoyed our lunch at a lookout spot over the water. This town seemed to have a great vibe and lots of people on bikes. We will have to check this one out further as a place to go back to.

As we entered our destination town of Albufeira, our direction challenges for the day went from bad to worse. We finally ended up using Google Maps to get us where we needed to be which worked perfect.

It had been a long day on our bikes, but we still wanted to explore this town. We had a quick shower, skipped our pool time, and headed back downtown to the historic town center. This town relies very much on tourism. We can’t imagine how busy it would be in the peak season. Definitely not a place we would come during the prime tourist season. It is beautiful, but the crowds would be overwhelming.

After another beautiful sunset and a quick bite to eat we headed back to the hotel. One thing for certain, with our kms ridden and all the fresh air, we are sleeping very well!

Day4 - Albufeira to Faro

This was scheduled to be our longest day so far. Thankfully, it was also our flattest day. We had a few ups and downs coming out of Albufeira but the flat area coming into Faro was a welcome relief.

We travelled through several smaller villages today, such as Quarteira where their fish market was in full swing. And we also travelled through a few very upscale towns (Quinta do Lago) where the marina was filled with large scale yachts.

The riding terrain was varied between cobble stone roads (which we have discovered are very slippery when wet), paved roads, dirt roads, sand beaches, and boardwalk trails. It is slow going on the bikes and we have resolved ourselves to the fact that we will be walking and pushing the bikes a lot.

We struggled again with the directions, but in the end we were successful in finding our way (with a little help from Google maps).

The weather today was perfect. Very little wind, cooler to start the morning and dry.

Our host city for the night is Faro. We had spent a few days here in 2019 after our Camino so we are familiar with the town, so we didn’t feel the need to rush out and explore. \240After a quick shower we did take advantage of the roof top pool to have a cool beverage and a nap. The water looked good, but once again too cold as it wasn’t heated.

We did a quick walk about before finding a wonderful little restaurant for dinner. Unfortunately with all the fresh air and exercise, we don’t have a lot of energy left in the evening.

Day 5 - Faro to Tavira

A great day on the trails. Our shortest day and least amount of climbs made for a very good day.

We were up and on our way bright and early. It was already around 16 degrees, No wind and no clouds. Not sure how people do this ride in the middle of summer when it is 45+ degrees.

Our first town at around 10 km was Olhao. We had stayed here in 2019 so we remembered the pier area. However, today things were crazy busy. Being Saturday, not only was the market going on inside, but also outside on the sidewalks as well. We enjoyed our coffee while watching the buzz of Saturday morning market shopping.

Directions were a bit of a challenge today, but the little yellow way markers seemed to be more prevalent. We had varied terrain again as well. One of the things we have discovered is there is a great deal of British citizens in this eastern area. When coming up to people on the boardwalk and trails we tend to ring our bell out of courtesy to let them know we are coming. When you pass a Brit, you have to be careful as they tend to step to the left. Where as the rest of the world would naturally step to the right.

Much of our time today was again spent along the Rio Formosa. The main land is separated by a salt water “River”and the adjacent land is typically where the beach area is. This means that these fishing villages are well protected from any storms. You often see many small boats just anchored off shore, something ironically we would never be able to do at home.

We arrived at our next home in Tavira around 2 pm. An early afternoon record for this trip. We were able to check in, and then enjoyed some quiet nap time by the pool before heading out to explore.

We are both happy and sad that we have one more day of riding tomorrow for this adventure.

Day 6 - Tavira to Vila Teal de Santo Antonio

Our last day on the bikes! Our accommodations are 2 nights in Tavira so we didn’t need to pack our bags up for the shuttle this morning. It was another glorious day when we headed out. A little chilly at 13 degrees so our long sleeves were required, but it wasn’t long at all that things heated up and we were down to our short sleeves and trusty safety vests.

The official starting point for today was at the main square in Tavira. As it was Sunday morning things were very quiet on the square. We then crossed over the river and headed out along roads, trails, and some interesting forests today.

Today was a bit unique as the train was part of the adventure. Our destination town of Vila Real de Santo António is the eastern most place of the Algarve. Once we reached here it would be a ferry ride over to Spain (which was considered), a train ride back to Tavira or a loop back on the bikes making it a 70 km day. We opted for the train! All of the regional trains are equipped with bike racks in the 1st car. The bikes were a heavy lift on and off the train, but we were glad to have the option.

It has been a great experience to travel from the Western most point of the Algarve all the way across to the East. The directions provided did cause a great deal of frustration at times, but we are grateful for other apps such as Google that helped to guide us.

Today we had a minor mechanical issue as a cable (we think for the light) started rubbing on Ed’s tire. After several attempts and a few more kilometres we were able to get it loose. At the same time we suddenly realized the GPS that shows us if we are on track was missing. We circled back and thankfully it was on the ground about a km back. We are feeling very blessed that in the entire week this is the only minor malfunction we have had.

One of the other things we learned is that on a walking adventure it is much easier to take pictures. On a bike it is much harder. We have lots of added picture memories that we will have with us in our hearts. I guess that is one of the silver linings of the paper turn by turn directions, it gave us more opportunities to stop and take pictures.

Final totals for the week: Distance 267.6 km, Time 35:29 hours, Elevation 2048 meters

Final day of the tour.

Today was our rest day. It felt strange after breakfast not getting ready to suit up to ride. We will miss the daily excursions, but we will not miss the roadmap book, although Ed did keep it as a momento.

We have pondered where to head next on our travels. We have more time than expected due to cutting our walk short so we have decided to head off into Spain. There is a bus from Tavira tomorrow morning that goes directly to Seville. Our first task after breakfast this morning was to head off to the bus station and confirm we could purchase the tickets.

With our tickets in hand, our second task of the day was laundry. There was a self service laundry nearby so we bagged up our cycling clothes and off we went. It was wonderful that we could sit outside by the water and enjoy the view while waiting for the machines to do their work.

We were fortunate that check out at the hotel was not until noon, which gave us plenty of time to rearrange everything when we got back in our backpacks. We had decided to change hotels for this last night in Tavira so we had about a 20 minute walk. We stopped to have a light lunch on the way and we were able to check in early so life was grand.

They had a beautiful (yet very chilly) pool which was a great place for an afternoon nap and our well deserved afternoon of rest.

Tomorrow we will head out early to Spain, and we will start this next adventure in a new blog. Please reach out if you want to continue to follow us and would like us to send you the link,

Fun Facts!

The Ria Formosa National Park covers an area of approximately 18,000 ha and develops along almost 60 km of the coastline, between the beach of Ancao and Manta Rota.

This important wetland is formed by a lagoon system consisting of marshes, tidal beds, and channels which are limited to the South by a sandy cord of 5 islands which are called barrier islands and 2 peninsulas. (Tavira Island which you access by ferry is one of these).

Due to the geographical geomorpholigical and climate conditions the Ria Formosa made the lagoon a breeding and passage area for fishes and birds. As a result, the area is internationally recognized and protected.