Tag: Travel Photography (page 7 of 7)

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Started out late today which is fast becoming the norm, why rush to get to them hills I say to myself. When I finally hit the road I made straight to the coast, after all that’s my main reason I’m riding the coastline is to see the sea. Now you my think there is this long road that follows the coastline but in reality its nothing like that. There are these coastal spots which you have to ride in and out off, which normally means riding down to the beach and of course riding back out again which in normally up hill. There was this one spot which I forget the name of but it was crazy steep with horse use bend coming right back up again. I rode past this English tourist who was walking down the hill. I heard my say to his wife. Watch this guy he has to ride back up the hill. On hearing this there was no way I was going to push the bike up the hill. As I turned and started coming back up the hill, it hit me really hard. This was steep but not that long. Maybe 300 metres but at least 1/15 gradient. I stood up on those pedals and grinded up the f@*%ing hill. I could see the guy just standing their watch me as I went slowly up. When I got to top he shouted out to me. I had a bet with my wife that you wouldn’t make it.. Well done son.. I gave him a wave to tired to speak..

The thing that really made an impact on me today other than hills was how much money white balls bring to Portugal. I’m speaking about golf. Vilamoura and Quarteira is worlds apart from what I have ridden through. They remind me more of LA than Portugal with palm trees and manicured green lawns but I can not help thinking its like a retirement settlement for rich English people but it brings in the money that is clear to see. Its also very expensive. So if you like golf, retired, like the sun and have money Portugal is paradise. Keep hitting them white balls..

Got bitten to bites last night. A moziy must of gotten in the tent and feasted on some fresh English meat. When I arrived at the campsite yesterday I decided that it would be a day of catching up on cleaning and maintenance. So before dinner I did all my cloths washing by hand, the old fashion way and hung it up to dry. Then made dinner which was pork escalopes and pasta followed by an apple and cranberries.

After the shock of being bitten to bits I decided to clean the gears on the bike and make some little adjustments. I come up with my own little tree workshop and let me tell you it worked a treat. I bought some oven cleaner to take the old grease off and washed it down with water. Then being an idiot I decided to mess with the adjustment of the gears. Two hours later I think I got it to the same place I started. Lunch time had fallen upon me so I made some spicy Portuguese sausages with bread rolls. Cleaned packed up and hit the road.

The tree lined roads in to logos was simply stunning. The ever changing climb and decent of the landscape tell you something is changing. Its seems that as you approach the coast the land rises before the descent down to life. Logos now seems distant in my mind now that I’m in Portimao. The famous rocks of priaia rochca stand out and remind me of when I was young on family holidays or have i just seen them to many times on travel brochures. I stop and take a break to full look at them and snap away with my camera. I rode slowly along the beach front looking at all the shops and bars getting ready for the summer madness. I can now hear different ascents, German, French, Irish, English and Portuguese. This is tourist town in a state of ready ness. The lobster look is never far away and the poor pain skin victim seems OK with the third degree burns.

I ride around the bay and hope to see signs for a campsite sooner than later. My luck is in and I’m soon setting up the tent and settling in for the night. Enjoy the photos..

A late start again.. Must be getting lazy! The truth is I got up early but really needed to charge up some batteries and as the campsite had FREE WiFi I took full advantage. Spoke my daughter and the guys at work on Skype which was great. Really nice to see them hard at work. Then spoke to a very close friend who told me some sad news.. Get well soon Robert. Sending all my love to you my dear friend.. Wishing you strength and speedy recovery.

So I consider today as a days of rest a catching up with friends and family. Still manage to cover 38 miles on hilly roads with a facing wind at times. When the wind is hitting you full on, its really hard.. Oh before I forget. A big thanks to George.. You know why mate. You are very kind… Back to the cycling. As I was saying, riding in to wind really takes it out of you and when you factor in hills the energy levels really drop. Also the weather has got as lot better and the sun is out much of the day and there lies a new problem. Burning and heat stroke. I really felt the heat on my arms and knew they were getting burnt. So I put extra sun cream on.

 I also stopped early today. I didn’t want to risk getting court out in the heat and having to ride a further 15 to 20 miles. I am fully aware that I’m out here by myself and can not afford to get I’ll. 

There is so much thinking ahead, do I have enough water, how far is the next village, do I have money and do I have communication /battery power. I know I’m only in Portugal and you would think there’s people all around but one thing I have learnt is you can not take it for granted. I have ridden for three hours and not seen a single person or car. So be prepared. Take no chances.

So tomorrow I hope to hit the south coast of Portugal, The Algarve baby.. People and life.

Today finished pretty much how its started, slow and uneventful. Left last nights campsite at 11.30am and hit the road to Sines. On arrival I found that the whole place is an oil / petrol refinery of sorts and nothing much to say other than don’t bother going there unless you work for a petrol company and find that sort of thing interesting.

Did have an interesting meeting with a bird who joined me for my morning coffee and saw an interesting sand rock formation on a deserted beach and a deserted beach. Enjoy the pictures.. See ya .

Today started wet, what’s new. So started late making the most of my cheap hotel room. Hit the road at 11am and it was still raining. I got lost at the start due to the fact that in Almada there is a lot of motorways which bikes can not use so ended up going round in circles for a bit. Finally hit the N10 which is the road to Setubal. There are nicer roads but it was wet and I wanted to push on. The thing that stuck out today was meeting really nice people. It started with a Brazilian couple who had just opened their restaurant. Viviane kindly let me used their WiFi and made me two very nice coffees. Good luck with the restaurant.. Then I met Joist from the Netherlands who is also a fellow bike rider and we rode for about two hours together until our paths went different ways. Joist is a pilot and was telling me how he navigates using the sun. So today I learnt some very useful information. Then I met two old guys who looked after the plants in Setubal park. We chatted for a while about where I was going etc and then I met Jorge at a petrol station cafe. He was on a mountain bike and was out for a days cycling. He also love Bond movies. Really knew a lot about the films. So all in all a good days ride. Also I’m in a really nice camping site by the sea. Might stay for a day if the weather is good.

How did we manage before mobile phones, GPS and internet / Wifi. Not being able to contact people when you want makes me feel a little isolated and that is only a day or so. Also not have electricity on demand takes getting used to. I am constantly working out my power needs. As I write this I’m thinking about people that don’t have any of the above. Riding thru rural villages even in Portugal there are places that don’t have electricity let alone internet. So why do I get frustrated when the campsite doesn’t have WiFi. Why not.. Are you mad.. I say.. Just look at me with all my techno gadgets, power hungry internet dependant Londoner on a bike. Image if I was riding thru Asia or Africa.

I had a rough plan in my head to get to Lisbon today and on the way I found Sinatra. All I can say is wow.. Its a stunning place and reminds me of Madeira with its coble stone roads and super steep hills. As I entered the old part of town I noticed a train station, so I quickly asked inside if it went to Lisbon which it did. Now in Sinatra there is castle at the top of a mountain. I knew it would be a battle to get to the top with a 45 kilo bike but with a rewarding train ride to Lisbon afterwards I took on the challenge. This was one of the hardest three hours ever, going up 1/11 gradients. As the buses loaded with tourist past me going up they must of looked at me as a complete madman. At one point I nearly gave up but I had to finish what I started. When I finally got to the top it was a 15.00 Euros to enter the castle and there was no where to secure the bike and to tell you the truth I was knacker by the ride up. There was some Spanish teenagers that had seen me riding up and wanted to know if the bike was heavy. One of them was a little full of himself so I let him have a go on the bike.  The look on his face was priceless when he tried to move the bike. He just got off the bike and shook my hand saying respect. After resting for a while I comeback down and admired the views on the way in the knowledge that I had a nice train ride into Lisbon.

The train ride started off with only me on it but quickly it started filling up. Stop after stop more and more people got on and here I was in a packed train with a fully loaded touring bike and smelling like I been in the gym all day long. I arrived in Lisbon about an hour later and quickly found a coffee bar in order to take stock. Drinking my coffee I asked the guy if he knew of any reasonable places to stay. They places he suggested were full so I rode around looking at the sites at the same time looking for a place to stay for a few days. Now Portugal’s capital is a big place. Most of the roads are cobbles and very hilly. Now I am sure this is not a problem when on foot with a bike with all the gear makes it a total different story.  That day I had ridden up a hill to end all hills and now I was riding up more hill lined with cobbles. Then it decided to rain, frustrated and tired I made the choice to get out of Lisbon. As I boarded the ferry to Almada I thought to myself, capitals are best explored with someone. Its nice to see it but its nicer to share the experience with someone. Its a really strange feeling going round a capital with so many people and not speaking to anyone.

So where am I now.. Hello Costa da Caparica.. Here are some photos.

So I’ve rain, winds, hills and a combination of all three. To add the list is vineyard gravel trails, dirt paths and now sand dunes. I thought it would be a great idea to miss out a big part of today’s journey by take a local short cut, as told to me by a group of local mountain bike riders. They did look at me a bit weird thou. So the first part was a hill. Then a dirt path along the top of a cliff. This then turned in to gravel path which farmers use to water their grape vines and not forgetting pushing a 45 kilo bike thru 200 metres of sand dunes. So much for short cuts. To top it all the last 2 miles into Ericeira was pure punishment of hills. I’m still smiling..

Over looking the sea this morning at 6.30am