Another gorgeous sunny day, we both got a lot of sun, and the solar chargers earned their keep.
After leaving our GoCampr site and thanking our hosts, we headed south with a quick detour to ride along some ocean cliffs.
We took a detour through some Parque Naturale trails, which in retrospect was not a great idea after some recent rains. Our bikes got caked in mud, but we eventually reached the southwestern-most tip of Europe. It was way more touristy than we expected, so we moved on quickly and found a decent bifana in Sagres for lunch.
We started to feel like we were riding through a British movie set in places along the Algarve coast. So many Brits and some posh neighborhoods. It’s nice to be able to speak English and be understood, but it feels less authentic than when we were riding through countryside. We will probably go inland when we continue riding to avoid the British developments along the coast.
Steve’s brakes started having issues, so we cut the scenic route short and hopped on the highway to get to the next bike shop before it closed. We reached G-RIDE in Portimão around 5pm, and the very friendly mechanic diagnosed a worn brake pad and quickly fixed it for us. Doh! We know how to fix these ourselves and have spares, but we didn’t recognize the symptoms and thought something more severe was wrong. Anyway, happy to be back up and running quickly, and we picked up some long fingered glove liners to keep us warm in the chilly mornings. Thanks guys!
Tomorrow is a rest day, so we found a really cute hotel in downtown Portimão, where we are doing laundry and going to the beach tomorrow. Had an amazing dinner next door at a traditional Portuguese restaurant. The rice with razor clams was absolutely incredible, one of the best dishes I’ve had in Portugal so far.
Brilliant trip, honey(ies!!)! Loving the detailed posts. Yearning for my bike and travel!! xoxoxoxo