Does anyone of you sometimes in you life gets tired of traveling the same way? Car, bus, plane or for the lucky ones by sub-marine? I did, and fortunately had a friend that got the same feeling as me. What did we choose to travel with? A bike, cycling for hours seems scary, its not! It just gets you tired, like really tired!
( Pit stop under the Lisbon Bridge )
This idea was in our minds for months and finally was time to do it. The plan was to travel to Southern Portugal by bicycle and on our way checking really cool landscapes and also train some parkour. The path would leads to the Algarve, passing trough interesting areas, some of them I was dreaming about since years ago, like the Vicentina Coast, a very popular and beautiful coastline that attracts thousands of travelers every year to this region of Portugal, lets say, our equivalent to the American Big Sur, hundred of miles of road cruising alongside the sea.
So like any good idea ever we had to hurry up and do things on the last days which was probably a bad thing since during the first day we both had problems with our bikes, including my friend not having breaks for the next days. Our first day was probably the most challenging one, we started at Cris's home and our main goal was getting to Sintra at the end of the day, what we didn't expect was how much mountains were ahead of us, for a place the is known for there pristine beaches and world surf reserves, Ericeira and Santa Cruz have really steep roads. Hill after hill after hill... we quickly figured out that was difficult to achieve our goal, so we decided to stop at Ericeira, I did bring my tent but our idea was to get in touch with hostels that would trade work for a bed, but first, food! Both of us had emergence money with us but we wanted to travel without spending any and see what we could achieve from telling our story to people. Well after a brutal first day we both were hungry and decided to try our luck on a local supermarket, with a piece of cardboard we decided to wait and see what would get out from that interesting situation. After one hour of waiting and a pretty angry shop manager kicks out we ended up with enough food the day!
( Sitting in front of a supermarket in Ericeira, cardboard says; ''1000km with no money. We are thankful for a piece of good will and food'' )
So all the hostel's were closed and we find one apartment rune by two old ladies, after saying that we had no money to travel they charge us 25 euros for the two of us what was more then we both had for all trip! After some debating , 20 minutes later we had a full apartment for us for 3 euros each! We sure know how to hustle!
After leaving Ericeira we went to Sintra and Lisbon for two full days, since we both had friends that would host us there, after some parkour training, exploring the city by bike , speaking of bike! Cris had a new bike, this one had breaks so yeah was better! Lisbon was by far the less interested place of the all trip and the last spot before crossing the Tejo river. At the other end the real trip begins.
( Cruising around at the riverside in Lisbon )
We left Lisbon at 7am, and our plans changed and decided to not cross Setúbal and go more inland , making a stop down in the city of Alcácer do Sal, about one forth the way down our destination.
( Cris posing next to the Alentejo sign, located in a place called ''Death Road'' )
The first thing we did when arriving there was going to the first supermarket and try our luck again, with the same cardboard. We did get some pastries on the first minutes but nothing else. When we both thought that was time to pack and find a place to crash some older couple stop the car in front of us and gave us a 5 euros bill, which was pretty incredible! Since our room in Ericeira was 6 euros , we had 5 plus one euro I've found in the middle our the highway that mad us which a spending dept of nothing!!
( After leaving death road and stopping for some water decided to take my camera off and use it, about 10 km away from Alcácer do Sal )
Was late night when we did find a place to sleep, a Portuguese institution called Santa Casa da Misericórdia, knowed for helping pilgrims and the less fortunate, in some minutes we had a warm place and hot food in front of us. The next day was spent exploring and training in this historical city by the Sado River, being in the border of Alentejo region the heat was noticeably, despite the fact that we were in November.
( Taking a walk with our bikes on a train bridge, over the Sado River )
( Classic view of Alcácer do Sal, after sunset )
After Cris checked the weather conditions we both were in doubt, why? A storm was schedule to pass through Portugal in the following days, and there were some heavy rain days coming. Both of us were equipped for the cold but we weren't expecting any rain at all.
We did wait for a few hours on the following day but the weather changes were noticeable in the sky, after some quick coffee we decided to start our way back. I did encounter some technical problems with my bike and had to stop for a while, Cris decided to continue and wait for me. My problem was solved by removing the breaks , and there I was, pretty tired and with lack of energie I decided to stop and make a choice.
Truck after truck and no one was in the mood to giving me a ride. But the worst part is that the path I was following didn't felt familiar to me, after a quick check on my phone I founded that I was about 20 km offset !!
( Spent to much time lost here, a 15km strait road )
Almost one hour had passed since I last eared from Cris, when was about to call him a truck stop next to me and invite me in. Man, what a joy!! As I as sitting next to father and son, telling them my trip I noticed how far away I was from Cris and how wrong my path was. When catching up with him we continue or way to Barreiro city, to catch the ferry to Lisbon. Already at the capital we decided how we would return home, since we still had some emergency money our choice was by train and after some hours later we arrived home.
( Planned map showing our path, from start to finish, Alcácer do Sal marked as well )
Incredible how in the early morning I was going my way down to the Algarve and by night i was already home resting my body from miles and miles of cycling. At the end I felt that was an amazing experience, even if we didn't met our final goal, the challenge was there and despite the fact that I often cycle was one big obstacle to endure.
This is definitely a project that I'll make sure to finish, if not by bike maybe with a van or a skateboard, who knows
Cheers, Leo
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