Day 5: Praia do Amado/Carrapateira to Vale da Telha (Praia da Arrifana) (25km, 400m) 

Sep 18

We went to bed on the edge of the cliffs with strong ambitions to get up’n’at ’em early to beat the heat… But 2-and-a-half year olds have their own agenda and they don’t include “packing up camp quickly and getting some early km’s in”. We woke up and Ryley unzipped his east facing tent door to watch the sun rise looking inland over the hills, and it was foggy/cloudy so the sun rose up very red through the haze. After a clifftop breakfast of oatmeal (Ryley remembered the cinnamon today and we’ve sorted the water to oats ratio so this was our most edible pot of oatmeal yet!) with a killer view, we started biking around 9:20am.

We biked 3km before Axel asked to stop to pee. We stopped at some boardwalks of cliff top views of the coastline and Axel was VERY into the boardwalks, running up and down them and making up stories and items to collect to run up and down to the platforms, climbing up on the benches, watching the birds and listening to their funny cries, and generally just having a hoot. It’s the most he’s run around yet this trip so we were all in despite wanting to get going. It was also the coolest morning we’ve had yet, a bit overcast and foggy.

We spent about 45 minutes there before descending (a short ways) into Carrapateira for coffee and second breakfast at a little single owned/run farm to table cafe. Savory breakfast of cheeses, fried peppers, beet coleslaw and a boiled egg, and French toast with fruit. We headed on into town to the minimercado to pick up lunch supplies. It was a big climb out of Carrapateira, in the middle of which Axel declared he needed to poop (we had just left two places with bathrooms but he is digging nature poops on this trip). We’ve logged about 12km, it’s almost 1pm and nap time – Axel fell asleep. It’s the hottest time of day but we ride when Axel naps, which is our usual conundrum. 

This coastline is hilly! We’ve been passing a LOT of hikers going the other direction on the Fisherman’s Trail. They look about as hot as I feel as it’s pretty hot, dry and exposed on the stretches between towns. The trail today was mostly gravel and red sand in places, with some dry pine forest sections offering a bit of shade but not a lot. Axel’s nap was short as we had a very steep bumpy ride down to a Praia do Canal, a very rocky beach with straight up/down 4×4 access on both sides. We stopped at the beach (beautiful but not a swimming beach), sat in the shade of an old stone house and made pb+j’s. Axel is so into everything at these beaches – demands to unload all 5 of his trucks he brought to line them up and drive them around and chooses the perfect* sitting rocks for everybody.

The climb out was a straight up 100m elevation hike a bike, then we meandered into Praia da Arrifana around 3pm and decided today was a day to charge up devices, have a shower (woo! see note from day 1!), do laundry and give Axel a break from the trailer. We stopped at a Hostel International with a family room (4 single beds) and Axel just bounced off the walls in excitement claiming every bed for himself (I had to give him a wipe down and change his clothes so he’d stop just rolling dirt onto every surface). We put on his bathing suit and Ryley took him out to the pool – his bathing suit promptly made it into the laundry pile, too, after a wee poop incident (not in the pool don’t worry). 

We had a chill afternoon at the hostel, went for dinner a short walk away and opted not to walk down the very long steep path to the beach, got Axel to bed and hit the hay. 

*perfect is not the same definition for all heights/bums

Pt1: https://strava.app.link/kmSnYT1o3Mb

Pt2: https://strava.app.link/dKupVM3o3Mb