Sep 17
We woke up late (8am) and by the time we made oatmeal and packed up we started our ride at 9:50am. We stopped shortly after for a coffee and finally ordered two of the tarts we kept seeing at cafes – turns out these are Pastel de nata – a Portuguese custard tart and a local delight. (Then, we got another.)
Another short ride for a stop to check out the most southwestern point in mainland Europe, the “Cabo de Sao Vincente”, our official start of the EDT, a popular tourist destination and absolutely stunning 300 degree view of the ocean from the top of spectacular cliffs.
We backtracked a km before heading north along a very hot, exposed desert gravel trail that travels just inland from the coastline. We saw a lot of people out hiking, trail running, and a few cars and vans heading to numerous small beaches that punctuate the cliffy coastline. We did a lot of elevation today dropping down to these beach entrances and then climbing back up to the plateau.
Despite our slow start and not great distance covered we opted to stop around 2 for a dip and it was absolutely stunning, a great beach (Praia de Barriga) and not busy, and Axel had an absolute time playing in the sand (way more Axel friendly than yesterday’s beach).
More hills to tackle but we did get into more forrested terrain so at least there was some shade. Axel was a big fan of the herd of goats taking a nap in the shade.
Our destination for the day was Carrapateira or somewhere nearby that had water. On our way down to the coast for the final time today, we hit some VERY STEEP descents. The first and third ones we walked Ryley’s bike while I helped hold the trailer up/back with Axel in it. The second one was sporty enough that we decided to take Axel out and carry him down, then I climbed up to help Ryley bring the trailer down behind his bike, then I climbed back up to bring down my bike. Axel was a good cheerleader watching us scramble our bikes down!
The views were spectacular from those hills of the coastline and upcoming beach and town of Carrapateira. We ended up at Praia do Amado for a swim, ramen dinner on the beach, and biked off just before sunset to find our first campsite of the trip we set up with some daylight left 🙂
We are camped about 20m from the top of a 50m cliff. The sunset was stunning and the full moon rose at almost the same time the sunset.
Axel loves setting up the tent, wants to be in charge of the headlamp at all times, and takes up 2/3 of the space in our 3 person tent when he’s asleep. He’s been great in the trailer, has had a few meltdowns but overall is happy to be along for the ride “want to go”, “go faster dada”, “go down down down”. We made the mistake of giving him a surprise hot wheels car – it’s small so it slips between the cracks of his seat and he wants us to get it for him ever time he loses it…. Tomorrow’s project might be figuring out a toy holding system so he stops demanding we stop for his blue car… Or, “losing” the blue car 樂 He is very into all the snacks but not so keen on actual meals… 路♀️ But hey it’s not normal routine out here and we’re making it work! His favourite meal so far has definitely been ramen we cooked in the camping stove (clearly he’s ours haha). He definitely loves the beach so he’ll be sad they’re not daily once we start heading inland, but hopefully we’ll find a good replacement.
Axel QotD: “that A has no leg!” to his airplane book where the edge of the A is under a flap
https://strava.app.link/R6NTRyAo3Mb
Those are tricky hills all right. Axel in the tent reading-love it!