We packed up in heavy fog in our hayfield campspot, convinced Axel to get riding with the last Oaty Chomps oat bar in the bag and ride the 5k into Ourique for coffee.

No pastel de nata’s at this Café (!?) so we headed to a grocery store and picked up lunch supplies and breakfast baked goods at the grocery store bakery – their chocolate hazelnut croissants were on par with most cafés so far!

The signs said “10min to Castro Verde” by car but we had 25km to bike on gravel farm roads so off we went. The fog burned off but it stayed overcast and a bit breezy. The hills were constant but rolling and we moved through mostly farmland – lots of sheep, cows, many many barking dogs mostly fenced, and even one farm with chickens, turkeys and a goose! Axel was into it all but really into the sheep.

This was a way more chill day knowing we had about 30km to go to a planned stop at 4b’s – the BnB run by the couple who created the EDT alternate route we are following. Compared to the last 2 days of 1000m climbing each, 400m over 34km felt pretty breezy! It was overcast again and cooler than when we were on the coast which is nice for riding.

We stopped under a tree for a lunch break, stopped to chat with two Dutch cyclists finishing the EDT, and made it to our bnb around 2:45pm.

We hung out on a pedestrian only street at the entrance waiting for our hosts, and chatted with 2 more cyclists from Colorado also staying at 4b’s.

Our hosts arrived around 4pm, we got settled (showered!) and did a “short” walk (1km) to do laundry at the intermarchè. 1km is short for a motivated adult but long for a non-motivated toddler so it was a bit of a trip. We got back to our bnb around 6:45pm then went looking for dinner.

It’s hard to find a restaurant open before 7pm! We ended up very near our accommodation at Páteo da Villa, where we had a mixed charcuterie board, Black Pork steak with prawns, Bulhão Pato mushrooms (mushrooms and garlic in broth), and a glass of house red. It was all amazing and the meal of the trip so far I think.

Despite the late dinner and Axel hitting the end of his rope, he was very into dinner when it arrived. We hopped across the lane back to our bnb, put Axel to bed, drank some rosé then followed shortly!

https://strava.app.link/8sAfrmtM6Mb

Sep 21

We had camp oatmeal for breakfast, packed up and headed out to start our day with a steep hike up a short hill, way above the lake, then a sporty descent down to the dam which we rode across. It is just a Dam to keep the lake, so it had a park on the opposite side – a bit weird to us who are used to hydro-electric dams in Canada. The lake is called Albufeira de Santa Clara and looks like a dragon to me, branching off in sharp spiky spines in all directions. There is apparently a little pool right near the dam but no beach or other lake access, at least not near our bike route, so no swimming in this one.

We climbed above the lake and up to ridge riding in forest /farm country – it was very undulating with punchy climbs and descents. We are both feeling pretty tired from yesterday’s hard day and today didn’t feel easy. Axel gets into regular grooves mid-ride, singing to Ryley (go-to’s include: Old MacDonald, Baa Baa Black Sheep, Skinnamirink, and the zoom zoom rocket song), telling us stories, talking to himself or his trucks, taking his shoes off and putting his feet up on Ryley’s strapped on gear bag (this looks like he is hilariously chillin’, big smile on his face). It tends to the positive and happy, but is also interspersed with many (often whiny) demands for snacks, breaks, needing to pee, needing us pick up his dropped car/cracker/container. He’s way more capable than last year’s ride (of course) and can mostly reach all the things he needs/wants which is definitely helpful. This morning he made up a song that went “oat bar oat bar, pouch, pouch, pouch, tells Ryley to “get moving, dada” when he’s taking a break, and has been reminding everyone (including himself) to drink our water. 

We moved pretty steadily with the normal breaks for Axel and us and managed a possible record slow distance of ~15km by 11am, when we did a huge descent-climb/hike-descent into a little ‘town’ called Monte da Ribeira. The locals were sitting out in the cafe chairs but no sign of any coffee being made or drank, so we joined the sitting, made some pb-j’s, made 8 trips to the bathroom for Axel to not poop, then headed onwards (a big downhill then another big climb so we could stop shortly for Axel to sort out his call of nature on the side of the road). Anyways, sorted it was and on we went.

The afternoon was much more chill, thankfully, with more mellow terrain (some paved) and hills. We rolled into Santana da Serra around 2pm,found a spot for coffee and what turned out to NOT be custard pastries (very disappointing) and Axel and I walked into town to find the mercado for a snack resupply, but it was closed. We did find another (closed) cafe in an alley under a bunch of colourful hung umbrellas which was very pretty. 

The next section was downright pleasant, more rolling and we got better mileage in. Of note, it’s overcast today! A bit muggy but makes for a nice break from the very hot days we had on the coast. We even had a sprinkle of rain – we coulant decide if we didn’t feel like dealing with a downpour or if we’d welcome it, but it didn’t pour so we didn’t have to figure that out. We passed several big puddles on the road later in the day so it obviously did really rain just not on us.

We crossed paths with 2 bikers going the other direction – they were finishing up the whole EDT staring in June and are about 4 days from the end. We told them to enjoy the beaches! They told us that they swam everyday in the Swedish section but recommended avoiding Sweden in the spring if we didn’t like mosquitos! 

We made it to Aldeia dos Palheiros around 5:30, struck out at 3 restaurants (all closed or kitchen not open till 7) grabbed a snack, made ramen in the parking lot and let Axel go wild on a slide in a derelict playground (Axel said the broken swing “needs some bandaids and some goopy cream” to fix it). We biked a couple km out of town and found a hayfield beside the trail to call it for the night!

https://strava.app.link/ohjPl2qM6Mb

We biked 2km into a wee town (São Miguel) for 8:30am coffee and pastel de nata…and a second coffee to allow the mini-mercado to open for lunch fortifications. Then we headed out of town and into a steep and loose rollercoaster section with some very punchy hike-a-biking and steep descents.

We lunched a bit early today (ie at lunch time) on the side of the trail – definitely our best DIY lunch of meat, cheese and red pepper sandwiches.

We’d made it under 20km by ~2pm – not for lack of trying, just very slow going today. We made a quick stop for a coke and refilled water then headed onwards on mostly paved road to Sabóia where we tried to blend with the locals (we can’t but we can try!), drinking Sagres beers under the bar awning on the side of the narrow cobblestone street, watching the town and its people come and go. They had rollerskating hockey on tv inside the bar which looked pretty sporty and the locals seemed to be quite into. 4 beers, a bag of chips and a snickers bar, (and milk for Axel on the house) cost 7€ (~$11CAD). Things aren’t typically cheaper here but the beer sure is!

We toodled along a short ways to Santa Clara-a-Velha where we found pad Thai and pizza, charged up devices and found a playground for Axel. The next decision was whether to camp before or after the next 150m climb – we didn’t the like camping options pre so we opted to crush it as our last objective of the day, and found a nice camp spot as the sun was setting above our first lake – Albufeira de Santa Clara – which we’ll descend down to tomorrow morning and cross a Dam.

Today was hard! We were very glad it was cloudy most of the day, it made a huge difference to the effort level needed!

https://strava.app.link/kO5kQNZp3Mb

Sep 19

We woke up in our hostel, packed up and were en route just after 8am. We backtracked slightly into Vale de Talhe to “The Bakery” for breakfast, where Axel carefully ate all the blueberries and spooned the mascarpone off waffles but didn’t actually eat any waffles – he found a communal toy bin and was busy playing with a giant model horse and bulldozer. We stopped in at a minimercado but it really was mini so we got a plum and a red pepper and moved onwards. 

It was about 10km to our first of 3 beaches, and then after today we move off the coast away from. These beaches were gems. We were hoping to hike our bikes across the beach to avoid a 10km detour around an estuary (clearly not doable for a car but we though we might cross it on bikes) but when we got there we realized it was a decent cliff drop off down to the river crossing. So, we enjoyed the view of the other side (~1km) and biked around through the town of Aljezur. We stopped in Aljezur for a grocery bump (and a charging cable we forgot) and headed back to the beach. The way back was actually relatively flat (Woo) along the river valley floor. We stopped for a swim (Ryley and I – “Mama jump over the waves!” says Axel), sand session (Axel) and lunch (cheese and jam sandwiches with a glass-sized carton of wine). These beaches all have big surf schools and lessons happening – the waves look more fun for learning than Tofino. A family from Porto with a toddler came over to chat, saw our wine carton and made some wine recommendations for us – cheap but good, they said!

After lunch and beaching we climbed out of Praia da Amoreira and biked through a town called Rogil – just a water fill up – then we stayed high and relatively flat biking along a single track section next to an irrigation canal. The trail was narrow with these cement bumps and very spiky bushes on the sides so even though it was a very interesting route away from roads and through more farmland, we spent quite a bit of focus looking where we were going and not so much around. 

Our last beach of the day was Praia de Odeceixe and when we descended (very) steeply down to the water we saw it was going to be a hit with Axel – a big inlet came in around the beach with its own sandy beach that had no waves. Axel started off playing in the sand but finally found his water bravery and once he was in had a great time playing in the water and sand.

We packed up before sunset to find dinner in Odeceixe – like many of these little towns, restaurants are in a town centre “square”. Simple but great meal of veggie pizza and caprese salad and a little bottle of the rosé our lunchtime friends had recommended.

We stopped about 3km outside of town, just before dark and set up our tent next to our route but just inside a cow “fence” – hoping no one brings in their animals for the night! Axel only had a 1/2h nap today so he was out pretty quickly!

I’m sad to be heading inland, these beaches along the coast have been beautiful, great swim breaks for us and beach breaks for Axel. But, I’m  interested to see what a change in the trail brings as we head East!

https://strava.app.link/FLqNJVcp3Mb

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

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

Sep 16

Ryley slept! Yay! 

We made oatmeal before packing up and heading to Lagos – found a coffee shop and loaded our maps into my coros watch so we could try my watch for navigating instead of Ryley’s phone – a big improvement! It has a magnified map, so Ryley uses his map for bigger context but my watch helps navigate the twists and turns and has an alert if we go the wrong way.

Today’s highlight was definitely Praia da Boca do Rio – a relatively quiet beach with clear water, no drop off and a stone house ruin that provided shade for Axel to hang and eat and play at (the waves came up to the rocks at this beach so he wasn’t interested in the beach). Great swim for Ryley and I.

Today had some extremely steep climbs to go around cliffs then drop down to the water – and repeat. We made a plan to stop for early dinner and rest before Sagres but shortly after we made that plan ryley’s adductors cramped so plan b was pull over at the nearest parking lot which happened to be a LIDL supermarket, sit in the shade, eat snacks and cool down and recover for an hour. We only had about 10km to go into Sagres – we did make it in around 6, hit the dinner rush at a restaurant and paid our bill at 7:45 (sunset at 7:41) then rolled out about 1km from town to find a campsite. We did and kind of nailed it, out of sight of the road and near the cliffs above the water near our EDT start. Tomorrow! 

Axel QotD: me what did we do today? “went for a bike ride!” what was your favourite part? (thinking the snacks or the beach) “the smooth part”

Pt1: https://strava.app.link/6UXirrqo3Mb

Pt2: https://strava.app.link/9t1ppfto3Mb

Sep 15

We woke up at 7:30, packed up and went in search of coffee and the promised daily croissants. We found Cafe Amar for both and a grocery store across the road, fueled up and headed onwards.

The morning took us on some interesting (and hilly) routes through towns Albufeira, Armação do Pêra and ended in Lagos but the big stop was in between  at Paraia dos Salgados – another awesome beach where we stopped for a couple hours, swam, played on the sand, had lunch, and shared an ice cream cone.

We went through Lagoa and stopped just before Portimao at a little café for a long break in the shade and many cold drinks (smoothie for Axel), and then again shortly after at a random park bench area for Axel to  with a view of the nice birds (not in the bathroom we’d stopped at 臘‍♀️). We ran into siesta time (we think) in our hunt for an appropriate dinner, came up empty and ended up cooking up ramen in a random church square at the top of some tiny town we’d bikes to the top of in search of food. It was great. These little towns have tiny one way cobblestone streets and curving interconnected houses, it definitely feels like a very different adventure to home. 

We carried on in the sunset (already becoming a theme) to try to find a camp spot before dark. We found an epic spot a short sandy hike a bike, tucked in beside a sand dune above a beach, very secluded and once we’d moved the tent out of the billowing wind we had a great set up and sleep! Listened to the waves crashing under the full moon.

https://strava.app.link/8WC4xy5n3Mb

Sep 14

We landed around 2pm local time, rode the “moving stairs” (big highlight), collected our bike boxes and put together 2 bikes and 1 trailer with a tired toddler and 2 tired adults. It was a lowlight for sure but we made it. Once we were ready to ride we stopped multiple times for food and bathroom breaks THEN hit the road. 

These first few days (or however long it takes us) we are following the Euro Velo 1 to get to the trailhead of the European Divide Trail (EDT) – about 150km. This takes us along mostly coast and little towns in Southern Portugal. 

The Euro Velo 1 route went right by the airport so we were on a cycling route almost immediately, some separated bike route (mix of paved, gravel and trail or questionable single track next to golf courses), some sharing the road. We meandered along just off the coast from Faro Intl Airport to Quarteira. We passed a good looking beach along the way and stopped for me to have a swim. Axel is afraid of the waves but very stoked on playing in the sand!

We carried on into town and found an outdoor store for camping fuel and a little Italian place for dinner. Lobster canneloni and a salad and a beer and bellini. Route finding was a bit tricky so we did a few u-turns but found our “destination” for the night – a park near the beach between towns, a bit near a road and a bit near 2 nightclubs… And a good little nook for a tent. We listened to the waves crash all night (and some bumping music at times). The moon is almost full and very bright and beautiful over the ocean.

https://www.strava.com/activities/12422670680

It’s time!

My cousin Shelley picked us up 6:30am and drove us to Whistler to catch the charter shuttle to YVR – 2 adults, 1 toddler, 2 boxed-up bikes and 1 boxed-up trailer, 1 large duffel, 2 carry-on panniers and a small backpack. Thank you, Shelley! 

Axel was mesmerized by being on the bus – he loved being up high and looking out the window, seeing a ferry on the sea to sky, driving through the city and arriving at the (much anticipated) airport. We checked in, took our carefully packed bike boxes fully apart to get them checked by security, packed them back up, then made our way to our gate. Axel was pretty wound up at the gate, very excited to look out the window at all the airport activity, play with trucks on the floor and do some “yoga” and running around. We boarded last and Axel was quite worried about how loud take off would be and wanted headphones (we didn’t have any) so I put my hands over his ears and as we taxied prepping for take off – he fell fast asleep with his head in between my hands (very cute! but kind of awkward). So, he missed take off but was excited to be flying when he woke up and we were up in the air. We did make about 7 trips to the bathroom which did finally end in a successful  (woo). We also read lots of books and had many snacks, which made for a pretty smooth flight to Toronto and a layover where we found dinner and made a friend to play trucks with at our gate, then boarded at 11pm.

Our red eye to Faro was not very exciting (yay!), no bathroom trips, Axel mostly slept (on Ryley, so Ryley really didn’t), I slept a bit. We all made it. Axel did want to go home to take the bus again but we said it’ll have to wait!

Of note: Ryley and I both opted for a 6am shower  – unsure when we’ll see our next one! We’ll check back in on this later 

Axel quote of the day: “Axel had a little fart on dada’s penis” – on the bus in the way to the airport