Toward the South
Caceres - Plasencia
14 juin 2022
I try to leave earlier, but one thing leads to another and I end up at the same time as on Sunday, except that this time I have eaten and had a good coffee ! So I don’t stop until I’ve passed the highest point of the route, the "Los Castanos" pass. Just after there is a van accompanying cyclists ("From Jejez to Santiago"), the driver takes pictures of me, even though I am not in their group. I stop to chat, the cyclists arrive and offer me some fresh water ! Great, my water bottle was (...)
Merida - Caceres
12 juin 2022
I missed the 7am start but 7.15am is not bad after a bad coffee at the hotel machine. It’s a bit cooler than yesterday : cloudy sunshine and a bit of wind, unpleasant when it’s in front of me but which helps to make the atmosphere more breathable 😎 I’m overtaken by a lot of cyclists, and although the route is on a national road at the beginning, there are not many people early this Sunday morning. I catch up with a group because one of them has a flat tire. I get some nice jokes along the (...)
Villafranca de los Barros - Merida
11 juin 2022
The start is early this morning, the stage is short and generally downhill, so no worries. I take my time on a rather pleasant country road. But finally the landscape is quite monotonous : olive trees, vineyards, olive trees, vineyards... ^^ As we approach Merida, the farms become more technical with integrated watering and what looks like an industrialization of the olive trees where they would be planted in tight rows to be worked with a machine as for the vineyard ? It’s a bit of a (...)
Fregenal de la Sierra - Villafranca de los Barros
10 juin 2022
I leave the hotel a bit late because I want to recover a bit from the day before and I saw that the road was not particularly difficult. Not a very good idea because it gets hot very quickly.
I take two breaks in cafés and each time they fill my water bottle with fresh water and ice cubes !
I make the planned diversions to the centre of Zafra but I give up the next town, in a hurry to escape the heat of the road.
Otherwise, I start to get used to my new plate, much smaller than the (...)
Zalamea la Real - Fregenal de la Sierra
9 juin 2022
A hard day ! It had started well with a coffee solo largo and tomato bread ! But I can’t shift gears, I’m going off the rails. I look and it seems to me that the middle plate is twisted ! I wonder how I’m going to manage to move forward, but I quickly notice that I can use all the gears on the big chainring and the three smallest developments on the small one... It’s not really comfortable but I arrive like that in Aracena. In the meantime the speedometer has stopped working which is not (...)
Punta Umbria - Zalamea la Real
8 juin 2022
Early departure from the campsite to try to reach my destination in the late afternoon.
At the beginning a nice road on a cycle track. Nice road until the bridge on which it runs is cut off for roadworks ! There is no easy alternative, the bridge next to it is the motorway bridge and no there is no track next to the motorway. Yesterday morning a Flemish man living in Portugal told me about it, but there was some confusion as to whether it should bother me or not... Next time I’ll ask (...)
Vila Real Santo Antonio - Huelva
7 juin 2022
In fact I stop a bit before Huelva in a campsite between El Portil and Punta Umbria. Maybe not a very good choice because it forces me to ride more kilometres tomorrow.
I thought I had started the USB tracker this morning, but apparently not, so this will be the route I planned to ride (it’s pretty close)
Quite a nice route where I followed a good cycle track through the marshes. But all of a sudden it turns into sand and it becomes difficult.
I arrived around 4pm. I left at 8am, so it (...)
Faro - Vila Real Santo Antonio
6 juin 2022
Two days in Faro.
The first day consisted of doing a laundry and then looking for a hairdresser who was actually open... I failed on this point... not very important.
The next day I went to the chain of islands facing Faro. Walk on the three islands, for a little bit of money... but I remembered that it had cost me the same to just go around the walls of Dubrovnik ^^ Then it was worth it, the walk was nice.
The tour of the desert island... well, I saw more different birds in the (...)
Portimao - Faro
3 juin 2022
A road without problems, but without anything extraordinary either. Buildings all over the landscape, lots of traffic. A lot of new constructions that will probably add to the houses and flats occupied two to four months a year.
In Faro I have a room with a roof terrace, nice.
I’m going to spend two days resting in Faro ! I have to take a break as I’ve just passed the 2000 km mark and I haven’t had a break for two weeks 😎
Sagres - Portimao
2 juin 2022
The wind is calmer this morning, but also it is south west and I am going east, I am slightly pushed.
Some nice slopes, one of them announced by a sign at 20%, on the other side it will be 16% to go up but my counter will not register either one and will stay at 15%. The tracker recorded a speed of 70 km/h ^^
I had seen a lot of storks in the Alentejo but towards Mexilhoeira Grande there is a real park with stork nests !
I arrive in Portimao at the beginning of the afternoon, a city (...)