Day 1

Day 1 Monday, April 26.

53.74 klms cycled. 3.49 hours of cycling. Max speed 48.46 km/h. Average speed 14.04 km/h. Weather – sunny and hot with a tail wind. Wild camped at Fornalha midway between Ameixal and Almodovar.

I’m finally on my way. After saying my goodbyes and thankyous to Bob and Betty, my hosts in Faro, I finally made a somewhat nervous yet excited start to my cycling adventure.

  And what a day of cycling it was. Basically it was hills, more hills and yet more hills climbing to an altitude of just over 1000 metres over about 40klms.

  Thankfully I was well rested and handled the hard slog well, which gives me a lot of confidence with much steeper and higher climbs still to come over the next month.

  The countryside in the south of Portugal that I travelled through today is a sea of Spring colours with wild flowers in just about every colour of the spectrum in full bloom.

  With the weather close to perfect, it was a fantastic day to finally be cycling. While the temperature would have been in the low 30s, my training through the summer humidity of southeast Queensland held me in good stead.

  As there was nowhere to camp in Ameixal where I had planned to stop for the night, after enjoying a cold beer in a café I continued on for about another 12 kilometres until I found a perfect wild camp site amongst a sea of wild flowers.

  After setting up the tent I walked to have a look at a nearby old ruin before cooking a meal of soup and noodles.

  All going well I hope to make it Beja tomorrow.