Day 2 Fornalha to Beja

Day 2. Tuesday, April 27. Fornalha to Beja. 83.84kms. 5.21 hours cycling. Max speed 42.63 km/h. Average speed 15.63 km/h. Weather sunny and very hot. Camped at Municipal camp ground at Beja.



It would be interesting to see the official statistics, but I don’t think there would be too many Portuguese that suffer from stress.
In virtually every town you go through in every café and on many street corners there are groups of mainly men either just sitting, playing cards or talking.
Time is obviously not a consideration, with everyone on cruise mode.
On my way through the pretty village of Castro Verde I thought I would see if I could track down an internet connection. As luck would have it I turned on the computer in the town square and bingo free internet connection.
With a number of things to do I made the most of the connection and was probably there for two-plus hours. During that time the square was full of groups of men of all ages (doesn’t anyone work?) all in animated conversation as is the case everywhere.
After finishing in Castro Verde I hit the road for what turned out to be more than five hours of tough cycling.
I don’t know how it works, but why is there always more cycling to be done uphill than downhill? This thought occupied me for a good many hours as hill after hill appeared around every bend in the road.
While the terrain changed from the barren land of day one to more fertile land dominated by olive groves, wineries and cork trees, one thing remained constant – the constant slog uphill.
After enjoying a much needed main meal and wine at Albernoa, the remainder of the ride to Beja was seriously uphill, so I was more than pleased to finally arrive.
After finally tracking down the camp group in Beja, my lack of Portuguese language got me into more trouble than I needed. In most countries you pay for your tent site and that is that. But not here. After much angst from the lady behind the counter because I had no idea what she was saying I finally realised that she wanted my passport.
No way was I going to let her near that, so I produced my Queensland drivers licence only for her to take it and refuse to give it back.
After much heated discussion with neither of us understanding a word spoken, I took back the licence and said I was going to put up my tent.
About one hour later after enjoying a much needed shower, a guy in a very official uniform showed up and from what I could understand wanted to throw me out.
Thankfully another lady who spoke English joined in the conversation and placated him, but I still had to hand over either my passport or licence.
From what I can gather that is usual practice, but it was a fuss that I didn’t need after a long day.
Time will tell if I get it back ok in the morning.

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.

Faro Portugal April 23 to 26

After finally arriving in Faro at the end of a long and tiring trip from Australia, how good was it to see Bob and Betty waiting for me when I exited from Customs loaded up with my bike and luggage at Faro Airport.
Bob and Betty are the parents of my good neighbour Jackie from back on the Gold Coast and as luck would have it they have retired to Portugal from the UK.
When told that I was starting my trip from Faro they insisted that I spend whatever time I wanted with them to recover from my flight and to generally get prepared.
They own a unique villa just a few kms outside of Faro complete with rooftop barbecue, swimming pool and magnificent views and they love the laid-back Portuguese lifestyle.
And what a great few days we have had together. After an early night on Friday on my arrival, I was keen to put my bike back together on Saturday morning.
Fortunately the bike arrived unscathed from the flight and with the help of Bob we successfully worked our way through the jigsaw of bike bits, however became stumped on the reassembly of the front brakes.
After fiddling with it for some time, the decision was made to track down the local bike shop to complete the job and generally give the bike a final going-over.
Fortunately the bike shop staff spoke English and completed the job in no time at all to have the bike in tip top condition for the start of the journey.
The remainder of the weekend was spent sightseeing around the Faro and Loule areas with Bob and Betty, eating and generally listening to Bob’s stories.
One of life’s characters, Bob is a Pom and a consummate wheeler and dealer who I am sure could cut a deal to sell sand to the Arabs.
In fact, I think he was quite chuffed when I told him I reckoned he was a dead ringer for Arthur ‘Arfur’ Daley from the English TV series The Minder.
Anyway, as you can imagine, Bob has a personality larger than life and loves telling a story … mostly about his colourful past.
But as much as I would love to stay longer and to hear more stories, eat more of Betty’s wonderful food and to see more of the Faro area, the time has come to finally put all my preparations into practice and to start pedalling.
While I still think I have too much weight to carry, I have decided to work out what I can jettison along the way and will head out somewhat nervously later this morning.
The area inland from Faro is extremely hilly, so I will be doing some hard core hill climbing straight out of the blocks which promises to be interesting!!!!
Not to worry, that is what I have been training for, so Amsterdam here I come!!

First Class is the Only Way to Go

After all the dramas and uncertainty about whether I would be able to fly through to Europe because of all the fallout from the Iceland volcano, things couldn’t have gone better for yours truly.

  Not only was I able to fly as planned with Korean Air, but the Seoul to London leg was done First Class – literally.

  As I was about to board the flight from Seoul to Heathrow I was politely asked to go to see someone at the Korean Airlines information counter. Fearing I was about to be bumped off the flight at the last moment, I readied for a confrontation.

  But no, there was no problem, they said, but would I be interested in upgrading to a First Class seat? Of course I would only too happy to oblige, I replied!!!!!!!!!!

  To say that I had a spring in my step as I waltzed down the dedicated First Class gangway entrance to the plane is an understatement of monumental proportions.

  Not only was I in First Class, but I was at the front of the upstairs section of the 747 complete with an almost private toilet (which 4 of us shared with the pilots), our own cabin attendant and all the other luxuries that travelling First Class affords the lucky few normally able to afford it.

  The next 12 hours was the most enjoyable flight I have ever taken. With more than 3 months of cycling ahead of me I gleefully accepted every meal, drink, ice cream (or 4) and more that came my way (a bloke has to prepare for these things after all). And best of all … once it came time to have a sleep and I set up my seat as a bed, our personal flight attendant insisted on tucking me in. It can’t get any better than this, I thought.

  Anyway, I arrived in London as fresh as a daisy and after working out the complexities of the bus services at Heathrow am now at my overnight accommodation before flying out to Portugal in the morning.

  So there you have it. While hundreds of thousands of airline passengers worldwide are desperate for any flight home they can get after more than a week of delays caused by that unpronounceable Iceland volcano, I was not only able to fly to London on my originally scheduled flight, but did it in style.

  Definitely chalk it up as a good omen for things to come once I hit the road early next week on my bicycle.

I'm finally off to Europe

Well finally I am on my way. Despite the best efforts of a spewing unpronounceable volcano in Iceland which grounded all flights into Europe for a week, I somehow seem to have dodged all the chaos and am currently in South Korea en route to Portugal via London.
What a week of uncertainty it has been. With thousands of flights worldwide cancelled and hundreds of thousands of passengers having their travel plans disrupted, I really started to think this trip was never going to happen.
But no matter what I was always going to go to Korea and at least do some sightseeing if I was unable to continue my flight to Europe.
Fortunately lady luck seems to have smiled on me though. Just minutes after booking in my luggage at Brisbane Airport word came through that all flight restrictions into Europe had been lifted. You *^%&(*^ beauty I thought, it looks as though I really am going to get to my start point at Faro in Portugal on April 23 as planned.
With so much uncertainty in the week leading up to my departure, I felt strangely flat and was unable to feel the excitement at finally getting going that I thought I should.
Thanks to the guys at Bicycle World (thanks Liam, Steve and Dax) my bike was duly boxed up for the trip a couple of days before departure.
I got a bit of a shock at the airport when it was weighed in at a massive 29kg, but fortunately Korean Air stuck to their advertised policy of just charging for 5kg of excess weight to get it on the flight.
As I was unable to book the bike through to London due to uncertainty about the European leg of the flight (confirmation that flight restrictions had been lifted only came through just as we were about to board), I had to collect the bike in Seoul and lug it to my overnight accommodation …. not an easy task along with my other suitcase, backpack and shoulder bag.
But I guess it was a small price to pay for being able to jump all the queues of people trying to rebook cancelled flights as I had a confirmed booking for the next day.
Anyway, I will update things once I finally land in Faro. After a couple of days staying with Betty, the mother of my good neighbours Pete and Jackie at her home just outside Faro, I hope to be off and finally pedalling on about the 26th or 27th of April.
Bring it on!!!!

JUST 3 WEEKS TO GO

Just 3 weeks to go!!! After much planning, training, expense and just plain hard work, the departure date for my Portugal to The Netherlands cycling adventure is now just around the corner.

In many ways I have mixed feelings about finally putting all my preparations into practice. After planning and talking about the trip for so long part of me just wants to get into it and start cycling. Another part of me, however, keeps finding more and more things to organise and isn’t quite so sure about the fast approaching departure date.

Nonetheless it is now exactly three weeks to go and I can’t wait to finally get going.

One of the last pieces of the readiness jigsaw was put into place last weekend when I cycled the 100km round trip to Mount Springbrook and back from my home on the Gold Coast.

The final 22km ascent to Purlingbrook Falls on Mount Springbrook boasts a relentless 8 to 12 degree (approx) climb without respite. With my trusty Trek 520 bicycle fully loaded with all the gear I plan to take to Europe – about 25kg in total – I easily made the climb despite an oppressively hot and humid day.

However to be able to repeat similar climbs day after day – which I will have to do in Portugal and over the Pyrenees – the ride did graphically illustrate one fact. I still have to lose considerable weight between now and the start of the ride - not me, but the gear that I am carrying, that is!!

In fact, carrying all my gear on the bike for the first time on such a tough ride was something of a revelation. At slow speed - especially climbing up hill – the bike did not feel as stable on the road as I would like with so much weight on board.

So what to do? Lose some weight, but what weight? The first, and probably the only thing I could immediately think of that was not absolutely necessary was the wet weather fly that I imported from the USA. At just under 1kg it is definitely a luxury that will just have to go. From there I have drawn a blank, but more has to go so I will have to systematically go through everything to assess its worth. I already feel as though I am travelling relatively frugally for a 3 month cycle tour, but more still has to go.

The problem with the escalating all-up weight of all my gear is that I plan to camp as much as I can along the way. This requires me to carry all relevant camping equipment such a suitable tent, cooking gear, sleeping bag etc etc which all add up when their individual weights are put together.

Anyway, there is no use worrying about it, I am sure I can find a few more items to leave behind so the bike will handle as it should under full load.

One positive note to come out of the ride to Mount Springbrook was my new tent (thanks Mum). With my old tent proving to be a claustrophobic hothouse, I knew that I had to find a tent that provided better ventilation in all weather conditions. After much searching I am now confident I have the answer despite an extra 800grams in weight. After a bit of head scratching I finally worked out how to put it up and am now pleased to report that it was just as practical as I had hoped … another problem solved!!!

Probably the last unresolved issue as far as my preparation goes is something of a painful issue – saddle sores.

I have been doing so many kilometres training – nearly 3000 at last count - that I have developed a couple of persistent saddle sores courtesy of a bad decision to wear underwear one day on a particularly long ride. Believe me I am well aware of the ‘no jocks’ rule when cycling, but I had a brain snap this particular day and am definitely paying the price.

As I have discovered it is a particularly difficult area to heal blisters and when they do start to heal the skin remains very tender for a long, long time. Suffice to say I have been a regular at the local chemist shop in recent times looking for any sort of remedy.

 As things stand at the moment I have gone for the protection at all costs option with medical foam, bandages and more covered by two pairs of cycling knicks hopefully providing the necessary protection from more skin-tearing damage.

Apart from that all is going well and I can’t wait to start cycling.

Bike Preparation

While physically preparing for a major cycling tour is a big task in itself, getting a suitable bicycle and all the necessary gear together so as to be self sufficient for nearly three months has, I have found, been an even bigger ask.

The bike first. After much research all roads seemed to lead me to a Trek 520 touring bike and as luck would have it one the correct size for me was up for sale on Ebay in Brisbane, a short distance up the road from the Gold Coast.

A successful bid later and I was the proud owner of a near-new black Trek 520 ... but that was the easy part.

Days after collecting my new bike I set out on a casual 100km or so ride that ended up proving to be very enlightning in more ways than one.

 Firstly, I very quickly worked out that the gearing of the bike was totally inadequate for a major tour carrying 25 or so kilos of additional weight. Secondly, the seat that comes with the Trek 520 was a total joke and was in fact possibly the worst bicycle seat I have ever had the mispleasure of introducing my backside to and thirdly, the stem of the bike, for me, was too low to be able to sit in a comfortable touring position.

Immediately on my return I set about rectifying all three problems and once again the result was much research on the internet.

All roads very quickly led me to ordering a Brooks leather saddle from the UK. If what I was reading was true more than 50% of long distance tourers use Brooks saddles, so that was good enough for me.

As things have worked out it was a good move, with the seat taking about 400 to 500km to break in. Now well into my preparation for the trip at least a sore backside isn't one of my problems.

If only the bike gearing issue could have been solved as easily. My research on the internet seemed to indicate that many others before me had run into the same problem and had been able to successfully fit new gear ratios.

No worries, I thought, head off to my local bike shop and get a price to do just that. But, as I soon worked out, there are bike shops and there are bike shops. It soon became apparent that the owner of my LBS - where I had been going for a number of years - had no idea about gear ratios, so he called his "gearing expert" mechanic over into the conversation. A couple of phone calls later and a lot of talk about nothing, the so-called expert said he was afraid to tell me some bad news. What I wanted to do wasn't possible and if I really planned to do a major cycling tour I had better "toughen up".

You could have knock me over with a feather. Toughen up, I thought, what a bloody cheek, time to get some advice from another bike shop.

Five shops later and with not much more success (although at least no one else told me to toughen up) and I finally hit gold with Liam Clarey at Bicycle World at Southport on the Gold Coast. A former pro cyclist in Europe, Liam not only said what I wanted to do WAS possible, but in no time had all the necessary parts ordered and on the bike.

The result is the original 52/42/30 front gearing and 11-32 back cassette being ditched in favour of a 46/36/22 and 12-36 set up. And what a difference it makes - and I didn't even need to toughen up!!!!! Now I can confidently tackle the worst hills Europe can throw at me and all going well I should be able to conquer them.

With the gearing issue solved, the final thing to resolve was the height of the handlebars. On my first few rides on the bike it seemed as though I could never get comfortable. I would ride about 40km or so before between my shoulders started to freeze, thus requiring me to stop and stretch every 15 or so km thereafter. But once again it was Liam to the rescue with a fork extension that finally put me in a comfortable position just right for touring.

Other changes to the bike include the addition of a Tubus front pannier rack, Topeak rear pannier rack in favour of the original Trek rack that didn't suit my pannier bags, the addition of a second set of brake levers (for safety reasons) and the addition of a second stem suitable to put my handlebar bag on.

It all sounds straight forward enough, but all in all it was quite a task to get everything "just right".

In conjunction with all the bike issues, there has also been the not insignificant task of purchasing all the necessary camping gear including tent, cooking utensils, mini stove, suitable clothing, spare parts etc etc etc.

Finally with about 6 weeks to go before my April 21 departure for Portugal just about everything is in place.

Can't wait to start pedalling!!!