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March 15 - Mertola to Sao Bartholemeu, 547 km
We begin our journey south to the Algarve today. Our plan is to cross a ridge of hills that separate the Algarve from the Alentejo and proceed west inland away from the major population centers and traffic congestion until we reach Sagres at the south-west point of Portugal. It will take two days, about 200 km.
I want to start early because it will be a harder day than usual, but Mike keeps me waiting until after 9am when the grocer store opens to save 40 escudos on bottle returns, and then at the post office as he mails his postcards. I am visibly impatient but I bite my tongue and say nothing. But when we hit the road I find my muscles are tired and I am very slow. Now it is his turn to be impatient with me.
Our route today takes us south of Mertola on N267 and N122, following the border of the Guadiana Valley Natural Park. The traffic is light. Eight km south we take another side road that serves as a shortcut to N124. There are not many people in this area. We pass through one village and by schoolyard filled with children. They cheer wildly and run towards us. We have become accustomed to people and animals staring, gaping mouths and confused looks, as we pass, but not such a boisterous reception as this.
That is the last town we see for some time. We reach N124 and follow it west as it climbs and climbs, and then falls off quickly. But not too quickly because the road surface is very rough and patchy here. Some of the corners are coated with gravel, making them dangerous when we are doing downhill at any speed. The Portuguese don’t know how to make roads, Mike tells me. He says I will see the difference when we cross into Spain in a few days because they do know how to make them.
The road continues to rise and drop over several valleys that have been carved deeply by their inhabiting streams. It takes us until mid-afternoon to reach the highest and final crest of the ridge of hills. We meet a British couple cycling north who tells us it will be mostly downhill from here. We get our first view of
the Algarve to the south, but it’s not much of one – a feeble reward for such hard work – but at least from this point there is more falling than climbing. The road surface improves too, on the south side.
N124 leads us west until we finally reach the major highway that runs from Faro to Lisbon. We have a brief break, our first break of the day with food. I feel like I am done for the day but there is no place to stay here. We push on a few more km to Sao Bartholomeu de Messines.
We’ve been chased by storm clouds for the past 20 km but we make it to the town without getting rained on. It is shortly after 5pm and the light is rapidly fading. There is only one pension in town so we take what we can get and be grateful. The town is ugly. The buildings look run down, their lower halves splashed with the red clay of the area, looking like filthy children. I buy groceries and then we walk to a restaurant we saw coming into town. There’s not much choice in restaurants either.
We retire early. Even though today’s ride is 15 km shorter than the one from Setubal to Evora, it has been harder with all its many climbs. My mattress feels as hilly as the terrain we have just crossed.
PHOTO 1: fields of lavender
PHOTO 2: sod house north of Algarve
PHOTO 3: hills north of Algarve
PHOTO 4: rough roads
PHOTO 5: entering the Algarve
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