We left the beautiful guest house after a French style light breakfast and cycled straight onto country lanes .Tim had decided that we really should try a proper cycle route even though the ones waymarked often went on dirt or gravel tracks.This did mean repeated stops to check we were on the correct route, annoying for me locked into toe clips and very slow.The little towns we cycled past were very pretty however so maybe it was worth staying on a cycle route.Porches village was full of white buildings and historic chimneys.One of the oldest chimneys in the Algave can be found here dating back to 1713, each chimney has its own decorations and are very ornate.We then cycled onto the scenic harbour at Ferragudo and stopped there for a coffee to admire the view.As we passed Portimonao crossing its river I saw a children’s playground all decorated for Easter, so some towns here do get decorated for Easter.

After circling the harbour and crossing a bridge our route then took us onto a dirt track which started off ok and then got more and more rugged being on a steep camber.You had to try and cycle on the high side of the camber to avoid potholes full of water and mud.The route then came to a steep descent with rocks,loose gravel , potholes and sand.I decided in the best interests of my body and the best interests of my bike to walk.Tim as gunho as ever whizzed down it.Eventually we returned to a road where I pointed out to Tim that his panniers were about to fall off.Panniers adjusted and as we were skirting the little town of Alvor we saw an Indian restaurant, “let’s stop for lunch here”,I suggested.At least at an Indian you can catch up on eating veggies!.This was very fortuitous as we stopped Tim realised his back wheel was very loose ie.about to fall off.The lever to take the wheel off had been released with the panniers bumping around.The consequences of that doesn’t bear thinking about…

You would think after that Tim would give up on his plan to take the cycle route, oh no, we were still doing the cycle route.This included cycling as fast as possible down one way streets so we didn’t meet a car.Then it was going the wrong on a cycle path through a pedestrian precinct, and kms along the coast on a walking trail.The pedestrians were very amiable, thank goodness with us invading their space.This walk trail area was great for spectacular beach vistas. We saw a variety of stork rookeries today some all in once we town on tall chimneys and then others in a field on top of anything they could find. All busy feeding their chick’s.

As a finale for the day after many kms of roads we were this time facing a sandy track some of it compacted down, but other parts loose thick sand and mud, and very potholed full of water.The track started out quite wide but then ended up really narrow and at one point it shared a decent track around a golf course , where we met a golf buggy. The track had lead us to a mouth of a river, the Rio Alvol , beautiful and containing a big oyster farm.I was relieved when we got through finally onto a decent cycle path which lead into the road to Lagos.The first kilometre of the road had glass broken all along the verges to trap unsuspecting cyclists joining the road from the cycle path.

This meant first impressions of Lagos were not good, particularly if you add the huge monochrome appartment blocks.As we cycled into the marina area we could see the old port area, the old castle and old churches plus the coast.It was a great place and plenty of boats going out of the harbour to see the coastline, so lots of tourists around.The coast had very,very steep hills we had to go up and down to reach our Hotel Atlantic Lagos.Tim is happy as we finally have a sea view from our hotel. No restaurant at the hotel but they told us we can just walk 10mins down the steps to the beach where there are restaurants!The restaurants are all full, didn’t we make a reservation…oh well its our emergency rations sardines and nuts tonight. We wanted to touch the sea anyway, people are sunbathing it’s only 15C and children are playing in the sea.We need a drink at the bar and to chill watching the waves for a while before tackling going back up the steps.

The cycle route was picturesque but we should have gravel bikes or we might finish off our road bikes and it was 20km longer than the road route and very,very slow and we could have ended up with broken bones ! My thought for the day no more cycle routes!