We were looking forwards to our sea view this morning but were greeted by thick mist, no view.Breakfast was good, walkers were tucking in and we also saw the 2 cyclists who had come and collected their luggage the day before, on a eurorad tour.Their bikes parked next to ours looked quite good but no engines, no wonder they had looked so tired the day before. As we set off Tim assured me the route was under control although I did say the route along the coast was dashed on our map which meant unsealed.Tim reassured me it was sealed, I didn’t think our map was that old and Portugal is not that fast at road sealing but…..Tim’s “map out” app then led us the wrong way down one way streets and of course finally onto an unsealed road with plenty of potholes to dodge.Some of it was quite compacted sand but most of it was nicely potholed and corrugated.This proved useful for Tim’s bike as that morning he had discovered he couldn’t turn his bike down to eco+ if he turned it up to normal. All that bouncing around fixed his electrics problem!

Finally we reached the bitumen which was a cycling route aswell but no emergency lane at all and a steep verge drop off so you couldn’t get off the road easily.This proved hazardous with the trucks hurtling past on their way to the port at Sines. It was a relief to turn off that road to see the beach at Porto Covo which seemed a real holiday town.The beach was quite wild with waves crashing onto rocks.We cycled back up the cobbled streets and stopped for coffee at the bakery to the delight of the 2 girls in there.They were able to practise their school girl English.From Porto Covo a cycle lane appeared on the road and Porto Covo itself was building a cycle lane down to the beach.I was just thinking no big hills today when we encountered 2 very steep hills so I won’t think that again.We passed quite a few touring cyclist going the other way.

We peddled on towards Sines, having first to pass the large port and industrial area.The port of Sines is Portugal’s number one cargo port.The refinery in the industrial area produces gas,diesel,bitumen,LPG and sulfur amongst others.My eyes started stinging and running, then I was sneezing and then my chest tightening. All plans to visit the old town and castle of Sines were abandoned and we continued on out of Sines before I had to try and find which pannier had my ventolin in. Apparently today Sines only had moderate air pollution of particulate matter, I pity the poor locals.It must be hard for those walking this stretch of the coastline having to go up the dual carriageway past the port for kms in the pollution aswell. We did see quite a few walkers trudging along.TheVasco da Gama beach looked quite pretty with gaily covered beach huts. Vasco da Gama was born in Sines and spent a lot of his life trying to gain Lordship of Sines in recognition of all his navigational successes to India however in the end he was expelled from the town.The beach was named after him aswell as the school and a square.

After Sines we had a few tricky junctions( ie. We went the wrong way) over 6kms before ending up on a road next to the motorway.It was deserted not a single car.So fantastic travelling along a deserted road till we arrived at Vila Nova de Santo Andre where we were staying.The normal route for touring cyclists would be to go to Santiago do Cacem but Tim was concerned re his battery power and the significant hills to get there.

The receptionist told us the towns claim to fame was its beach but as that was a 7km round trip we gave it a miss and visited the park instead. The park had some good street art that had seen better days and had quite a bit of graffiti added to them but there was a lovely cafe in the park.

So a pleasant night in Hotel Villa overlooking beautiful lawns, with reticulation coming on to soak our nearly dry washing.