So the Race to Portugal (both actual and virtual) is over and the scores on the doors can be revealed with Paul making it to the Algarve and riding more mileage than the young people of Tyneside Outdoors.
As some of you will be aware one of our trustees, Paul Nixon, decided to cycle from Tyneside to southern Portugal to challenge himself, raise money for TO and to raise awareness of the issues young people face in simply riding their bikes.
In terms of the ride, Paul knew that the challenge he personally faced was the cumulative effect of riding for an average of 6 hours a day for 16 days on the trot and also the hot weather in Spain / Portugal. Little did he know that weather of a different kind would be the cause of concern - more of that later! Here is his diary of the ride.
It all started on the bank holiday Monday morning of a chilly but dry Tyneside where the team (supplemented by two at this point) paused for a photo at the beautiful millennium bridge on Tyneside.
The team then managed to get lost in Gateshead (!) before heading south through the delights of No Place, Maiden Law and stopping for coffee and a sticky bun in Crook. Tow Law was closed for the day. Suitably refreshed the ride continued but with the added challenge of northern drizzle to reach the first stopover at Masham, home of Black Sheep Brewery- not that we tried any of the produce!
Day two can only be described as a beast. 84 miles, 8,169 feet climbed and almost 8 hours in the saddle. However, that’s only half of the story. The first 30 miles was into a very strong block headwind with some 20 percent plus slopes to contend with - brutal. This was followed by 30 miles through busy built up areas trying to skirt the West Yorkshire cities of Bradford, Leeds and Wakefield. Finally the sting in the tail of 25 miles into the Peak District with more climbing finishing in Hathersage. The profile of the route below shows the day in all its up and down glory!
Days 3, 4 & 5 was where the group dropped to just myself and a good friend (also called Paul - we like to keep things simple!) riding to Coventry, Wallingford and finally Portsmouth Harbour. As well as experiencing the beautiful and varying English countryside - riding the length of the country really does help you appreciate the differences between north, midlands and the south (& I’m not just talking cake prices either!) - they saw numerous thatched buildings, a coffee shop / mobility aid shop (no, me neither!) sunflowers galore and stunning sunrises. There was also the trips one and only tumble when i braked when I saw a coffee stop opportunity not realising that Paul E was on my wheel. Cue middle aged cyclist hitting the tarmac, fortunately nothing was damaged other than ego.
The next day was spent resting on the ferry from Portsmouth to Santander where copious quantities of tea were consumed. This was the only proper rest day of the trip and with hindsight a second should have been included later in the trip. We were also joined at this stage by Dave who had agreed to drive as support vehicle for the rest of the ride - and how welcome that was as there was now no need to carry all the kit on the bikes.
The ferry arrived in Santander early on the morning of Sunday 1st September and in many ways this is where the adventure really began, riding on foreign soil through the Iberian peninsula. The first day in Spain was another monster at 85 miles (or should I say 137 kilometres as we are in Europe?) and almost 8000 feet of ascent. It started with blue skies and in short sleeved jerseys but as the route went further south west and gained altitude the blue skies were replaced by ominous looking dark clouds which eventually dumped a load of rain on the riders - rain in Spain mostly on the plane? Nonsense! However the rain didn’t start till half way up the 10 mile ascent to Piedrasluengas which included to most astonishing road through a gorge - how did they decide to build a road here?
Unfortunately the heavens really opened on the descent and it was two extremely cold, wet and tired cyclists to rolled into the accommodation that evening.
It’s strange how each day on a journey like this gets graded in terms of difficulty and how the second day in Spain was deemed to be an ‘easy’ one at only 69 miles and 3650 feet from Piedrasluengas to Vegaquemeda. Accommodation that evening was log cabins and once again the team feasted on raciones which is a type of tapas but the portions are more cyclist size.
Day three in Spain took the riders through more of the Picos de Europa National Park and the Cantabrian mountains. Just stunning. Fueled by many many churros and avoiding the temptation to just stop in a cafe and watch the Vuelta Espana cycle race that nights accommodation was reached in El Valle.
The ride from El Valle to A Gudina became my personal low point. Again the views were spectacular but with the climbs hard, the temperature rising, a nasty insect bite to the head and an infection all took their toll. Even raising a knife and fork for that evenings meal was hard work. I think this was the point were I wondered whether I would make it - & where having a riding companion really helped. Never has a nights rest been so welcome. It’s worth noting that for three days the roads never really dropped below 1000m which to put it into perspective is higher than any of the highest mountains in the Lake District.
Fortunately the next day was a short one of 41 miles (mostly downhill - hurray!) into Portugal and the city of Chaves.
Chaves is the starting point for the N2 route which runs the length of Portugal to finish in Faro - albeit we were finishing in Carvoeiro. Although this is a route for cars and motorcycles it’s also promoted as a cycle route and it’s interesting that it seems to suffer from the same issues that we have in the UK. Namely, not very well signposted, times where the route seemed to disappear and large sections on quite busy truck roads not really suitable for bikes. Memo to the Portuguese tourist board ‘if you really want to promote this as a designated cycle route it needs some sensible thoughtful investment’. Rant over.
For all there are difficult sections of the N2 some of it is fantastic and day one took us through the stunning Douro valley where the grapes are grown for some of Portugals best wines - again not sampled on the trip! There are also some of the most jaw dropping examples of bridges that I’ve ever seen. How you even start thinking about designing and building one of these is totally beyond me.
And then the weather changed. From gradually improving temperatures it all went very dark and wet. And cold. This is where the other Paul had his dip and was struggling. We always knew that stopping regularly for food and drink would be necessary on this jaunt but having to stop for hot chocolate to warm up!? Of course we had also geared up for hot temperatures so thermal base layers and full finger gloves were still in the drawer on Tyneside. However it could have been so so much worse. As I write this there are significant forest fires in the exact region we cycled through with a massive presence of firefighters (Bombeiros) trying to deal with it. Tragically, there have also been some deaths, so cold fingers and toes are really nothing to complain about.
Towards the end of day three someone turned the thermostat up and we encountered some more of the N2’s best parts. Beautiful valleys, rolling hills and long speedy descents. Definitely one of the best days of the ride.
Suddenly there were only three days left and the end was in sight. A challenge that had taken many months to prepare for and much headspace was close to the end. Strange feelings of happiness that we were nearly there, pride in what we had done (or nearly done!) and sadness that it was nearly over started to appear. We just had to focus on enjoying what was still to come. At this point the weather started again to become a challenge, but more of the heat which was what we were expecting and temperatures by mid day were well into the mid 30’s. What do they say about mad dogs and Englishmen!? Early starts were the order of the day and it was a chance at last to get the TO hot weather jerseys out as days 4 & 5 in Portugal took us from Vila de Rei, via Brotas to Aljustrel and the final night away.
A quick word on accommodation. It varied from spa hotels, to rooms above a pub, log cabins, old coaching lodges and basic Portuguese houses. It was always a bit exciting to get to the stopover at the end of the day and see where we were staying, and whether food was available!
And so to the final day of the ride from Aljustrel to Helder’s in Rocha Brava near Carvoeiro a mere 85 miles with the temperature hitting 40 degrees at one point. The first 30 miles were along the straightest road I have ever cycled on - clearly the Romans were here at some point - which was fun to begin with but became tedious over 30 miles. We then struck off the N2 at Almodovar and headed into the stunning Algarve region which of course meant more hills. The guys were joined by a small peloton from Helder’s at a cafe in Alte and were given an armchair ride back for the final 35 miles. Probably the closest I will ever get to feeling like Bradley Wiggins. We were welcomed by a rowdy bunch of friends and family at Helders to help us celebrate the completion of the ride.
And that was it. Finished. The ride is probably best summed up in numbers as follows:
Miles cycled - 1224
Metres climbed - 24125
Calories expended - 104,355 (including 46,000 for just ‘living’)
Calories eaten - 59,704
Punctures - 0 (nil, zilch, none!!!) thanks to TO bike for this!
Comedy falls - 1
Dog chases- 2
Body failures - 0 (thanks to DF Fitness for getting me in shape)
Memories - countless
Thanks must go to everyone who has helped in anyway in making this possible - too many to mention here (this is sounding like an Oscar’s speech!) but particular thanks must go to Paul for riding with me and giving massive moral support and Dave who did so much more than just carrying kit and ‘mothered’ us all the way! Also a massive thanks to all who have sponsored Tyneside Outdoors where we have raised the astonishing total (so far, still time to sponsor!) of £5,590.31. Amazing.
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