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I kind of lost the plot and ended up putting a lot more pictures than I thought ... Some of you, being bikers, may have heard of Faro before, the FaroMC organizes one of Europes' biggest rallies usually during June I think, already in its 27th edition, 2020 and 2021 were the first years it didn't happen since the early 80s. It is a huge club and has a big impact on the town itself, and the way bikes are used and treated there. Faro is not very much a tourist city like others in the Algarve are, you have no big touristy hotels, no resorts, and the beach is not located within easy reach of the town center but instead on a strip of land 10km drive away. It is very unique, and old school portuguese. Being stuck with no bike I had no ease of parking so ended up walking a lot more than usual, which I actually appreciated. Having nothing really to do I took long walks with stops for swims. The pin on the left with "Ilha de Faro" is the only access land access to the beach, and what I'll be showing you, that and the beach until "Praia da Barrinha" The bridge to the "island" only has one alternated lane, which means it's a bitch to get on if you're driving a cage. No such problems for bikes as shown below: The nature reserve itself, between the beach and the main town is a beautiful place to visit Harleys are popular here, more so than anywhere else in Portugal, being used in daily life more than pampered, but even most other bikes are more often characterful and used, some with quite the patina from the sun and salty winds. Some poor souls wasting their filtering powers: Even spotted Pete's bike, complete with sidestand over lean, and all the boxes needed for the family's beach essentials ... Proper private parking place for this guy next to his restaurant, no scorching bike! Onto our tour around that strip on land called Ilha de Faro, you access through the bridge, here with no traffic as it's older and I was on the bike: it used to be mainly fishermen's houses, now there are plenty of nicer fixed up weekend homes, a few restaurants and bars, and a couple of hostels, but it retained most of it's charm. The main street already away from the fuss and into mostly small homes: In a few places you have houses that are 20 meters away from the water inland, and 100 meters away from the beach on the other side And the narrow accesses between houses when there are two or three rows of homes between the street and the beach Here I'm standing on the beach, you get three rows of houses, the street, one row of houses, and then water on the other side some are quite small and not exactly luxurious, in the winter they're not really comfortable but what a view and beach access: If you continue until the end of the street, you'll find my preferred parking place when on a motorcycle, already getting to the sand away from the crowd The creaky boardwalk into the beach is the only access to the fishermen homes out in the dunes, the sign says no motorcycles except for residents Their roadways for a few meters: Now, onto the beach life, obviously the closer you are to the access bridge and main parking areas, the more crowded it is. It is very much a family oriented beach, similar in beach life to the north of portugal, grandparents taking their small grandkids for the morning while parents are at work, that sort of thing. It perfectly mixes with tourists from all over. I feel like a perv taking pictures of people on the beach, so try to avoid it more so when there are hot chicks in them or topless women. Teenagers waiting for the adrenalin boat ride being towed on flotation devices, I would say there's a 25% change of rope burn, and it properly stings in the salty water too I am not a big fan of quads, but they do serve a purpose, and there are worse jobs to have than patrol the sand every hour or so On windy afternoons, kitesurfers, as soon as you see the kites in the distance, you already know there's going to be sand blowing everywhere. The busy parts of the beach have lifeguards. If you're going to drown, better do it very loudly or I think you won't get their attention away from tinder Early morning crowd, families about to start getting pestered with crowds of younger people who don't make it to the beach before 10AM There is a big child shelter in Faro, to harbor kids who are mainly taken away from dangerous and/or abusive situations. They have facilities here that I suppose are used as a holiday camp for the summertime, here they are packing up at the end of a beach afternoon Group of friends hanging out after sunset, eating pizza and drinking beer, there are worse things to do. Fishing boats, quite close to the sand this year Tourists at the end of day On some days, the sky color is amazing and a darker blue than I've seen anywhere. Beach scene, 6PM on quite a warm day. There's a pastry that for whatever reason is very popular in the beach, and in most parts of Portugal you get people walking the beach selling them. It's origins are German, it's the Berliner. In Germany it's usually filled with fruit jelly and only partly so as the flavors are quite strong, in Portugal it's more like a custard sandwich with plenty of filling, like so: It's very sugary on the outside and very sweet, but when you're all salty from the ocean it hits the spot for most people. I make an effort to avoid them very much ... Here you have the "Bolas de Berlim" guy being called over by a family, it's not an easy job walking the soft sand carrying those cases Faro sometimes is a little windy in the afternoon, and when that happens the wind usually dies down before sunset, you get the feeling it's getting warmer as the sun is setting, these nights in the Algarve with just a hint of a breeze and 25º outside are magical, I went on a walk at the end of the afternoon up until night time, sunset was at about 20:30. This is one of the reasons restaurants are open until very late and get clients arriving at 10 or 11pm. Faro in the distance, on the other side of the water with an ultra low tide Earlier that day I had a nice swim in the same spot but with a bigger tide Walking at night and getting away from the shore, better watch where you step Literally the end of the beach, you can walk with water waist or chest high to the other side for a couple of hours before the tide rises back up. There was a forest fire that blew a smoke cloud over the ocean and created this light when the sun started to drop behind it and then set behind the Atlantic, quite an end to the day.

It has finally started to cool off here as well and today is cloudy with a chance of rain. NICE!! Soooooo......I am going to put on a happy face, pack up my tools and attempt to go for a ride through the forest on Bagheera (my cursed Himalayan)..... WHAT COULD GO WRONG.........???? ....rescue teams stand by

Hey, I can't help it, I own a Himalayan...... I am successful 50% of the time with my rides lately. My Honda is awesome! Just don't stop for a lot of pics.

FUCK ALL !

Do you see the Grasshopper?

And I should be able to get out at last.......as long as I can get an early start! Not long left with Summer temps and it looks to be slowly tailing off! Looking round for some devastation to visit so I can brighten up my weekend! What are you bottom feeders doing?

@Six30 If you want to try off-roading try this , it's not cheap but great land to ride on and great instructors https://www.yamaha-offroad-experience.co.uk/

Looks like Sunday is storm day, so i made a help sign for the roof, so the rescue helocopters can see me... damn dyslexia i get outside and it doesnt say help on my roof it says Hemp. I dont think this is going to help.

Not legally no. You can but you will be taking a chance you wont get caught lots of people are not clear on the use of the words off roading. All off roading in England and wales is illegal unless you have the landowners permission, what i ride are unsealed roads they are legal to ride but you have to comply to the same rules as riding on paved roads so you need tax insurance MOT and licence but i do stray now and then

It got worse!

Yep, there's no point in setting a deadline when it can always move a month or two either way, it only has the potential to frustrate you if that happens to be longer.

You lost the Euro types, seems their media wont buy dopplar radar for their weather channels...lol...i wonder if they have flush toiletts yet...lol....

Here you go @boboneleg

@boboneleg nedds pics, i couldnt make mount washington this year so a vid of the road surface by a professional pavement evaluator is in order..e

I think I’ve been very lucky Michelle, so far I’ve had no problems with it at all………mind you, now I’ve said that?

That was Tom's farm, he's long gone now and before he died got hounded by locals even though it was in the middle of nowhere

You'd be in your element here Fred......everything you see you can ride. In my case I see it......I think "fuck that"........then take a photo of it as if I had!

Tomorrow for us don't look good either

There used to be that place up by Rhayader where you pay a couple of quid and off you go on his private land! Somebody's farm it was......I think this pic was taken there!

So that's what it looks like when the Himalayan works.... . You smile and everything..... Looks like super fun riding!

I will be riding tomorrow and Sunday

Bike porn for @XTreme

That was like my drive home from work tonight

I'm really, really hoping it'll be 4 months as the scar is behind my knee and not on the stump where there's more pressure when walking, I'll know more when I go to see the consultant but that's not until 29th September, so lots of potentail for boredom until then

That's some driving, one mistake and you've more or less had it.

Put some decals on …before and after

Trop 1 hurricaine is hitting us this weekend, surfs up dudes! Cowabuger!

I'm blaming spell check.

It's way easier on her ear than a cello or a harp ...

Seems easy enough, i have 5 alimiminuminumim jeep wheels i want GoldeniZed.

@Sir Fallsalot might be able to answer this , is there places in Wales where you can go off road and stay off road all day with out using public roads .

Okay mate, give me a day or so and I’ll pull something together

Absolutely mate, they use old school XR250’s which are perfect for down here or alternatively they can provide guidance and help sort the logistics of staying down here if you bring your own bikes. It’s all very laid back but if you wanted something more extreme then that can be sorted too or even full on motorcross holidays. The good thing is there’s so much legal off roading down here that it’s never busy and as long as you stick to the trails and tracks and don’t tear across open countryside then the police are fine. You often see the Guardia Civil out on their XT660R’s down here. If anyone does think about coming down then let me know.

Anti-Vax Covid-denying slaphead from Right Said Fred in hospital with Covid!

tis but a mere breeze

Weather poker is on! All my chips are in for death on Sunday Sunday Sunday!! On the bright side death means i;ll be offline for awhile!

......and a bigger van by the sound of it!

thats a thought..... was thinking of getting a couple of off roaders for me and my nephew, im going to wait till next year before i go abroad .

Trouble is i'd be hiding from the heat most of the time probably never go outside for the summer months. I don't mind the ground wet keeps the dust down and adds grip on the dirt until it goes too wet lol

Here ya go Bob, a short vid of mermaid 101 training, pre storm drill, could be a big one for us this 'End.

I can dig it Pedro!

I'm up early today at 4:30 AM and it's snowing! Ground still too warm for it to stick though, (it's 36F / 2C) . Wish it was light enough to get a picture for you guys. Radar shows the snow right over our house...

Well spotted. Clearly not Welsh or there would be sheep close by

On my way to the beach, this morning, left the fucking car what seemed like 50 miles away from where I should if I had a parking place like Tim’s. Still, gave me the chance to marvel at a quiet morning on the Faro marshes

If only we all had your mad skills.