Pedro

No, normally I would have offered to take the picture if I see a family wanting a family picture, but the guy was a real jerk. A few people a year drop from cliffs for taking pictures on the edge or looking at big waves here. But even though I rode around quite a lot, I hate wearing masks so just don’t approach people unless once or twice a day. After a while it gets sort of sad because some days I never talk to anyone at all. The Algarve is getting big on covid again, most infected people there aren’t portuguese …

Woke up with dawn, enjoying a great light on sunrise, my phone doesn't seem to capture these moments, though. And after a while, it turned into a beautiful day Stopped by the fortress which is the very tip of Sagres, to have a walk around and see if I could see all the way to Brazil, but it was still closed and I didn't feel like waiting around Fueled up, and after a couple of kms stopped again at the lighthouse to see if I could have a coffee inside, also closed! There were a couple of italian bikes there, owners were very exuberant but we only said hello from a distance, I think neither of us felt like wearing a mask so we just said hello from a safe distance. In the next picture, you see a british family. The guy was making a right show of screaming at his terrified wife and daughter to climb down to the very edge of a cliff in order for him to take a selfie with them. Poor family was so scared but he did get his picture. They had a rental van... everyone could tell it was theirs because the screaming never really stopped even when they got into it From there, I rode a couple of dirt roads to my favourite location in the area, it's been shown before in previous reports as it's a special location to me, so here it goes again If you look closely on the picture above, there's someone flying a para glider from the second rock formation, I waited a while but he didn't venture higher or onto the sea. I spent a while there, thinking about stuff. And taking a picture or two of the bike After a while, headed north on the N120, very typical of this area There are some corners, and it's a weird road because you can cruise along at whatever speed in 6th and then all of a sudden there's 3km of very tight corners, I like it but didn't stop for corner pictures Stopped at Cabo Sardão (lizard cape), not as imposing as the previous ones but the ocean was really pretty today and I love a good lighthouse There's quite a big cave down there Rode off via a series of short dirt roads, here's one that had a little sand, not what I prefer in my fuelled up bike with road tires Stopped in Porto Novo for lunch, in a lovely place with a great view and ocean breeze. The local typical fried cuttlefish were great. Rode on, and stopped by one of the biggest beaches in Portugal, south of Comporta (50kms long) , I stopped to make a call, and prepare myself as I know that as soon as I rode away from the ocean it'd start to really heat up and I didn't feel like having to stop and talk on all the heat. It was just a perfect day for going to this beach, no people, perfect temperature, beautiful water... After Sines, heading in it quickly got hot, and I stopped yet again to open the vents on the jacket, and a wee. It was about 33 or 35º by now By Grandola I took my last foto of the dashboard showing 38,5º ambient temperature, before I put my phone away as it was boiling. It eventually got to 40º on the motorway. After temperatures got that high the smaller roads were about to get boring too, so I just got on the motorway for an hour, or what felt like an hour, and headed to Ericeira to meet Sofia for dinner, passing the Tejo river over Portugal'l longest bridge at 11km I rode all the way at 90kmh and standing up most of the time. The temperature dropping to 33º over the river felt like air conditioning Made it to Ericeira for a very cool 25º again next to the ocean. A great day on the bike again, which is now proper dusty.

That's confusing, I thought Johnny was a Louisiana boy

Firstly, Pete hasn't seen a beach in 10 years, he lives in the equivalent of death valley. Secondly, I am out, Covid and staying home drinking wine hasn't been kind to me Thirdly, I hope I never see that spandex picture

That's too much fuss for me. In Portugal we're spoiled and used to taking good expresso for granted. You walk down a city street, pop into a cafe, enjoy a shot of good (actually good) expresso without even sitting down for 0,60 to 1,00€ depending on location, and walk on having spent one minute in the cafe. I couldn't be bothered with all that in the middle of a bike ride. I might get a really small container like @bobonelegand see how it works in order to be really hipster and have a coffee on top of a mountain with nobody else around. Might as well take a rum flask and have some añejo, if it's winter ... Having said that, I have a fond memory of when I was in Brazil when I was 19 and stayed for a month in a small three or four room inn in Tibau do Sul, a small village in the northwest. As I was about to go out to meet my girl and her friends after dinner the guy next door invited me for coffee as he was about to have some outside so I stayed. He was a traveling salesman selling whatever all accross southern america, and brewing coffee was his night ritual. He roasted the beans with a small torch in a metal sheet, then ground them and then boiled it in an open container, no machine or press or nothing, just waited for the coffee to settle and poured the clean liquid on top. That is my favourite coffee ever, just the smell left from the roasting is better than drinking some of the modern stuff. Took him long enough to brew that cup of coffee, too!

Maybe it's because you don't take my picture taking tips, or buy ugly/chinese bikes?

I have thought of it, more so during winter, but my caffeine comes in the form of a freshly made expresso, if I were to bring coffee in a flask it wouldn’t satisfy.

Regardless of him not having a wife, or not being a “its”, that’s just a nasty comment

Same thing, even worse I nearly dropped my bike today when stopped looking at google maps and up my collar crawls a giant grasshopper very curious about my face

Quite smart, though. if you use an ironing board for a seat nobody will complain about the range!

Pete would die roasted if he stood like that for 10 minutes on a late morning during a hot day where he lives

Is it ever not green there?

I had never shared a pool with a seagull before. Although it looks summery, that is 50 meters high on a oceanside cliff, the wind was quite strong and not very warm at all. Took a walk before dinner, and you can see the wind on the water below

No, I will have this bike till I die, regardless of getting another to share the load. I meant love from members here in the vote for BOTM

How hot is it over there? looks like a swamp to me, mud and grass and water just screams giant mosquitoes

I have a few I really like from the past three days, trying to get the love for the big GS back

That looks very casual, just hanging around the shop in her thigh height boots and bikini

Looks very nice, did you think it looked too nice and thus put that monstrosity on the back?

Left Faro not having a clue where I would go next, half an hour into the ride I stopped for a while, having to make a couple of calls and send some emails, my office for my morning stuff, right after the twistiest nicest part of the N2 in southern Portugal. All you need is decent coverage and a laptop that doesn't crap out from all the vibration on the bike, my choice would have been for a cafe as I was a little needy of a coffee, but all my options so far had a few people around and I am trying to stay out of people's way. Can't really stand sitting in a cafe wearing a mask so I don't. I felt like riding back to the Alentejo, but temperatures are supposed to go into unpleasant levels, and I had just come from there, so instead headed west into the Atlantic, but via mountains and hills, a Algarve most tourists never see. I rode a mix of nice smooth roads you would be happy to take a fast sports bike on, mountain roads less smooth and more twisty, good gravel roads, and less good gravel roads Onto dirt: Someone must have been shot to death here, place looked grim with a british plated transit van half disassembled, I didn't stick around. The nice dirt road turned into a sort of dirt highway you could drive two TIR trailers side by side, some corrugations also made it unpleasant, didn't take pictures of that ugliness, and it was proper hot there too so didn't feel like stopping allowing my own dust to catch up. Then some nice enough roads through orange orchards, also no pictures, but then a nice dirt road near the Funcho dam. By 14:30 I was a bit hungry, climbed the Monchique serra, which I've posted about before, and had a cheese and tomato sandwich there Then, because the guy took forever to put a few slices of tomato and cheese inside some bread, and I didn't know where to go next, I took forever to leave. Decided on going to spend the night in a hotel I have wanted to stay in ever since the first time I visited Sagres as it overlooks the Sagres point from a similarly tall (50 meters) cliff. It's expensive but what the hell. Made quite good progress and enjoyed the bumpy roads coming here, brief stop by the Cape Saint Vincent lighthouse, my favourite building in Portugal: Didn´t hang around much as I really felt like a swim, plus I'll stop by a little tomorrow before going: The room is a disappointment, but the view as I'm posting this right now: Going for a walk on a cliffside, and dinner in a bit...

Lost in the dirtroads of the Algarve, this looks like a mexican cartel village

Those tiny hot rods with huge power, big tires and shitty handling must be terrifying to drive, let alone launch it

Aliens?

Congratulations BMW, you made a right turd of it! And no hints from other brands either, cough cough, Scarabeo 500 rear end?

Not really the legal stance here either, but nobody to enforce it.