We left Porto to head down the silver coast towards Lisbon. We were aiming to get to Nazare – famous for its huge waves and world class surfing. On the way there we called in at Costa Nova, a very picturesque seaside town with striking candy-coloured striped houses.
We had a few other stops to admire beautiful beaches, then as the road peeled away from the coast the scenery turned to forests. The quiet gently undulating roads looked perfect for cycling and there seemed to be signs for waymarked cycle ways – just to rub in the fact our bikes are crocked. We came across a couple of cyclists fixing a puncture at the side of the road. We stopped to see if they needed any help, but they thought they’d got it sorted. She was German and he was English, and they had been cycling from Germany through Europe and the UK since April. Funnily she said the toughest cycling on the trip had been the Peak District.
We arrived in Nazare late afternoon and free parked in the car park of an Aquatic Park, closed for winter. It was just a short walk down to Praia do Norte, the famous surf beach. Although a stunning beach it was a bit disappointing to see only one lone surfer and very moderate waves – a long way from the record breaking waves they have here. The world record was set here in 2020 on a wave measured at 26.2m (86 ft), although some waves ridden here have been estimated to be over 100 ft but not officially verified the Guiness. We did enjoy a nice sunset, and I demonstrated my surfing technique on dry land – Colin claims I would be taking sandwiches out in my back pack – his sisters insist it’s wine – they clearly know me better than Colin…. . I checked on a surf website and it seemed the waves weren’t going to pick up until for 4 or 5 days.
We woke to a nice bright sunny day, so decided we’d stay another day/night and would explore the area on our Brompton’s. We got up early in the hope the surf forecast was wrong, but it looked like a millpond – in fact I’m sure we get larger waves on our pond at home. Keeping his 100% record of finding us impossible hills to climb on the bikes, Colin did it again. Nazare consists of different neighbourhoods – the old village sits on top of a cliff and it looks down on the main beach and resort town. The two are connected by a funicular – or should I say it used to be as it doesn’t work anymore. We enjoyed a speedy ride down to the town and cycled along the promenade. We also enjoyed a seafood lunch in a lively place buzzing with Portuguese families having Sunday lunch. Then the long push back up the cliff to the old village – even Colin had to push for quite a bit of it.
Back at the top we freewheeled down to the fortress that sits above Praia do Norte where the public get spectacular views of the surfing going on below (or not in this case). We bumped into the two cyclists we’d met the day before who had just arrived in town and I think looking forward to being out of the saddle for a couple of days.
Before we left Nazare we had one final look at the waves – they were slightly bigger but still not big enough to get the surfers out of bed. We decided we wouldn’t visit Lisbon on this trip – the weather still wasn’t great and it felt a bit too soon after Porto and we have been before. We skirted round Lisbon and headed to a place called Sines which had a pleasant historic centre (again on top of a hill), and a stunning coastline but was surrounded by petrochemical plants and an oil refinery. We had a cycle along the seafront and up into town on the Brompton’s. The town is the birthplace of the famous explorer Vasco da Gama. The fort up on the hill had loud Christmas music playing and Santa Claus was pacing about which we thought was a bit odd, but as we left the fort about 100 school children were making their way there. We decided to park on a headland just outside town with terrific views of the crashing waves and sunset and we planned where to go next in Portugal.
As we’d driven the coastline south of Lisbon and the Algarve coast back in 2019 when we’d hired a campervan over Christmas and New Year we opted to head inland to the mountains. As we left Sines the following morning, we drove past lots of surf schools and beaches teaming with surfers. Colin was itching to show them how to do it – i.e. his technique of riding the wave underneath the surfboard. We stopped off at a couple of small towns we’d visited before – Porto Covo and Villa Nova de Milfontes. Then we drove out to a lighthouse with a football pitch next to it where Colin re-enacted Bolton Wanderers winning the FA cup in 1923. The cliffs here had beautiful rock stratification.
From here we started heading inland and upwards towards a hill town called Monchique. It was amazing how instant the scenery change was – turning to green forested hills that the road wound its way up. The highest point in the Algarve is in the Serra de Monchique with great views back to the Algarve – unfortunately due to the overcast weather there were no views for us that day. We called in at Monchique, a picturesque village discovered by the Romans and well known for its thermal waters. It has a nice central square with cafes and restaurants, but we only found one place open and in need of something warm to eat we and the other tourists in town were a captive audience.
Our campsite for the night was only 11km away. The Vale Da Carraqueria site was about a km from the main road down a rough track. We were wondering where we were heading, but we eventually pulled into a stunning clearing with 14 fenced motorhome parking spots overlooking a lush valley. The owners didn’t speak English, so we had an interesting check-in with a mix of Portuguese and French. The attention to detail of everything in the site was amazing. There were well tended gardens, flowerpots, a small swimming pool and the hottest camp showers which were welcome in the cool evening.
After a peaceful night we felt sad to have to move on, but we needed to start heading towards Gibraltar for the weekend to pick up our bike parts. The next day an English-speaking lady working at the site said the other four motorhomes (German and French) were parked up for a couple of months over winter. The site definitely has shot to the number one spot of campsites/aires on our trip to date.
Although it felt remote up in the mountains, it was only about a 20 minute drive back down to the Algarve coast.
We took a road running parallel to the coast but didn’t venture into any of the big towns (Lagos, Albufeira, Faro). We stopped for a coffee (and I’d hoped a final Pasteis de Nata) in a small village. We are always a bit shocked at how the locals (often truck drivers) always seen to have a large hearty lunch washed down with several beers or even a carafe of wine at these snack stops, then jump back into their vehicles to carry on driving – it makes us feel very uncomfortable about other road users. Colin still harks back to our first day in Spain - when queuing to pay in the petrol station the truck driver in front drank a can of beer in the queue and opened another for the walk back to his truck. Sadly, no pasteis de natas – just a Pringles vending machine.
Soon after this we were back in Spain. If we seem to have skedaddled through Portugal very quickly, it's not that we don't like it. We actually do love the country but sadly the weather in December has been against us.
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