I am delighted to report that despite the warnings we were blessed with a bird poo free meal…..it was actually a nice bar and the food was pretty decent although Marc (an English man with no Portuguese) and the waiter (a Portuguese man with no English) had a little “contretemps” (or whatever the equivalent is in Portuguese….a bull fight perhaps?) over the number of butter portions allocated to each serving of bread. In the end all was well but as far as I could tell it got a bit trixy at one point …..fortunately I was eyes down writing the blog and so can plead complete ignorance. Given the uneasy peace that had broken out I accidentally on purpose failed to mention to Marc that they added the additional butter portions to the bill!!

It’s a testimony to the quality of last nights campsite that we decide to call it “Campsite Porto Covo” for that indeed is its name …overall a really lovely spot and a lovely experience ….recommend 4 stars (always need to leave room for improvement!)

I should also mention that we had a little coven / murder / gaggle / pod / journey / pride / shoal/ group of MSR Mutha Hubba tents at Campsite Porto Covo…..clearly the discerning tourers choice (disclaimer - that may or may not be MSR’s actual tagline!). One of the MSR tent belonged to a young (it’s all relative!) German couple whose paths we had criss crossed with 3 or 4 times over the course of the day, most notably when faced with the unannounced dead end on the road to Porto Covo…..we turned around whilst they bravely struggled through the sand and across the beach around the roadworks (honestly the youth of today). Admittedly they did end up arriving about 5 mins before us but are they happy?

At the risk of being repetitive (and after 14 days of cycle, sleep, eat , repeat the risk is high) our morning is good and we make excellent pace through the Portugeuse countryside…..we feel confident if not cocky.

There is def. some weird correlation between time of day, heat (that I understand) and uppy downy ness(that is more of a mystery). Having picked up supermarket lunch earlier we drop down into the village of Aljezur and find a shady spot with benches by the river for lunch and all is well with the world. As we sit eating, three incredibly polite and well spoken with perfect crystal cut English young kids approach us and ask if we would like to purchase bracelets they have made. Obviously we say yes (I am a sucker for a set of man beads anyway ) and we handover the 2 euros for 2 bracelets (which are dropped into a mini treasure chest one of them is carrying) we ask what they will do with all the money. What they tell us is that they are saving for a fishing rod but they are so street smart and savvy I am sure they are investing it all in crypto until they have sufficient leverage to force a buyout of Amazon…but anyway. It’s a truly heartwarming moment ….i would have taken a photo but obviously that would be weird and likely how you end up on a list.

Anyhoos, back to my correlation theory …the afternoon is of course as you might expect very very hot but it is also really hilly again and the final 35 miles are a massive and gruelling test of endurance. As we hit one of the many, many summits we see the sea in the distance ….no longer the Atlantic but our first glimpse of the other Atlantic and the Algarve …...we cycled the length of Portugal and have finally turned left.

Inevitably our campsite for the night is at the top of another insane hill but once we have got past the 20 minutes check in nonsense (sorry sir, we have IT problems) all seems ok and clean and “optimal”.

I will stop now as I need to go and get myself cleaned up and ready for the evening ahead …..we have received a mysterious invitation to dinner !!

Only three more days of cycling …..I am now starting to consider what it will feel like when we actually cycle into Seville!