To be honest, we had pangs of sadness leaving Portugal on our last day there. It’s a beautiful country, scenery-wise, the food is absolutely delicious, and its peoples are family-oriented, caring, and genuine. There’s a reason why it is enjoying a tourism boom now: they’re doing everything right.
We had a half hour long conversation with some Portuguese and Dutch travellers at a Rio Guadiana vista on the side of the road a couple of hours into our trip. Also… there was a spectacular dam. See the video, attached. It was a very hilly ride, we used the back-up battery today. (64 km., 834 m. elevation.)
Travellers’ note: when you stray into less travelled bookings territory, things can be challenging. Most of our booked stays have been through Expedia, or direct with the hotels. Bookings.com was our travel platform for this evening. There was an arrival schmozzle, anxiety over the possibility of not being able to get into our rented house that was mostly the result of language challenges. Eventually we got in, the place was just fine, and it felt good to put money directly into the pockets of private individuals rather than hotels. Still… we had an hour fraught with confusion until the owner showed up. We had tapas dinner in the resto down the street (after a brief junket down Main Street for snacks, see photos) and then called it a night. Because….
Day 7’s planned route was over 90 km. We needed an early start (and also, we weren’t in a hotel we were in a house so we needed to find coffee!). When we left at 8:15 a.m. the sun was just rising. It was a Sunday morning so, mercifully, roads were quiet. John had found a fabulous route for us, late last night. We rode for miles on an elevated boardwalk overlooking tidal flats – salinas. When we arrived in Huelva – a huge bustling port with a nice downtown – one of the locals was very interested in the bikes, offered to take our picture in front of the impressive double-decker pier. We thanked him and pushed on to Mazagon where we stopped for a quick breakfast of hot-from-the-oven Spanish omelette and espresso. Refueled, we powered through to El Rocio. It was a hot, hard slog – ultimately 100 km what with wrong turns and food detours – but mostly flat. We’re sunburnt and tired, but minds are full of memories of mile after mile of erosion control pine trees on what is basically an extended sand dune.
El Rocio. How to describe it? It’s like you’ve ridden into the set of a Spanish Western movie. Lots of horses. Families eating in restaurants. Sand roads (John got stuck!). Hot, dry air with incredible sunshine. A boardwalk with gorgeous views over the marsh.
Our hotel – La Malvasia – is Spanish elegance. We unloaded, and hit the pool to cool down. Our goal is to be able to stay awake until dinner (8:00), walk that boardwalk, and then sleep. Tomorrow, Seville for TWO NIGHTS. LUXURY. (There’s going to be laundry.)
Go team go!!!! It all looks, sounds and tastes amazing. You have earned all those food stops!
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