Cycle Touring Portugal: From East to West

On autumn, I cycled 1,800 km, from the east of Spain to the west of Portugal. While cycle touring in Portugal, I rode to the highest point in the mainland and explored abandoned buildings before finishing the 23-day ride at Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point of the Eurasian continent.

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One autumn, I cycled 1,800-km from Cap de
Creus, the easternmost point of Spain, to Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point of Portugal.
After nearly three weeks on the road, and after camping in storms, and passing through
mountains, deserts, and wastelands, I made it to Portugal, and spent my first night camping
by the shores of a reservoir. All that was left was to cycle to the other side of the country. However, I couldn’t finish the ride before
ticking a certain something off of my to-do list. Something unique about the highest point
in mainland Portugal, known as Torre, is that there’s a road that goes all the way to
the top, and the idea of cycling there was too tempting to pass up. So, leaving the reservoir
behind, I set off for the Estrela mountain range, some 60 kilometres west. Starting the ascent in mid-afternoon, it wasn’t
long before the sun began to set and the temperature began to drop. Not having packed gloves, I
resorted to wearing socks on my hands when I got to 1,700 metres up. Ultimately, I arrived
in complete darkness and straight away set up my tent on grass covered with frost. So,
it was only in the morning that I was really able to see the incredible landscapes that
were all around me. A met another touring cyclist a couple of days
later who was cycling the N2, a 700-kilometre road from the north to the south of the country,
from Chaves to Faro. We distracted each other with chat on the ascents, filled our bottles
at village fountains, and raced each other down the hills. When we parted ways at the end of the day,
we thanked each other for the company, then I set off in search of somewhere to sleep,
eventually finding a spot on top of hill, at the end of an abandoned track and in a
forest of eucalyptus. In the morning, I followed a glistening river
flanked by hills of pine, where white birds drifted serenely in the cool air. Despite
the idyllic landscapes, I passed dozens of abandoned buildings, from simple farmhouses
in the hills to a centuries-old mansion on the shores of the Tagus, the longest river
on the Iberian Peninsula. Eerily, a bell occasionally rang from inside the forgotten mansion and
I half expected to see a ghostly figure watching me from behind one of the shattered windows. Then, finally, one day, I made it to within
reach of Cabo da Roca. Mist swept through the forests as I crept forwards beneath a
grey sky. I thought back to my first night on Cap de Creus and about how Salvador Dalí
built a house there so he could be the first person in Iberia to see the sun emerge from
the Med. So, while my hopes for an idyllic sunrise at Cap de Creus were whisked away
by what might have been an actual hurricane, maybe it was fitting I didn’t get a sunset
finish either. But when I saw those words on that modest stone monument – Cabo da
Roca, westernmost point of continental Europe – my arms went limp and I hung my head over
my handlebars; after 23 days and 1,800 kilometres, I’d made it, and that was all that mattered.