Thursday March 14 | Peniche to Ericeira | 69km
THE BROCHURE DESCRIPTION: Today’s ride will likely the most challenging. Leaving Peniche you will ride parallel to the ocean and go past many beaches such as Praia da Consolação, Praia do Paimogo with its old fortress and the famous Areia Branca beach. This area is most infamous by its successive up and downhill sections taking you across the existing valleys and beaches of this part of the coast. This track takes you inland as there are no Atlantic roads that don’t have heavy traffic. You can enjoy the backroad small sierras and valley villages on your way to Praia de São Lourenço, a river mouth and cliffy beach. Right Before Ericeira you will spot Ribeira d’ilhas, a well-known beach for surf competitions. From here there is a bike lane towards Ericeira, where your hotel is located. After the ride take some time to walk around the village.
OUR VERSION : Today was indeed the toughest day with an actual distance of 72 km and elevation gains of 1,021 meters. We started and ended at sea level so we had a similar decrease in elevation, but a meter down doesn’t feel the same as a meter up.
We also welcomed back our old friend the wind which this time was coming from the south as a headwind all day.
The reward at the end of the trip was our hotel that invoked thoughts of an old school movie set. Upon check in we were told that our particular room would mean a long walk down the hall but the views from the room were worth it. They were correct.
