Saturday March 10 | Furadouro to Costa Nova | 49km
THE BROCHURE DESCRIPTION: Using bike lanes and paved trails, you will reach Torreira beach, and then the seven old docks where you can spot the traditional boats, called “Moliceiros”, painted in their typical lively colours. These bright gondola style boats were originally developed in the 19thC to harvest the algae “moliço” for use as fertilizer. Back on the road you will cross a bridge and reach Torreira where the only alternative is to ride on the shared national road to São Jacinto. Once in São Jacinto you will have to take the ferry boat to Forte da Barra, home to Portugal’s largest lighthouse, Farol da Barra. From there ride to your hotel for the night in the colorful town of Costa Nova.
OUR JOURNEY: The day started out promising as the wind abated a bit and there were hits of sunshine. We have now figured out that, like Vancouver Island, weather here changes quickly. Sure enough, 10 km in the sky started getting dark and the rain started. Then came the hail!! It was a tough 10 km of riding but there seemed no point in stopping. Sure enough, the sun reappeared as we got to Torreira. Our host last night mentioned all their beach sand gets pushed south by the storms so every spring they have to truck it back up the coast. We certainly found it in Torreira. Our route was closed to traffic as the sand had taken over. We had to walk our bikes through the few blocks along the coast. I assume they have some sort of sandplow come out to clear the road. Our next detour was a bit scarier. We were supposed to have a bike lane up this huge bridge over the water. This too was closed for maintenance so we had a white knuckle ride with the speeding cars.
Costa Nova our stop for the night, is a quaint beach resort town. It’s known for all its striped beach houses. It’s off season but still people around. Chatted with an older Portuguese woman at the fish market. I asked about her English. She said she had worked in Brampton Ontario but they had decided to retire back here, a decision she is regretting. The economy is not great and rents are expensive. She did however, give us her recipe for cooking the eels.
