Casa Chicken Run to Sagres (48km) and then on up to Quinta Do Rossi (109km)

 We left Casa Chicken Run after Chris had finished his meeting and headed off to Sagres and on to its lighthouse on the South Western tip of Portugal. I had always wanted to visit the lighthouse and see the rugged beauty of this tip of Portugal but we had never made it on previous visits. This time it worked as a small detour for lunch so off we went through Lagos and onto Sagres. The Landscape now had more cattle, sheep and horses grazing and felt less touristy as we headed west and the temperature slowly dropped down to 23 degrees by the time we reached the lighthouse. This part of Portugal felt very rural and rugged.

The road from Sagres to the lighthouse:

 

 

 

From the lighthouse we had amazing views up the steep sided cliffs along the West coast of Portugal and after taking it all in we headed back and parked at the old fort in Sagres and went looking for a small local restaurant for lunch. Sagres is a real surfer town reminding us of many of the surfer towns we have visited in Australia and Spain. Whilst walking around its few streets offering mostly board hire, we stumbles across a small local cafe with a lovely menu. I had sardines, Chris had sea bass and Jack had half a chicken. All cooked to perfection by a very gruff looking Portuguese man on his brick BBQ and served with a simple but delicious salad. We left happy and full, ready to continue on up the coast to Quinta Do Rossi, a family run farm and campsite on the main coast road south of Sines.

 my delicious lunch 😋

 The surf beach at Sagres

We followed this coast road all the way up the West coast to our stopping point and it had long straight sections, then twisty windy sections, ran through small towns and villages and took us through lots of arable farmland with wind turbines riding the hilly ridges inland. The roads were often crowded with trees, their roots creating corrugated tarmac and a bumpy ride. A mix of evergreens from Stone Pine, Cyprus, Eucalyptus, Cork and Holm Oak. Inland the hills were clad with this dark green veil of leaf.

  

 

 

This Atlantic coastline gave us a feel of more Northerly climes with a wilder more natural feel. As we went on the agriculture shifted again and mixed vines, orange groves and polytunnels into the fields of stubble from wheat and barley already harvested.

When we arrived at Quinta Do Rossi it had a surfer / Youth hostel vibe reminiscent of those we had stayed in up in Queensland back in our youth, but the owner was delightful and showed us the available slots and made us feel at home. The Pitches filled up quickly after 5pm with Germans, French, Dutch and Spanish, all seeking a park up for the night now the new rules in Portugal prevented wild camping with the risk of a 200eoro fine. The pitches were surrounded by farmland and in the neighbouring fields there were cattle grazing with their calves, their bells singing along as they ate. A pot belly pig ran up and down his fence grunting for attention and wanting his ear scratched.

After a simple pasta supper we went for a sunset walk towards the coast to check out our bike route for the morning.

 

 

Saturday morning everyone left promptly to head to the beach. We got our bikes set with towels and swim things and headed off too. All the beaches along this coast are dog friendly as they are known as wild beaches, so no concerns with Winnie. We headed down our planned route and found a lovely sand and rocky cove full of rock pools and spent a lovely few hours relaxing reading and pool hopping in the wild beauty of this coastline  before we became peckish and cycles another km on to find a café with views towards the port of Sines- container ships coming in and out, and had a simple lunch of bread, olives cheeses, some chips for Jack and a plate of whole calamari for Chris and I to share. At around 2.30pm we finished up and cycled back to pack up the van and head on up the coast towards Lisbon.

 off to the beach 😎