1000 KM Bike trip...with no MONEY?!

Does anyone of you sometimes in you life gets tired of traveling the  same way? Car, bus, plane or for the lucky ones by sub-marine? I did,  and fortunately had a friend that got the same feeling as me. What did we choose to travel with? A bike, cycling for hours seems scary, its  not! It just gets you tired, like really tired!  

( Pit stop under the Lisbon Bridge )

 This idea was in our minds for months and finally was time to do it. The  plan was to travel to Southern Portugal by bicycle and on our way  checking really cool landscapes and also train some parkour. The path  would leads to the Algarve, passing trough interesting areas, some of  them I was dreaming about since years ago, like the Vicentina Coast, a  very popular and beautiful coastline that attracts thousands of  travelers every year to this region of Portugal, lets say, our  equivalent to the American Big Sur, hundred of miles of road cruising  alongside the sea.   

 So like any good idea ever we had to hurry up and do things on the last  days which was probably a bad thing since during the first day we both  had problems with our bikes, including my friend not having breaks for the next days. Our first day was probably the most challenging one, we started  at Cris's home and our main goal was getting to Sintra at the end of the  day, what we didn't expect was how much mountains were ahead of us, for  a place the is known for there pristine beaches and world surf  reserves, Ericeira and Santa Cruz have really steep roads. Hill after  hill after hill... we quickly figured out that was difficult to achieve  our goal, so we decided to stop at Ericeira, I did bring my tent but our  idea was to get in touch with hostels that would trade work for a bed,  but first, food! Both of us had emergence money with us but we wanted to  travel without spending any and see what we could achieve from telling  our story to people. Well after a brutal first day we both were hungry  and decided to try our luck on a local supermarket, with a piece of  cardboard we decided to wait and see what would get out from that  interesting situation.  After one hour of waiting and a pretty angry  shop manager kicks out we ended up with enough food the day!  

 ( Sitting in front of a supermarket in Ericeira, cardboard says; ''1000km with no money. We are thankful for a piece of good will and food'' )

 So all the hostel's were closed and we find one apartment rune by two  old ladies, after saying that we had no money to travel they charge us  25 euros for the two of us what was more then we both had for all trip!  After some debating ,  20 minutes later we had a full apartment for us  for 3 euros each! We sure know how to hustle!

After leaving  Ericeira we went to Sintra and Lisbon for two full days, since we both  had friends that would host us there, after some parkour training,  exploring the city by bike , speaking of bike! Cris had a new bike, this  one had breaks so yeah was better! Lisbon was by far the less  interested place of the all trip and the last spot before crossing the Tejo river. At the other end the real trip begins.  

 ( Cruising around at the riverside in Lisbon )

We left Lisbon at  7am, and our plans changed and decided to not cross Setúbal and go more  inland , making a stop down in the city of Alcácer do Sal, about one  forth the way down our destination. 

( Cris posing next to the Alentejo sign, located in a place called ''Death Road'' )

The first thing we did when arriving there was going to the first  supermarket and try our luck again, with the same cardboard. We did get  some pastries on the first minutes but nothing else. When we both  thought that was time to pack and find a place to crash some older  couple stop the car in front of us and gave us a 5 euros bill, which was  pretty incredible! Since our room in Ericeira was 6 euros , we had 5  plus one euro I've found in the middle our the highway that mad us which  a spending dept of nothing!! 

 ( After leaving death road and stopping for some  water decided to take my camera off and use it, about 10 km away from  Alcácer do Sal )

 Was late night when we did find a place to sleep, a Portuguese  institution called Santa Casa da Misericórdia, knowed for helping  pilgrims and the less fortunate, in some minutes we had a warm place and  hot food in front of us. The next day was spent exploring and  training in this historical city by the Sado River, being in the border  of Alentejo region the heat was noticeably, despite the fact that we  were in November.

( Taking a walk with our bikes on a train bridge,  over the Sado River )

( Classic view of Alcácer do Sal, after sunset )

After Cris checked the weather  conditions we both were in doubt, why? A storm was schedule to pass  through Portugal in the following days, and there were some heavy rain  days coming.  Both of us were equipped for the cold but we weren't  expecting any rain at all. 

We did wait for a few hours on the following  day but the weather changes were noticeable in the sky, after some quick  coffee we decided to start our way back.  I did encounter some  technical problems with my bike and had to stop for a while, Cris  decided to continue and wait for me. My problem was solved by removing  the breaks , and there I was, pretty tired and with lack of energie  I  decided to stop and make a choice. 

 Truck after truck and no one was in the mood to giving me a ride. But  the worst part is that the path I was following didn't felt familiar to  me, after a quick check on my phone I founded that I was about 20 km  offset !!

 ( Spent to much time lost here, a 15km strait road )

Almost one hour had passed since I last eared from Cris,  when was about to call him a truck stop next to me and invite me in.  Man, what a joy!! As I as sitting next to father and son, telling them  my trip I noticed how far away I was from Cris and how wrong my path  was. When catching up with him we continue or way to Barreiro city, to  catch the ferry to Lisbon. Already at the capital we  decided how we would return home, since we still had some emergency  money our choice was by train and after some hours later we arrived  home.

( Planned map showing our path, from start to finish, Alcácer do Sal marked as well )

Incredible how in the early morning I was going my way down to the Algarve and by night i was already home resting my body from miles and miles of cycling. At the end I felt that was an amazing experience, even if we didn't met our final goal, the challenge was there and despite the fact that I often cycle was one big obstacle to endure.

This is definitely a project that I'll make sure to finish, if not by bike maybe with a van or a skateboard, who knows

Cheers, Leo 

If you enjoyed this post please feel free to check my Instagram page, where I often post and blog about my travels and adventures!

https://www.instagram.com/leodomingox/