It didn’t take long for the practicalities of life on the road to kick in after my arrival at Cape St. Vincent. As I was recording the video clip in the previous post my mind was on the clock as I knew that the campsite supermarket closed at 8pm and as I didn’t fancy venturing into town preferring to nibble away on some bread, cheese & frankfurter sausages back in the tent it was a deadline I had to meet! Anyway, I had done some mild celebrating at Cape St. Vincent with two bottles of Sagres beer. Further celebrations would have to wait until I got back home. Live fast!
On the subject of which, one thing that I had been purposefully ignoring until I had successfully completed the journey from Greece to Portugal was just how I was going to get back home to Reading. Fanciful options had crossed my mind from time to time involving the ferries from northern Spain back to Portsmouth or a few more days in Portugal before flying back to the UK from Lisbon or Porto but the obvious solution was to fly back from the nearest and most accessible airport, Faro. I had seen the Ryan Air & Easy Jet planes fly low over the town earlier this week so I knew they were a possibility. The problem is that low cost airlines are not low cost if you buy your ticket on the day of travel. The Ryan Air website with all its boxes to tick to confirm that ‘no… I don’t want to purchase travel insurance for my granny’s dog…’ (etc, etc…) and pages of adverts was unfathomable on the iPhone whereas Easy Jet’s was the epitome of simplicity. They got my business irrespective of the price.
So my flight is booked and I leave Portugal just before 8pm tonight, Gatwick bound. I’m typing this from the back of the 12:53 train from Lagos to Faro in the perfect seat to keep an eye on Reggie who is hanging just to my side. As you can see, he has a very good view of the Portuguese countryside. I had to cycle the 30km back to Lagos earlier which did seem like a drag (and far further than I can ever remember 30km feeling like on any one of the fifty cycling days just gone by) but I’m now delighted to be travelling under someone else’s steam for the first time in two months. The only concern I have for the rest of the day is just how I’m going to wrap the bike prior to the flight…