Eurovelo 1

A couple of years ago, we found ourselves in the north of Portugal, and thought we’d have a look at the start of Eurovelo 1. This aims to be a cycle route from Carminha, on the border with Spain, right round the country’s coast (before heading north to run across Spain, France, England, Wales, Ireland, Scotland and Norway!). We thought it might make an interesting project for the next few years. The Portuguese section is described as being developed, and some of it signed. The gpx is available here.
Sad to say, we found things to be rather different on the ground. Whilst there are one or two stickers saying EV1; and some sections of nice cycle/ walking path (Ecovia), we found large chunks of sand dune, uncycleable boardwalk,too many stretches of painful cobble and gaps that required a lot of thought to get round (Open Street Map on the Garmin was great!). Driven onto the main roads, we found Portuguese drivers to be erratic close-passers who liked overtaking on blind bends. So whilst we had some nice rides; loved the lunches and cakes and scenery and coast and birdlife and winter flowers; and found the Portuguese to be friendly laid back folk; we won’t be hurrying back to do more of the EV1 in Portugal! If you’re interested in a bit more detail of what we did, then drop us a line.