Exploring Portugal by Bicycle Updated annually

Story by Rosalie Rayburn Photos courtesy of Paulo Guerra dos Santos

If you want to see a country, really see it, you need to appreciate the experience at a slow pace. That is the philosophy that has inspired one man on a 12-year project to create a virtual encyclopedia for cycle touring in Portugal. Paulo Guerra dos Santos Paulo Guerra dos Santos is the force behind Ecovias Portugal, National Cycle Tourism Network, an online guidebook updated annually which has downloadable maps of cycling routes covering more than 5,800 kilometers in every region of Portugal. There are 19 longdistance routes complete with maps, advice on towns and accommodation, and cycling-specific technical information. Cyclists can follow trails that take them to historic towns, past rivers, beaches, through hilly areas or the gently rolling countryside of the Alentejo south of Lisbon or among the orange groves of the Algarve.

Routes for all tastes

For example, Ecovia 1 is a relatively flat 1,188-kilometer route beginning near the border with the Galician province of Spain in the north, all the way south to the Algarve. Following this route, cyclists will travel from the Minho River, south to the Aveiro Estuary, through the Mondego River lowlands and Tagus River mouth … then onward past the Atlantic beaches of the Alentejo, passing by or through numerous villages and some large cities.

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Litoral Norte near Caminha in the north of Portugal If you’re interested in castles and fortresses and don’t mind some climbing, Ecovias 4 is a route close to the Spanish border in the east that passes the Serra da Estrela mountain range. Ecovia 5 takes cyclists from near the northern coastal towns of Viana do Castelo and Esposende through parts of the Peneda-Gerês National Park, eventually ending at Mirando do Douro, in the far northeast corner of Portugal. If you want to have the Lisbon experience, you can try Ecovia 15 which starts in the city, then passes through the Moscatel wine growing area near Setubal, via ferry across the Sado River and through the Alentejo on stretches of former railroad pathway (rails-to-trails) to the historic city of Évora and on to Badajoz in Spain. “The route between Lisbon and Évora is good in spring. Alentejo is normally brown, but in spring it is beautiful,” said Santos. Santos has divided the routes into segments of 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) to 50 kilometers (31 miles), so cyclists can have ample time for sight-seeing and enjoying a coffee or meal along the way. “I plan it for peddling in the morning and after lunch you can relax,” Santos said. He wanted to ensure that cyclists could get a meal, find a place to stay, and locate a bicycle repair shop. “This is one of the main points of the network, to start and end in a village or city,” he said.

Engineering background

Santos, 48, has a background as a civil engineer with specialization in road projects. In 2007 he worked in Finland for several months and cycled everywhere. Returning to Lisbon, he started work on a thesis for

a master’s degree focusing on cycling as a means of transportation. Santos bought a bicycle, put his car in the garage and cycled every day for a year in Lisbon. “This was a life changer,” he said. Caught by the cycling bug, Santos spent the summer of 2010 riding all over the country, covering 4,500 kilometers. He wrote about these projects, “100 Days Cycling in Lisbon” and “100 Days Cycling in Portugal.” These experiences inspired him to research possibilities for more extensive cycle touring in Portugal. At that time, Santos said, although some municipalities and other local government bodies had been developing cycling amenities, there was no national initiative. Santos decided to create a trail guide based on his own exploration and research. The result was a fully digital guidebook with a network of routes where cyclists can safely explore the country without encountering a high volume of motor vehicle traffic. Although cyclists will not need a mountain bike, a bicycle with wide tires suitable for some off-road use will be necessary. Santos has mapped out the routes on a mix of asphalt, crushed gravel roads, forest roads, and urban bike lanes. The first guidebook he produced in 2015 covered 870 kilometers of routes. He explored and created the routes using GPS technology and detailed online maps. “Unfortunately, I’m doing this by myself. It’s a one-man project,” Santos said. Each year he has continued to expand his network. The guidebook for 2021 covers 5,865 kilometers. Santos said his goal is to increase that number to 8,000 kilometers— including routes on the Portuguese islands—by 2025. Santos spends around 60 days in the saddle as he pedals around the country testing out new routes. He also travels by train to reach different cities. Many of the Portuguese trains (Comboios de Portugal) accommodate bicycles. “Traveling by train gives me ideas. I can look through the window and see places that might make good routes,” Santos said. His online guidebook appears in Portuguese and English. The 2021 version sells for €58.50. (Purchasers are eligible to get the following year’s guide with an 80 percent discount.) The guide is downloadable as a ZIP file which includes the road book and GPS tracks; there is also a PDF file with a general map of the network. Each route section can be downloaded to a smartphone and used with a GPX-capable app.

Other touring opportunities

For cyclists who prefer to let someone else do the wayfinding, many companies have sprung up offering supported or self-guided cycling tours. Among the more recent ventures is My-Green-Break launched by Frenchman Jean-Remi Chapelon, based in Tomar, central Portugal. Chapelon offers guided hiking, kayaking, and cycling opportunities. He has done a trip from Porto to Lisbon and through areas of the Serra da Estrela. “Portugal has lots of route choices,” Chapelon said. Although roads are narrow, drivers in Portugal are generally considerate toward cyclists, and traffic on secondary roads is very light. He can design a one-day or multi-day cycling tour for different levels of ability. Riders can choose whether to camp or stay in hotels, he said. Many already use Google Maps to navigate to new locations or to work out trip details. But now there is a new addition for cyclists that shows the most efficient way to move around Portugal on a bicycle. If you select the “Cycling” symbol when searching a route, Google Maps will offer you various options if they exist … which, at the side will indicate the gradients you can expect on each route. Created by ciclovias.pt and the Cámara Municipal of Lisbon, the new app is expected to display dedicated cycle paths where they exist. Each municipality’s traffic department can access the Geo Data Upload Tool to update maps with existing bike paths that have not been mapped yet by Google.

An avid cyclist herself, Rosalie Rayburn is from Albuquerque, New Mexico (USA). A retired journalist and blogger who has lived in many countries, she now makes Portugal her home.

Paulo Guerra dos Santos website: https://ecovias.wixsite.com/home Guidebook available from: https://ecoviasportugal. sellfy.store/p/rede-nacional-de-cicloturismo-roadbook-2021-edicao-em-portugues/ Jean-Remi Chapelon’s My-Green-Break website: www.my-green-break.com