Portugal - Lisbon to Lagos route advice

Morning all,

Am planning to ride from Lisbon to Lagos at the end of March. Struggling to find much info regarding routes and not knowing much about this part of the world, I thought I'd reach out.

Has anyone ridden this route or something similar? Any suggestions?

Cheers!

Check out Pete Gostelow's blog, he's ridden a lot in Africa. I'm not sure how much of West Africa he's done. Off the top of my head, I'd say that a lot of places you may want to travel through might be quite dangerous, but I wouldn't know for sure.

Also there is an excellent book called 'The Ringtone and the Drum' ( can't remember the authors right now) about travelling (not cycling) and development in countries in that region, I would highly recommend it.

I'd love to do this route one day. My parents are in Lagos but a 1 year old means the logistics will likely get the better of me for a few years yet... I've done a fair bit of riding out from Lagos and it's great, almost no traffic on the smaller roads inland and many of the road surfaces are new. Marmelete > Lagos is a good inland route via the reservoir at Barragem De Odiaxere >bensafrim > barao de sao João > espiche > Lagos. The old coastal roads can be busy and narrow but march shouldn't be too bad, the larger roads such as the n125 are frequently used by cyclists and have a wide hard shoulder so fairly good, not nearly as peaceful though. It should be a great trip, I'm jealous!

Assuming you're talking about Lagos, Portugal, not Lagos, Nigeria....

EV1 all the way round the coast? https://cycling.waymarkedtrails.org/#search?query=lagos+portugal&map=10!37.1138!-8.3388

keeping the sea on your right hand side

i too thought lagos nigeria !
lagos portugal seems much more doable

Lagos, Portugal rather than Nigeria! Thanks for the tips all, much appreciated!

I'd be interested to see the route once you've got it planned

Hah! Sorry. Just assumed you were doing a baller trip to Africa. Get the book anyway.

ooh I can contribute a little to this one!

My route:
I went the other way and a muuuch shorter distance last October: Lagos > Arrifana.
Did a loop, one way was ridden on a hiking/MTB trail called Rota Vicentina: http://en.rotavicentina.com

Surface was hard-pack gravel, short stretches of sand, plenty rocks. A good balance of up-flat-down-repeat. Front-sus is probably best (I was on one), rigid on fat tyres would be great fun, CX - hardcore fun maybe?
The trail was empty, in the 3 days on it I met about a dozen hikers, one group of 4 cyclists.
Took the smooth tarmac roads on the way back - N120, N268, N125. IIRC first two had no hard shoulder, fast traffic, but no dangerous situations, drivers overtake with plenty room. Downhill (if you're heading South) near Bordeira is epic.
N125 is a dual-carriageway with a hard shoulder, not fun. Country roads south of that, with access to beaches, are much more pleasant, hilly.

Places:
Not directly on the route, but Cordoama beach is fantastic, with a smooth tarmac switchback downhill to reach it. But a dead end, so have to go back up, worth it.
Carrapateira is a pretty little town for re-supply, vegan pizzas, regular pizzas, etc. Sand dunes are amazing.
Sagres is not worth the ride along N268 which becomes a dual-carriageway. (but I think I've missed a turn to a dedicated cycle path next to it:)) Personally I did not find it interesting, just a tick on the list "visited southern-most bla bla" place.
Arrifana has a nice beach.
Lagos is a busy sea-side life town, mixing surfers, backpackers and errr other tourists.

As a vegetarian I was totally spoiled by choice - plenty of veg*an restaurants, quality healthy food, local vegan beers even.

http://www.visitalgarve.pt
https://urbexzone.wordpress.com/category/portugal/

Some low quality photos edited on the way (transfer from camera to phone downgraded the quality). You’re gonna have a blast!

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Nigeria would be harder. I researched a West Africa cycle tour a few years back - the amount of visas needed, and the difficulty of getting them, made it really challenging. Also, I was following the blog of a guy who was doing it, and when he got attacked with a machete in Senegal, I gave up...

Yep Africa would be great. avoiding kidnap by boko haram would make it more interesting. Do it.
We'll set up a crowd funder if there's a ransom request or if they kill you it can go towards repatriation and funeral expenses.

Please don't use the big broad brush to dismiss a whole continent. Most of Africa is safe as big brick houses; I've had great running trips to places like Ghana, Ethiopia, Somalia and cycling in SA. It's the visas more than anything else that are the issue, though there are certain places where safety may be on a par with east London.

Sorry if it came across that way. Just referring to the African Lagos as opposed to the European one.
I have had great times in Africa, nd even family in kenya/Uganda.
But everyone knows northern Nigeria is best avoided. It was all tongue in cheek.