Day 62: Faro to Lepe, Spain | 85km
2 August 2026
I felt as though I’d been hit by a train when I woke up, or at least like I’d gotten very little rest during my sleep. My body felt warm and cold at the same time, and I just hoped whatever symptoms I was showing would wait until after the trip to fully blossom. However, I had to keep going, so although I wanted to stay in bed and sleep for a few more hours, I packed my things quietly so as not to wake up any of the other people in the hostel. Breakfast was quite good, as I’d bought orange juice, a sandwich and a croissant yesterday, so I ate in solitude in the common area and reviewed the route for the day. Thankfully, it was a shorter distance without any real climbs, so I mustered the little energy I had and headed out. Faro was slowly waking up, and as I rolled through the quiet streets, I could smell the alcohol on the streets, probably spilled the night before.
I spent most of the day on countryside roads, just keeping my head down and pushing on so I wouldn’t focus on how bad I was feeling. Three hours of cycling later, I arrived in Vila Real de Santo António and the end of Portugal. It took me eight days to cross Portugal from north to south, and although I was happy to cross into Spain once again and start the real final stretch of the journey, I couldn’t help but feel that I hadn’t explored Portugal as much as I should have. In my defence, I’ve felt pretty beat up the last week, but still. The heat was also a contributing factor to me not wanting to linger in the small cities I passed. Another reason is that I have lacked motivation for adventure. There have been parts of this journey I envisioned more strongly and looked forward to before the journey, one of which was the Camino del Norte. In Portugal, however, I hadn’t really made any plans or looked up anything I wanted to explore, so it felt more like the country was in the way of my end destination than anything else.
If I ever do another big trip, I’ll make sure to look into more sightseeing attractions, local foods or cultural interests and set them as milestones throughout. For a journey this long, just thinking about the end goal is difficult because for two months it’s been so far away. Now that I’m back in Spain, I can start focusing on actually finishing, and it also feels important to stay focused because there’s still 300km left, which before this trip would’ve felt daunting on its own.
I arrived in Lepe around 2pm and as I rolled through the almost deserted town square, I just felt sheer exhaustion. Although it wasn’t as warm as some of the days during the most intense heatwave in southern France, the sun was taking a big toll. Lepe is not really a tourist town, but the region is probably most famous for its production of different types of berries and, more generally, a lot of farm produce. Apparently, many Spanish people also make fun of people from here. As it was Sunday afternoon, almost everything was closed, so I settled for the most boring but available dinner: McDonald’s. I also couldn’t find any stores open to buy breakfast food, so I got an extra burger and a muffin at McDonald’s to get me through the first hour or two of riding tomorrow.