Cycling The Algarve

Portugal’s Algarve region draws millions of sun worshippers and beach lovers but it’s also a fantastic destination for cycling, particularly in the winter months.This unique cyclist’s guide covers the western half of the region, giving a general overview of riding in the Algarve, plus highly-detailed descriptions of a six-day touring route, plus a couple of two-day extensions, and 10 individual day rides of varying length and difficulty.Together, the rides described give information on nearly 950km of cycling.Directions for each ride are broken down into numbered sections that include details of all important junctions, road numbers/names and distances for every section - plus 27 maps for overnight stops and towns/villages en routeA stats section shows a ride profile - plus links for online maps that can be downloaded as GPX files etc.Notes on places to visit and things to see along the way, and ideas for side trips and alternative routes make this a very flexible touring companion!Background information provides ideas for places to stay, where to find shops, cafes, bike stores etc. The guide is based on information from the popular Pedal Portugal website and is the second in a series of planned books on cycling in the country.

Huw Thomas is a third-generation tandem rider, and novelist, who turned to writing guidebooks on Portugal because he’s unable to spend all his time cycling there. Born in Hampshire, England, Huw trained as a journalist and worked in PR/communications before finally finding a way of avoiding a 9-5 existence. A tandem trip around the coasts of France and the Iberian Peninsula in 2004-2005 provided his first introduction to Portugal. After retraining to teach English as a foreign language, Huw and his stoker (wife) Carolyn spent three years teaching in Portugal - an ideal opportunity to explore more of the country and discover a number of excellent bike rides. During a break in their teaching, Huw and Carolyn embarked on a 10,000-mile tandem ride across 11 countries to raise money for the disaster relief charity ShelterBox. The experience of planning that journey inspired Huw to set up the Pedal Portugal website to offer advice and ideas to other cyclists coming to the country. Although now back in England, Huw makes regular return visits to Portugal - using the excuse of needing to keep the website up to date. pedalportugal.com is now the leading source of information on cycling in Portugal, containing suggestions for a variety of touring routes plus details of day/short rides within Portugal. Cycling The Algarve is the second in what it is hoped will be a series of Pedal Portugal guidebooks. Huw’s novels include the award-winning ’The Tale of Findo Gask’, crime mysteries ’The Vault’ and ’Waking Broken’. His latest book is ’Church of the White Rabbits’, a story of revenge, feuds and blackmail involving a cast of eccentric characters on a remote Atlantic island. Under the pen name William Webster he has also written the popular archaeological adventure ’Pagan’s Sphinx’.