Day 9 – EU – Portugal [Salir to Faro]

14/12/19

38km

  From Salir (Portugal) to Faro (Portugal)

Europe

Leaving the mountains behind, reaching the Algarve and the ancient seaside town of Faro…

Today’s run took me from hilly mountainous Portugal, to the Algarve and the seaside town of Faro. To leave the mountains, I had just two major uphills to go through, all within the first 15km of the day, before hitting the town of Loule. It was really hard work, pushing BoB up the +10% inclined roads, and I ended up walking, puffing and sweating, up the road. Key is just to keep going. Once these two major uphills were over, it was all mostly downhill from there.

The road I took had me run on some rural trails, amongst fields of orange trees and vineyards too. It provided a welcome rest to my feet, having to deal with the soft terrain of the trail. It seems every property I passed by had a pack of at least three or four dogs, ready to jump and bark at any opportunity. Thankfully all of them roped – though I was sorry for these poor creatures, being restricted by the leash all day long. But the bottom line was that I made a hell of a racket everywhere I ran past in these quiet and beautiful places! Like I woke whole villages up and left with a thousand dogs barking madly!

Faro is a city filled with history, in a beautiful way. As I walk the cobbled streets of downtown Faro, I have a song going through my head, “When I paint my masterpiece” by B. Dylan. It feels, just like in the song, that everywhere I set my eyes, there is a piece of History. Cathedral, churches, ancient port, cobblestones streets and painted tiles on houses fronts…

Check my daily run GPS data on or

Here is the map of today’s run: