Summer 2015 edition Road Book, version May 2015
ECOVIAS
Touristic Cycling Network www.ecoviasportugal.pt
Paulo Guerra dos Santos R & E' (')) * C+, ) T (-
p. 2
ROAD BOOK National Greenways Network
Summer 2015
EcoviasPortugal.pt is protected by the WHOIS ICANN international laws and it can not be used by third parties besides its legal owner.
“Life is like a 10 speed
EcoviasPortugal is an official member of:
gears we never use”.
bicycle. Most of us have
www.naviki.org The online map for the European cycling routes. www.apcverdes.pt The Portuguese Greenways Association, member of EGWA
EcoviasPortugal partners: www.portugalnaturetrails.pt The best travel agency for guided and self-guided cycling vacations in Portugal.
Charles M. Schultz
•
“You can not buy happiness... But you can buy a bicycle, which is almost the same”. •
Popular quotation
www.biciway.eu Mobility urban solutions for cycling promotion.
in this road book
Ecovias de Portugal, section 14.3
•
870 km geotagged.
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Detailed maps and info, photos and links.
•
Technical data, alerts and track information .
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Tips for your bike journey.
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Contacts for professional support.
p. 3
About myself
Macadame road, Ecovias Portugal
100 days cycling in Portugal During the summer of 2010, I travelled for 100 days by bicycle around Portugal’s mainland (there are also 2 archipelagos with 9 + 2 islands). While visiting more than 100 cities and villages, exclusively cycling, I realized the huge potential that Portugal has to offer for those who are fans of the outdoor in nature activities like cycle tourism travels. After this amazing trip in my own country - and using all my experience has a road project engineer - I started to build a map with the most beautiful secondary and low traffic roads, using the most advanced technologies like GPS tagging and online maps. Based on the existing national and municipality road networks, this project selects for you the best roads that lead you thru the most amazing scenarios and landscaping of my country. Please note that this huge task for identifying a national network just started. It is expected that this 8000 km network will be under identification until at least 2020. For now, Ecovias Portugal presents to you a major part of the Atlantic Coast Route - Ecovia 1 (15 sections) as well 2 more other sections for Ecovias 14 and 18.
I am a 42 years old civil engineer living in Lisbon, with a master degree in Road Project. Since 1995 that I work with CAD technologies for drawing and projecting roads. I have also professional training in industrial robotics, an area in which I worked and taught for many years. This 2 knowledge, allied with the experience and passion for touristic cycling networks are been used to identify the Ecovias Portugal national network and take it to you under the form of a road book with visual interesting maps and GPS tracks for you to use as a guidance on your trips around Portugal. All the routes were covered in person, more than once, in order to give you the best cycling experience. I also completed so far the first year of my PhD in Public Policies, where I will deepen my knowledge for the cycle tourism public policies in other countries and study the economic impacts that such networks investment generate in the local and national economies.
This road book is the way to reach thousands of bike tourism fans all over the world and a sustainable form of financing the major costs that such a project has like transportation cost with travels, sleeping, feeding and equipment. And of course, the thousands of hours of my personal time and knowledge spent to offer to you this road book.
Obrigado, thank you, dankjewel, tak, danke Thank you for supporting the Ecovias Portugal project by buying this road book. It is guaranteed that all the incomes will be used for update and identify more routes, to keep the Ecovias web page online and to improve even more your experience as a tourist on a bicycle around Portugal.
Paulo Guerra dos Santos
p. 5
Planned network diagram
Ecovias network
under identification until 2020
general description
Portugal’s geometry is basically a rectangle, vertically aligned. This way and according to the most interesting routes and places, I planned the network dividing it in meridian and parallel routes. Routes numbered from 1 to 4 are the meridian and the longest ones (geotagged from north to south). Routes from 5 to 18 are the parallel ones (geotagged from west to east) and take you from the Atlantic to the border with Spain. Route number 13 does not exist ... Each route is named Ecovia and it’s divided in sections. For example, the Ecovia 1 from Valença do Minho to Vila do Bispo will have 24 sections (15 already identified for now). Each section is planned to have between 40 km to 50 kms so it can be easi-
ly cycled in half a day at summer time. Exceptionally, some may be a bit longer. In the near future when most of the network is identified, you will be able to plan a trip from/to any part of the country, choosing the best sections of each ecovia that takes you to your destiny. All the 18 district capital cities are included in the network, as well many other beautiful cities or villages. Please note that this full network is still under identification. I expect it will be completed only around 2020. For now, 17 sections (of 160 expected) are identified in this rood book. At Ecovias webpage there are already a few more, that in a near future will be included in this road book.
1
2
3
4
5 6 Porto 7 8 9 10 11 12
Lisboa 14 15 16 17 18
Faro
1, Caminha » Vila do Bispo 2, Valença do Minho » Lagos 3, Chaves » Faro 4, Bragança » Vila Real de Santo António 5, Viana do Castelo » Miranda do Douro 6, Porto » Bragança 7, Porto » Miranda do Douro 8, Aveiro » Vilar Formoso 9, Figueira da Foz » Monsanto 10, São Pedro de Moel » Castelo Branco 11, Peniche » Portalegre 12, Santa Cruz » Badajoz 14, Lisboa » Évora 15, Vila Nova de Milfontes » Barrancos 16, Zambujeira-do-Mar » Mértola 17, Odeceixe » Alcoutim 18, Vila do Bispo » Vila Real de Santo António
The state of the art Portugal does not have a central government policy for the long distance cycle tourism promotion. However, some municipalities are developing their own cycling networks building bike lanes, rail-to-trails or restricting traffic in rural macadam roads, local parks and forest roads. At EcoviasPortugal, although I search mostly for secondary local and low traffic roads, every time there is an infrastructure dedicated to cycling, such as a bike lane or a rail-to-trail I use it for the ecovias network.
For the Ecovias network, every time it is possible, I also identify low traffic macadam roads.
p. 6
The ecovias network and the GPS technologies Low cost investment project EcoviasPortugal brings a new concept for the cycling networks identification: no construction of new infrastructures and no vertical signs for identification, all over the network.
Ecovias Portugal
Summer 2015
So, how do I do it? Using the powerful GPS technology I have in my pocket and some of the secondary low traffic roads already existing all over the country. Millions of people all over the world had change from their old cellphones to brand new smartphones, most of them with GPS technology. Using the satellite orbiting constellation, it is possible with a smartphone to know exactly our location on Earth, visualized over a full map or just a simple line, called “track”. This is how I operate and identify to you the best secondary roads, either in asphalt or macadam. To follow my steps all along the Ecovias network, you just need a GPS device or a smartphone with GPS, download de KML or GPX files, copy them to your GPS device and follow the tracks. Simple! Enjoy Portugal on a bike!
Apps for maps & tracks During the exploring of new routes for the Ecovias I use my smartphone’s GPS. For that, I downloaded some apps for tes!ng and they all work fine and are able to read the KML/GPX file: - OruxMaps (I use this one) - Strava - Google Earth - GPX Viewer and many others …. Then, just copy the KML or GPX file to the tracks folder of the app (“tracklog” in OruxMaps) and use it with your smartphone’s GPS on. Try it. You will see how easy and powerful it is!
If you do not have a GPS device, use your last generation smartphone. Just download any maps app and navigate with Ecovias Portugal tracks.
p. 9
ECOVIAS IDENTIFIED ROUTES & SECTIONS General map with identified routes so far or under identification comming soon
Identified routes and sections Routes and sections comming soon
Summer 2015
Spain
Altitudes
Spain
0 - 50 m 50 - 100 m 100 - 200 m Atlantic Ocean
200 - 400 m 400 - 800 m 800 - 1100 m 1100 - 1400 m
Identified sections for summer 2015: Ecovia 1 1.05 to 1.16, from Porto to Cascais 1.22 to 1.24, from Vila Nova de Milfontes to Vila do Bispo
Porto
1400 - 1700 m 1700 - 1991 m
Aveiro
Ecovia 14 14.1, from Lisboa (Montijo) to Setúbal Ecovia 18 18.1, From Vila do Bispo to Lagos
Figueira-da-Foz
Sections coming soon during 2015: Ecovia 1 Atlantic Coast
Ecovia 14 14.2 to 14.6, from Setúbal to Monsaraz
Atlantic Ocean
Spain
Peniche
Lisboa Cascais
Comming soon more sections for Ecovia 14
Montijo
Évora Setúbal
Monsaraz
Ecovia 14 Lisboa - Monsaraz
Spain
Vila Nova de Milfontes Ecovia 1 Atlantic Coast Vila do Bispo Ecovia 18 Algarvian coast
Sagres
Lagos Atlantic Ocean
p. 10
Ecovia 1 - Atlantic coast Sections 1.05-1.16 from Porto to Cascais and 1.22-1.24 from Vila Nova de Milfontes to Vila do Bispo
Porto 1.05
Furadouro 1.06 Praia da Barra 1.07
Praia de Mira
1.08
Figueira-da-Foz
1.09
Praia do Pedrógão
1.10
Nazaré 1.11 Óbidos Peniche Santa Cruz
1.12
1.13 1.14
Ericeira 1.15 Ecovia 14 Lisboa - Monsaraz
Praia Grande 1.16 Lisboa Montijo Cascais
Monsaraz
Vila Nova de Milfontes 1.22 Zambujeira-do-Mar 1.24 Aljezur 1.24
Ecovia 18 Algarvian coast
Vila do Bispo Lagos Sagres
Summer 2015
Summer 2015 p. 14
1.08
Praia de Mira Figueira-da-Foz
Praia de Mira Km 1.2
Lagoa
55 km 250 meters uphill 97% asphalt 5% exclusive bike lanes Low traffic
Km 4
Profile
A tl ant ic O ce an
Low traffic forest road View online map & photos »
Any doubts? Ask me »
Section description Bike lane to Praia da Tocha
Praia da Tocha
Km 15
A tl ant ic O ce an
Lagoa da Vela
The proposed track for this section leads you thru a long forest road. With basically no traffic almost all the way, this will definitely be an introspective trip surrounded by pine trees and sand. A few kilometers after visiting Praia da Tocha you will pass near two beautiful lagoons, one of them incredibly hidden behind the endemic vegetation, ideal for bird watching passionates. After coming down to the ocean again and visit Praia de Quiaios, you will pedal the hardest climbing of the day: a hilly macadam road (650 meters long) that will take you thru a quarry of cement stone extraction. This is an amazing natural open air museum, showing you several rock types and geological (de)formations from the Miocene Age. After the lighthouse, you will have an amazing view over Figueira da Foz.
Lagoa das Braças
Other info
Praia de Quiaios Quiaios
Km 47
Ciment stone quarry Viewpoint over the Atlantic and Figueira
Figueira da Foz
The asphalted forest road you will take is in bad pavement conditions. Actually this is why it has so few traffic. With a lot of cavities, sometimes is View over Praia de Quiaios more smooth to cycle on the soil berm, so do not rush and cycle on a slow travel mode. Right after Praia de Quiaios you will have to climb about 80 meters altitude on a quarry access road. It’s really a high slope, so just carry your bike by hand along this 650 meters long hilly macadam road until you reach the light house at the top.
Alerts and track information km 1.2 - Moderated to high traffic along 2.3 km, km 4 - Bad conditions asphalt pavement, along 15 kms km 15 - High traffic intersection with N335-1. km 47 - 650 meters long macadam hilly road along the quarry
National Emergency Number
112
What to visit at Figueira-da-Foz: Enjoy the long and sandy beach or just take a tour around the city centre and discover the traditional architecture buildings. And of course, you can also spend some money at the casino.
Summer 2015 p. 22
1.16 Sintra Cascais
40 km 450 meters uphill 75% asphalt 30% exclusive bike lanes High traffic at N247
Praia das Maçãs
Profile Praia Grande Rocky deep ocean well
Praia da Adraga
A tl ant ic O ce an
2 rocky formations
Almoçageme
Any doubts? Ask me »
Section description A beautiful journey along the CascaisSintra Natural Park coastal area. Up and down, you will pedal crossing small brooks and visiting long sandy beaches, some of them cloistered by huge rocky cliffs. You also visit the westernmost cape of continental Europe, Cabo da Roca, where nearby you can appreciate two amazing natural rock sculptures coming out from the ocean. Then, as there is no alternative, you will have to pedal along the N247, a national road with high traffic, especially on weekends and summer time. Fortunately it’s always downhill, until o reach Praia do Guincho, a beautiful sandy beach, with a lot of surfers and kite-surfers. Then, you will pedal on an exclusive bike lane that will take you along the Atlantic Coast to Cascais.
Asphalt alternative Km 16.5
Sintra-Cascais Natural Park Malveira da Serra Praia do Guincho Km 26
Cabo Raso
A tl ant ic O ce an
View online map & photos »
Km 4.5
Km 12.5
Cabo da Roca
Funny decorated old house
Other info Boca do Inferno Cascais Rocky deep ocean well
Please cycle with maximum attention to traffic along N247, a national road with high traffic, especially on weekends and summer time. Ocean rocks Close to Cascais you will visit one of the most amazing ocean wells, Boca do Inferno (The hells mouth), a natural cavity on the rocks with direct connection to the ocean’s restless waters. From Cascais to Lisboa there is only one alternative, the eavy traffic N6 road. No berm, high speeds. Please DO NOT cycle here. Please use the urban train to Lisboa. Bikes are allowed.
Alerts and track information km 4.5 - Long macadam road. Up&down to the beach. Km 12.5 - 3 km cycling uphill with >5% grade km 16.5 - 9 km cycling along N247. Moderated to high traffic. km 26 - Exclusive bike lane along the coast, until Cascais.
National Emergency Number
112
What to visit at Cascais: The marina and the old fort called Cidadela. The narrow streets and some of it’s beaches.
Summer 2015 p. 30
Ecovia 18 - Algarvian coast Section 18.01 from Vila do Bispo to Lagos
Summer 2015
Porto
Ecovia 1 Atlantic Coast
Ecovia 14 Lisboa - Monsaraz Lisboa
Montijo
Cascais Monsaraz
Vila Nova de Milfontes Ecovia 1 Atlantic Coast
Vila do Bispo 18.01 Sagres
Lagos
Summer 2015 p. 31
Cabo de São Vicente
18.01
Vila do Bispo Lagos
Cabo de Sagres
Sagres
63 km 400 meters uphill 85% asphalt 2% exclusive bike lanes Reduced/moderated traffic
Km 21
Profile
Vila do Bispo
A tl ant ic O ce an
Southwest Natural Park
View online map & photos »
Section description
Raposeira Km 32
The first section on the Algarvian greenway, Ecovia 18, takes you to visit the old navigators school from the 15th century. Besides the Sagres’ museum you will also appreciate the ocean cliffs at two capes: São Vicente and Sagres. Then, to continue your journey you need to come back to Vila do Bispo cycling a bit along the N268 and then crossing N125 at Raposeira. Pay maximum attention while crossing N125 road. Then, you will cycle on low traffic roads until Praia da Luz, passing along many beaches, on of them amazingly semi-desert and naturally preserved. After Praia da Luz you will mix with moderated traffic until you reach this section’s last kilometers. But still, before arriving to Lagos, I suggest a visit to the nearby ocean cliffs as they are worth willing to see.
Salema
Amazing natural semi-desert beach
Praia da Boca do Rio Km 43
Praia de Burgau
Any doubts? Ask me »
Km 47
A tl ant ic O ce an
Other info Praia da Luz
Ocean cliffs
Lagos
Algarvian railroad
The Ecovia do Algarve is an infrastructure identified already for some years. The Algarvian municipalities have been investing at the Ocean cliffs near Lagos identification of a route connecting the west to the east, from Sagres to Vila Real de Santo António. Unfortunately there is no official webpage promoting it and already a few years that you have no route updates or new constructions like exclusive bike lanes and macadam trails, so you may not find it or even see any signs or information most of the way.
Alerts and track information km 21 - 1 km cycling along N268, then exit to the old road. km 32 - Crossing N125. Please use & respect the traffic lights. km 43 - 400 meters cycling uphill with >10% grade. km 47 - Moderated (to high) traffic for the rest of the journey.
National Emergency Number
112
What to visit at Lagos: Take a relaxing walk along the narrow streets, the old castle walls and the river area.