Day 545 16th January 2018
23 miles (Porto Seguro to Trancoso) Average speed 6.2 mph Top speed 22mph
I got up at 6 and discovered I’d been attacked in the night by mosquitoes while sleeping in a hammock as my tent was so hot after a day heating up in the sun. My arms and belly are covered in bites but thankfully they’re not itching too much even though rather unsightly!
I had brekkie of sausage and onion roll and tea. Then I packed up slowly while chatting to Jose who I’d met the day before. I left at 9.30 and went to a bank in town before getting the ferry, for which there was a massive queue of traffic, but I went to the front on the bike and bought my ticket for 4.50 reais. I rushed across to board and squeezed the bike on the back of the ferry between two mopeds. Then I realised I’d rushed to get there and left my phone in the rear pannier – somehow it had survived the trip and was still there when I boarded. Coming out of the port was just as busy with lots of cars and once again lots more cobbled streets.
As much as I tried to find a good route, either on the sand on the side of the road or the pavement whichever way I went was full of uneven ground and sometimes too much sand which was soon to become the story of the day. I eventually found a way out of town but ended up on the beach road which was not only cobbled but sometimes very steep. It all looked so easy on the map yesterday! But now I found myself climbing big hills on cobbled roads or stuck on beaches.
As I was trapped at a beach and had to go back the way I’d come I had a drink and half a pack of biscuits and headed bac,k but I’d left my gloves on the bars and one fell off just as I’d left. Having climbed 50 metres up a very steep incline I realised I only had one glove on the bars and had to go all the way back to the beach to retrieve it. I was not very happy at this point but things were about to get worse. I climbed to the top of a steep cobbled street and then the road turned to sand and rutted tracks eroded by the rain with lots of big climbs and very tricky downhills. At the bottom of one I ended up going through a ford which meant my feet were now soaked through too.
At least there was the occasional tree to shade me from the burning sun. I eventually came to a road but it was rutted and busy with buses and buggies and four wheel drive cars throwing up clouds of dust and it soon became sand again. The map showed a road via an airport which would take me to the main ba 001 but when I got there it was closed to bikes!! The whole place was just full of very expensive beach resorts and there was nowhere to get a drink or food.
Now I had to go to Trancoso and the road did not get any better. When I arrived to more cobbled streets I found a burger bar for water and Fanta and changed my socks. The next road would be 40 miles with no towns or anything on it so I decided to stop here. A hostel wanted 120reais for a bed in a dorm which was way out of my league, but then I spotted a sign for a campsite and after going around the block twice, I found it and met Lauris from Rio also travelling by bike. We chatted and he showed me his route on a map. Then I cooked leftover chicken pasta and showered before heading for the beach. I didn’t make it as it was a long way downhill so I celebrated my 14000 miles watching a footy match on the green in front of a very pretty church which overlooked the beach.
I then went shopping for food and bought a pizza which the hostel charged me 10 reais to cook in the oven for gas. After a couple of beers I had an early night stinking of TCP. What a tough day.!!
Camping pousada Cuba 40 reais + 10 to use oven?? And including brekkie.