Bikepacking To The Highest Point In Portugal - The Serra da Estrela Trail

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Day 1: Lisbon - Santiago da Guarda
Distance: 80 Km (50 miles); Max Speed: 58 Km/h (36 mph); Uphill: 1,240 m (4,068 ft); Downhill: 1,020 m (3,346 ft)
Komoot: https://www.komoot.com/tour/248408540
This was the longest day in terms of the ridden distance as it was mostly flat-ish gravel terrain. We had a lot of fun going downhill on some loose fire roads and by discovering hidden trails that we had no idea how Komoot knew they were there. After riding for about 5 hours we decided to stop for lunch at the "Manjar Central" restaurant where Mr. Jorge Caetano treat us like kings and even let us sleep a little bit on the lawn of the restaurant. We finally arrived at our destination where we had some friends waiting for us with a barbecue and some beers. After a long deserving shower and a couple of hours of sleep, we were ready for the next day...

Day 2: Santiago da Guarda - Lousã
Distance: 33.8 Km (21 miles); Max Speed: 60 Km/h (37.3 mph); Uphill: 520 m (1,706 ft); Downhill: 620 m (2,034 ft)
https://www.komoot.com/tour/249040698
... We were not ready for the next day. We realised we lost our pumps and the tire levers which meant that if we had a flat we were screwed... So we decided to ride mostly on tarmac roads and make it a shorter day and try to reach Lousã which hopefully had some sort of bike-shop around to buy what we needed... well... without realising, we booked an airbnb that actually had a bike repair shop in it :)

Day 3: Lousã - Soito da Ruiva
Distance: 58.5 Km (36.3 miles); Max Speed: 59 Km/h (36.6 mph); Uphill: 1,700 m (5,577 ft); Downhill: 1,140 m (3,740 ft)
https://www.komoot.com/tour/249523135
After having a cheap breakfast buffet, we headed on to what we can call the base of the Serra da Estrela mountain range. Our initial plan was to do more than the 60 Km but we soon realised that it would be impossible and therefore decided to find refugee in a small village called Soito da Ruiva and damn, was this a smart decision. With only 19 inhabitants, Soito da Ruiva is one of the most beautiful places I ever visited and we truly felt we were in a special place. Before we reached the village we had a 10 Km step climb, it was already dark, we were hungry and just as we were on the cusp of descending to the village, we had a flat tire, which meant we had to change the tire while we were cold, hungry and extremely tired. We eventually fixed it and started the descending to the village. (by the way not all of us had working lights that night and there was no street lights) As we arrived, with literally no energy left in our legs, Mrs. Adelina and Mr. Niz, our Airbnb hosts and the village "gatekeepers", were waiting for us with a feast! We really felt like crying because these people, for who we were complete strangers, just received us with arms wide open in the middle of a pandemic, made us food and drinks (like tons of it) and were really pleased that we were there with them and that we choose their village to stay the night. Thank you Mrs. Adelina and Mr. Niz and the whole community of Soito da Ruiva!

Day 4: Soito da Ruiva - Loriga
Distance: 37.4 Km (23.2 miles); Max Speed: 47 Km/h (29.2 mph); Uphill: 1,220 m (4,002 ft); Downhill: 1,110 m (3,642 ft)
https://www.komoot.com/tour/250037977
We overslept... We thought today would be the day that we would reach the top of Serra da Estrela, however we were really tired and realised we had to take it slowly, plus, we had 2 days left so we had plenty of time to reach the top. We decided to enjoy our stay in Soito da Ruiva a little longer and after having lunch we made our way to Loriga where we would stay the night and prepare ourselves for the massive climb we had the next day.

Day 5: Loriga - Torre (Top of Serra da Estrela) * The Climb
Distance: 22.7 Km (14.1 miles); Max Speed: 49 Km/h (30.4 mph); Uphill: 1,370 m (4,495 ft); Downhill: 200 m (656 ft)
https://www.komoot.com/tour/250403007
I'm not gonna lie to you... this was one of the hardest things I did in my life... You have to realise that it was 35ºC and there was no trees to save us from the scorching sun... But we had to do it, there was no turning back now. The average inclination was 16%. It was madness. We also forgot to adjust our tires pressure for the changing altitude and had a flat tire when we were almost reaching the top... But we made it... We reached the top of Serra da Estrela and it was as exciting as we expected. We were really happy with what we accomplished and were ready for an epic 1300m (4,265 ft) descend with almost no climbing:

Still Day 5: Torre - Penhas da Saúde * The Descent
Distance: 10.2 Km (6.3 miles); Max Speed: 60 Km/h (37.3 mph); Uphill: 70 m (229 ft); Downhill: 540 m (1,772 ft)
https://www.komoot.com/tour/250551223

Day 6: Penhas da Saúde - Covilhã
Distance: 8.81 Km (6.3 miles); Max Speed: 78 Km/h (48.5 mph); Downhill: 740 m (2,428 ft)
https://www.komoot.com/tour/250928730

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