back in aalesund, thankfully cold

Going on means going far, going far means returning

I Ching

yo, time to show stuff again.

let's start with a memorable bike trip in the wild kingdom of Algarve, with my partner-in-adventure Hugo. :-)

we started off by crossing the world renowned bridge that has no name, and which links the base camp (at Fazenda do Belo Romão) to the high mountain we were prepared to conquer.

as can be seen from the image, there is a track that helps find the way up, which was reputedly carved by the ancient Portuguese inhabitants of Algarve, now gone and replaced by wealthy-foreigners-looking-for-a-warmer-retirement-place.

at this point, we decided to use our communication resources to contact base camp and let them know we were still alive and well. The oxygen was beginning to be rarefied at this altitude (approximately 103 meters above sea level) as can be seen by the color of my hair (which, as everyone knows, turns white when the oxygen level drops).

in this picture you can clearly see the extraordinary altitude reached at this point of the journey. At this point we had to stop often to laugh (laughter is the best way to keep your brain irrigated).

and here we are, at the top of the top of that world famous peak of Cerro de S. Miguel. As you can see, some of the team members had to shed some weight (namely in pieces of clothing) to be able to climb the last meters. So here it is, our extraordinary exploration in which we reclaimed this mountain to Portugal.