I decided to take the mountainous route on day 1 of this bike packing trip to bring the hardest bit behind me. Based on Komoot’s planning, I was expecting an uphill on asphalt but despite that it was all day cobbles, hardest cobbles. I had to walk the bike for quite some kilometres and got an offer from a local to jump onto his car, which I declined. The following downhill was a different challenge. Despite being constantly on the brakes to go slow, I had one snakebite to fix on the final stretch at 200m above sea level. By that time I also felt muscles in my body I never knew about. Finally I got down into Ribeira Grande with another comfortable but cobbled 6km to Ponta do Sol, my cosy nest for the night. What a ride!
The reward for the pain was mother nature presenting herself in a way I have never seen in this density apart from the fact that the physical & mental training contributes to some euphoria and well-being.
Mindelo has got its own beach and it looks very clean and natural so that you wonder what was there before, the city or the beach. It’s called Praia De Laginha and just 1.3km north of the marina. Not too crowded today on a Saturday early afternoon. Hopefully I will find the time next week for a swim.
Just now another fellow sailor is leaving, bound for Caribbean. You you recognise that, when the horns are blown across the marina from some friends still left behind. This marina has got a very special spirit, which I have never experienced before. If there will be a “next time”, I will plan four weeks for Mindelo, at least!
Fair winds…
Today was an interesting ride. The island took us through two totally different landscapes and road conditions:
#1: First, sandy beaches hitting the steep volcano mountains on the coastal stretch between Salamansa to Calhau and once having taken the turn at the junction in Calhau, the lush green valley embedded gently among the surrounding hills taking us back to Mindelo from Calhau as the second part.
#2: Perfect tarmac on the first part and cobbles all the way from Calhau back into Mindelo. While planning this ride, Komoot indicated cobbles for less than 1km on the total ride but we ended up with more the 14km of cobbles. This kind of bug is definitely rare in the Komoot application.
Having said that, the Roubaix bike enjoyed the fact that its skin tubes set around 6-7 bar finally got some contact with real cobbles, while the rider remains sitting comfortably in the saddle testing the Future Shock suspension on the handle bar and the S-Works seat post specifically designed for unpaved roads. Not only the bike impressed me again but also the Cape Verdeans, who have laid these cobbles to perfection. Perhaps Komoot had that in mind as well!😂
The link below will provide more details and photos.
Fair winds…
I am very positive by the supply, logistics and service aspects here in Mindelo from what I heard and experienced myself.
In the two market halls I visited today, there was no tourist mark-up and I also got my broken iPhone glas repaired at competitive rates in less than two hours time!
The rip-off takes place somewhere else, when you buy local papaya at 1.5 Euro per kg and fresh tuna filet for 7 Euro per kilo. Not sure where fair trade comes in.
Also the service in the marina is excellent. Laundry is being picked-up in the morning hours from the boats and same day evening hours returned back. I also received good feedback on services done by the boatyard for some fellow sailors.
Fair winds…
Another trip on Ilha de São Vicente was on the T0-Do-List for today. These are the easier ones to tick off! More photos under the link below as usual.
It took me to the northeastern side of the island with less Harmatten today, two villages and beaches I wanted to visit.
Fair winds…
I have finished my yoga in the engine room for the day. The Fischer-Panda generator is cleaned and all salty remains from the recent water leakage of the sea-water-pump removed.
The issue on the water maker, high pressure pump tripping, is caused by the generator loosing its AC power at 2.5kW. We suspect either the capacitors or the rev servo motor to be the ultimate root cause.
Fair winds…
It was time to get back into the saddle and some blood circulation into the legs. Although there was some Harmatten up in the air bringing a bit of sand from the Sahara at PM2.5 levels in the range of 25µg/m3, it is considered to be okay to perform light exercise.
Being now out of the “European Culture and Comedy” for a while, above photo gives a sniff of the road environment here on São Vicente, particular Mindelo.
We also faced some hard cobbles, which finally broke the glas of my bike iPhone by ripping it out of the handle bar holder and smashing it on the road. Glas broken, phone working. 
