52 Weeks, 52 Half Marathons - Stage 16
Sintra's northern footHILLS
Friday, May 3, 6:12 AM
I could not ask for a better incentive, as I got out of my car, than the magnificent bird tweeting that filled the main street, downtown Sintra. I recorded it, enjoy…
These are the real tweets that we should be paying attention to.
I started right by Palácio de Sintra, disturbing the orchestrated chirping, with the usual initial inertial stomping, and equalizing breathing pressure. Most photons are still lost in their lazy dawn tangential travel route. Today is still not the day that I will properly frame Palácio de Sintra.
The first km is a very steep descent, harsh on my barely awake cold legs. Descending can be just as hard as ascending. I have been growing up as a runner, and am able to refrain from pushing too hard and risk straining my muscles. The competitive side of me, and boy do I have one, grumbles at my lack of enthusiasm. I pat it on the back with the promise of later glories.
The run from, km 1.4 to km 7.4 goes along the side of the road. IT IS DANGEROUS.
If you want to try this route, which I do recommend, it is imperative that this stretch of road is taken as early as possible and preferably during the weekend. I caught a lot more traffic than I had wished for, and did not hesitate to stop and move out of the road behind a tree until the car passed. Wearing headphones is totally out of the question. You need to be fully alert to incoming traffic. It is by no means stressful, but you do need to be aware of your surroundings 100% of the time.
We are going to the beach, Praia Grande, and to get there we will follow the beautiful tram line and creek. Ideally I would have been thrilled to run right in the middle of the tram line, and of course I did for a while. Unfortunately the sleeper spacing was not calculated for my running pace, and I should not count on the ballast always being perfectly compacted. It was fun while it lasted, but it was wise not to push my luck.
The landscape is gorgeous. On the left, the Sintra mountain range follows the creek, while on the right, we have less hilly terrain with contrasting vegetation. Two different worlds split by the creek. The road is well paved and good for running, but the edges are tricky to navigate when faced with traffic - do stop.
There are plenty of trees by the tram track and road, providing infinite picture framing possibilities. This road, if not for the traffic, is superb for road biking. The first 5km today felt unusually long. I don’t drive that much on this road but every single time I drive it, the distances seem longer than I remember. Interesting on how that also translated to my running.
We run by the village of Galamares, around km 3.5, and then get to Colares around the km 6.5 - known for its farmer’s market. Colares is our safety base, the road at last has some sidewalks. We also get close enough to the creek for the first shot. These have been the longest 5km of any stage.
There are no words to describe the incredible aroma of fresh bakeries that I felt in the town center. My stomach almost convinced me to a pit stop. I would remain dreaming with pastries for the next 5k. I think everyone gets super human smelling capabilities this early in the morning, punishing if you are running.
Colares fires the first warning shot with a reasonably steep hill coming out of town. I thought I would be rolling my way down to the beach for whole route - I was wrong.
The next 2km until the beach “gateway” are through a rather interesting single family house neighborhood full of character. It helps that there are stone pines all over the place, one of my favorite trees. I was surprised to find an immaculate bike-lane in olympic color - it’s like if they had put roller-blades under my feet.
My 6th sense prepared me for the second half of the run. I kept an easy pace for the first 10km. Last time I had checked, sea beaches stand at around 0 m above sea level. Praia Grande is no exception but it hid itself behind a 500m climb at 6% average grade - second warning shot fired by the universe today. The gateway to Praia Grande has its toll.
I was eager to get to the beach and was not disappointed. The wind and the ocean spent the whole night smoothing the sand for my arrival. Thank you Mother Nature. The place looked surreal, so much that I did not resist imprinting my way through the middle of the sand. My apologies for the pictures ruined for the next in line.
I forgot to mention that once I had arrived at the top entryway to the beach I realized in how much trouble I had gotten myself into. I was diving into the very bottom of this monumental bowl and I had not had any cereals to help me climb back up.
My “selfishness” came with a price as my legs felt like drowning in the sand on the way out, followed by stretch of stairs to climb, I arrived at the main road with my legs feeling like two concrete blocks. That was just the beginning.
I planned my way out of the beach through a backroad, quite ugly during the first 200m, that did not too hard on Google’s street view.
The gateway out of the beach was brutal, with a toll almost twice has high as the one I had picked to enter - double whammy.
After the initial visual shock, the road opens up to a beautiful landscape again. I had gulped enough oxygen to get my thoughts straight and realize that I had been tricked by the scale of what was to come. I could see the top of the Sintra mountain-range with Palácio da Pena on the top, way in the distance. That was where I had come from and that is where we are going to, it’s far…
I knew that the route back was going to be through the core of the mountain and was very much looking forward to it. My sweet climbs in the middle of the trees, with several magnificent Sintra landmarks on the way. The route profile had tricked me showing the gateways to the beach as little bumps when compared to the final ascent. I did 2+2=4, dropped my head in despair with a smile, and mentally prepared myself for the mountain’s final strike. Bring it on!
The expedition again, goes through basecamp in Colares, one last contact with civilization, before the final battle with the mountain. I should have stopped in that bakery, now already packed with people having an early breakfast in the patio. To add insult to injury, a strong scent of coffee infiltrated my nostrils.
Later in the day, as I walked by a bakery, I told my wife that my hunger was such that I felt like opening my mouth through the “Pasteis de Nata” like a whale feasting on krill.
The best way to describe the route with photos would be to stack them all on top of each other, because that’s the way it felt. The climb is back-breaking with several +15% grade stretches. It effectively lasts for more than 6km, it is brutal. I would be lying to say that I smiled all the way up. I don’t know this route as well as the remaining of the mountain, I lacked reference points to pace myself. I kept expecting a minor slope after each turn only to be served a full platter of bones to chew. The meat was delicious but I had to earn it grinding my teeth.
The ramp goes all the way up to the moon (Sintra stands for Hill of the Moon). As we ascend into orbit, the first star to catch our attention is Palácio de Monserrate Park. This park is something that you must visit if coming to Sintra. Come to enjoy the park, bring a book, picnic and spend a lazy afternoon with real tweets - leave your phone behind. Not today, once a rocket engine starts it only finishes burning when the fuel tank is fully depleted, mine had no end in sight. I was going full blast… kind off.
Sintra is full of mystique, it’s a wonderland packed with surprises. There are thousands of constructions that seem to have been built by magic creatures that roam in the woods. One of a kind. I re-filled by water bottle in one of the many fountains that you find by the side of the road, it came in handy.
We reach the peak of the climb at km 21.9, the half is behind us and I knew I had extra kms today. The next landmark right after the peak, is the magnificent hotel Palácio de Seteais. If you can afford to stay there for a couple of days, it is totally worth it. The place is dearest to me and my wife.
We are now coming back from orbit, gravity is our friend again, and if my legs were battered by the last kms, it would be fun to floor it all the way down to downtown Sintra. I cruised down on neutral, enjoying the earth curvature from above.
As we are getting in the city we are gifted the third pearl of this road, Quinta da Regaleira. This place is surreal, like if lack of oxygen to my brain had me dreaming about my whereabouts.
If my favorite trees in Portugal are Stone Pines, my favorite trees from the US have to be Sequoias and Redwoods. Trust me I had not eaten any of the mushrooms from the Sintra forest, when I saw Sequoias in the middle of Quinta da Regaleira. I could not come up with a better photo to end this journey. I climbed to the top to get to my Sequoias!
An added benefit of running this early in the morning is that afterwards it feels like you’ve lived two days in a single day. I truly feel like I double my life expectancy on the days of my runs. Going to work after such a glorious run is an amazing feeling.
I am privileged. Thank you universe!
Enjoy your runs!
-APF
Brutal!