A lie in and then up for a leisurely breakfast, followed by bike cleaning and a good check over the bikes to ensure no problems have developed and gone unnoticed. Chains checked and lubed up and ready for the next few days.

Andy had to check out his Krapasaki. An odd engine noise was to be the worry of this trip for him, but it turned out to be a very simple fix and solution, go fast, drop down a gear and rev the bollocks out of it to get the cam chain tensioner to move on a notch. These were the words of a trusty mechanic I’d called to get some advice on what could be the problem with his ZZR1400.

Before we had the proper information to resolve the fault, we had made a special trip out to find a bike shop, there was a Kawasaki bike shop down in Portimao. We found it quite easily but the guys there just said they would have to take the engine apart to have a look. They would need to keep the bike for a week or so and would cost a lot of money! Not today we thought, there was no way they were going to have the bike to do that. 

We rode off and went back to the apartment to assess our options, we had a trip into the fishing village of Alvor for lunch and then afterwards a few of us headed for a beach bar on the estuary to ‘people watch’ and enjoy a few well earned beers and chat about the routes and trip so far. We also chatted about other things but I can’t possibly go into any detail about that here!

After we had had enough we went back quite late to have a shower and got changed for another evening out. This time to a different restaurant for another great meal, Andy reckons it is the best meal he has EVER had, including home food by his wife Danni, what a brave man to announce this. The food in this place is second to none and is frequented by families of Portuguese and locals alike. A fantastic evening and a few beers in a local bar to swill down the delicious food from earlier on. There is never a high volume of alcohol consumed as the roads are dangerous enough without adding fuzzy heads and a lack of concentration if you are nursing a hangover.

An early night was needed ready for an early start. We were going to get up at 06.30 and off for 07.30 was the plan!

About the riding

Nothing to report, a steady bimble about but no real riding.