Road to the Ocean. Part 1

  This is a story about how five daredevils traveled by car from Ukraine to the edge of the European continent. The main goal was to participate in the World Trail Running Championship, which this year was held in Portugal... Our team consisted of three members of the Ukrainian trail running team - Dmytro Dzhemil, Serhii Sapiga, and Andrii Tkachuk; a super positive and tireless driver, and by calling an alpinist and speleologist, Pukh Ihor; and me, who always signs up for crazy ideas... Also, traveling with us was my little ukulele, whose chords always adorned our overnight stays... In 20 days, we traveled 9,500 km, participated in the World Trail Running Championship, visited about a dozen natural reserves in different European countries, strolled through the streets of Porto, Braga, Lisbon, Valencia, and Barcelona, rested on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, communicated with local "couchsurfers" from Austria, Switzerland, France, Spain, Portugal; visited and saw how our friends-emigrants live in Lisbon, Valencia, and Barcelona... The entire journey was quite spontaneous and each day brought new impressions, with the most interesting being the contrast we felt as we passed through not only climatic but also societal zones...
  On the first day of the trip, after crossing the border and running through the Tatra National Park in Slovakia, we stopped for the night in the town of Sankt Pölten, near Vienna. Thanks to couchsurfing, we were hosted by the assistant bishop of the Evangelical Church - Lars, who during our conversation never once mentioned religion... Lars turned out to be a fan of playing the ukulele, and the most interesting thing was that he sang old German compositions to its accompaniment... We immediately found common ground with Lars, and while the guys were cooking Ukrainian soup, we entertained them with our songs... 

  The next day we headed towards Switzerland, stopping along the way for a three-hour run in the national park located in the very picturesque Austrian area of Hallstatt:

  Our second night was spent in the town of Köniz, near Bern. We were hosted by a very positive and open girl named Laura. She is a student studying to be a carpenter and plans to build wooden houses in the future... She rents a three-room apartment with three of her friends, but they were not there during our visit. We had a positive evening, playing the ukulele by the fireplace and tasting Ukrainian soup together...

 Our next overnight stay was in the French town of Libourne, near Bordeaux. Along the way, following the established routine, we stopped for a run in the national park in the Clermont area before arriving for the night... We were hosted by Pascal, who turned out to be very sociable, and in my opinion, a bit lonely... Although she was initially upset by our late arrival, it didn't last long... Our hyper-positive company instantly charged everyone with energy. Jokes followed jokes, so neither we nor our surroundings were bored...         

Pascal recommended our next running spot... "Dune du Pilat" - the largest sand dune in Europe. On one side is a pine forest, and on the other is the Bay of Biscay, where we didn't miss the chance to swim...

  After running through the dunes of France, we headed through the Pyrenees to Spain... Our fourth overnight stay was in Valladolid. This time we were hosted by a 50-year-old woman named Anna. She prepared a Spanish Tortilla - an omelet with potatoes and onions... We had dinner together and had a great conversation with her and her son... The next morning, we were already heading to Portugal. Our road went through the Geres park - the starting place for the competition, which was still a few days away... Thus, we appreciated the beauty of the World Trail Championship venue in advance... 

The next two nights we spent in tents on the Atlantic Ocean coast, near the town of Fao...   

   Sleeping on this coast was the coolest... It's cool to fall asleep and wake up to the sounds of waves... It's cool to dine and have breakfast with views of the endless expanse...

  

  The morning run along the coastline charged us with incredible energy...

   And how could we do without water procedures... It didn't matter that it wasn't the season, it didn't matter that the water was cool... 

 On the second day of our stay on the coast, we went for a run through the streets of Porto...

   Video of our city run...

  We spent the next two days in Braga. We were hosted by Paulo, who also loves running and periodically participates in marathons. Besides this, he showed us the city and told us interesting historical details... Braga was the main gathering point for the national trail running teams from all over the world. The opening and closing ceremonies of the competitions were held here...

  Our cool team..

   Selfie with positive guys and girls from the Argentine trail running team...

  The Argentine team treats us to their signature tea - mate... 

 The main gates of the city never had doors, meaning they were always open... So, in Portugal, if you forget to close the door, you can often hear - are you from Braga???

   An hour and a half before the start of the competition, we left Braga for the Geres National Park and arrived at 4:20 am. At 5:00, the participants started, their distance was 85 km... My route was only 65 km, I shortened the first segment of the distance... 

  At the start of the competition, with the flag of the company that provided Dmytro and me with very comfortable trail shoes...

  Photos taken by professional photographers on the course... Our guys are at their best...

 I was also taken for an official participant, only they were a bit surprised when they saw I didn't have a number...

    I just enjoyed the views along the route... I wasn't burdened by the responsibility for the result... I just ran for my own pleasure, having fun and getting a charge of positive emotions from the support of the fans... 

   Video from the trail...

  After the competition, we headed for an overnight stay on the ocean shore. The next morning we had great weather and big ocean waves that knocked us down with their power...

  In the evening of the same day, we were already approaching Lisbon for an overnight stay, where Serhii's friend - Oksana, was waiting for us. It was interesting to hear how our emigrants live abroad, and at the very edge of Europe... We sang Ukrainian songs with the guitar and had a very heartfelt evening... The next day, we decided to spend a few hours in the city and run through its main streets...

   After visiting the capital of Portugal, we headed to the very southwestern tip of Europe - Cape Saint Vincent. The cape houses the most powerful lighthouse in Europe, as we witnessed in the evening as we approached it... We set up camp for the night near the lighthouse... 

  Thus, we reached the very edge of the European continent...

  Further, we could only travel by water... We turned our five-seat ship towards "home," but the journey did not end there, it only reached its equator...

   That day, the road lay along the southern coast of Portugal. We stopped to swim at every ocean beach we considered worth visiting, fully experiencing all the advantages of traveling by car... 

  Beaches between the Portuguese towns of Lagos and Faro    

 We were leaving the territory of Portugal... We were awaited by deserts, canyons, rocky mountains, and colorful cities of Spain... Picturesque roads of the Mediterranean south of France and northern Italy... And finally, the Alpine landscapes of the Dolomites...   

Road to the Ocean. Part 2