British citizen and cyclist enthusiast Paul Nixon, 62, aims to cycle around 2,000km from Northern England to Southern Portugal
Nine years ago, Paul Nixon was seriously injured in a cycling accident which, for many people, could have spelled the end of their desire to cycle. Fast forward to 2024, and we’re just over one month away from the start of Paul’s incredible challenge to cycle around 2,000km from his hometown of Tynemouth in the UK to his beloved second home of Carvoeiro in the Algarve.
His goal is to raise funds for Tyneside Outdoors, a charity which aims to “engage young people in informal education through out-of-doors activities”. Paul, as a trustee of the charity, decided to celebrate its 10th anniversary by embarking on this massive challenge as a way of raising awareness about their work and motivating youngsters from difficult backgrounds to be active outdoors. In fact, in an effort to get them directly involved in the challenge, children and young people supported by the charity are being encouraged to get on their bikes to match or surpass Paul’s mileage during his journey.
Paul is set to depart from Tynemouth in Northeastern England on August 26 and arrive on September 11 at Helder’s Bar in Rocha Brava, Carvoeiro. His plan is to cycle around 170km per day, with his UK route starting in Tynemouth and ending in Portsmouth, from where he will sail to Santander in Spain. He will then embark on a five-day ride across remote and mountainous stretches of the north of Spain, where he will begin being accompanied by a friend by car. Paul will then ‘catch’ the N2 national road in Chaves and head down towards Faro and then Lagoa, where he hopes to arrive on September 11 to celebrate his successfully journey with a “cold Sagres beer” at Helder’s Bar in Rocha Brava.
It’s an impressive challenge to say the least, especially for someone who could have lost their life in a cycling accident. But for Paul, that accident ended up acting as a wake-up call.
“I found that after my accident, I was a different person. My attitude changed and I realised that life is precious,” Paul told the Resident. Mustering up the physical and mental energy to continue working as a quantity surveyor in construction became a challenge, and led Paul to retire on March 31, 2020, just as the Covid-19 pandemic went global. This ended up giving him more time to focus on cycling, a life-long passion which became a more serious hobby in the last 20 years.
Over the years, Paul has taken on big one- or two-day rides, from completing the so-called ‘Coast to Coast’ ride in the UK to cycling through mountainous sections of France. But never before has he ridden 17 days in a row for around 170kms a day. It’s a daunting prospect, but it’s one that the 62-year-old has been training for throughout the last months.
Ending the challenge in the Algarve was a logical decision for Paul, as he and his wife bought a holiday home in the Carvoeiro area around six years ago. The Algarve is also something of a “cycling secret” in Paul’s opinion, as he says he was “blown away” when he found out what the region had to offer to cyclists. “I had no idea how good the cycling was. When you get up north of Silves, it’s truly beautiful. Roads are quiet, with little traffic, and the landscape is stunning. I think it’s a bit of a secret. In the UK, when you think of cycling abroad, the places that come to mind are usually France, Italy, Mallorca (Spain)… the south of Portugal isn’t usually at the top of the list. But it probably should be!” Paul says.
Anyone interested in donating to the fundraising campaign can do so using the following link: https://fundraising.tynesideoutdoors.org.uk/fundraising/race-to-portugal. So far, over £1,400 has already been raised out of the £3,000 target. You can also learn more about Tyneside Outdoors by visiting the charity’s website. Updates about Paul’s journey will also be posted regularly on the charity’s social media pages.
michael.bruxo@portugalresident.com
