by Matt D’Arcy

Aljezur resident Rui Nuno set off this week to ride his motorcycle to South Africa and back in an epic journey spanning 30 countries and a

Rui Nuno

distance of more than 50,000 kilometres (30,000 miles).

“Africa Trip” is the name of Rui’s great adventure taking him from Aljezur at the heart of the Costa Vicentina which began with a civic send-off on Tuesday the 10th of March; the realisation of a long-held dream of this intrepid 48 year-old Portuguese man.

Rui decided to drop everything and travel the full length of Africa by motorbike in a journey lasting at least one year. He will ride his bike through some of the most difficult terrain on the African continent, travelling from north to south, then back to Aljezur.

He will also use the journey to promote Aljezur throughout Africa after the Municipality of Aljezur enthusiastically joined the “Africa Trip” project.

Rui Nuno started the round trip to South Africa from Aljezur Town Hall, flagged on his way by the Mayor, Joseph Amarelinho, and members of the Executive.

He took with him a memory stick packed with reproductions of images and texts from the recently published prestigious book “Aljezur, the heart of the Costa Vicentina”.

Rui, as an “Ambassador for Aljezur”, aims to promote and disseminate the beauty of the area in which he chose to live throughout the 30 countries he plans to visit on the African continent.

His adventurous trip has captured the imagination so much that he was able to enlist the invaluable support and sonsorship of several national and foreign companies.

Rui says he has spent his life travelling, including time spent in Africa. And after settling in Aljezur (“I wanted to be away from the cities and the villages, the countryside, the beaches of the wildest coast of Portugal were perfect for me,” he said), the wanderlust resurfaced and with it, the desire to return to the African continent.

Rui’s Bike

“I have to realise my dream of returning to the locations, smells, landscapes, sweet people, the colour of Africa that I had got to know and love,” he explained. “I have to know, live, experience, smell, feel, see, touch the best Africa can offer”.

He went on: “But how to do it? That was the question. The traditional way was to travel in a big well-equipped 4×4 vehicle. But I had to ask myself, was that what I wanted—did I really want to travel through Africa tucked inside a metal cage?

“I know I like engines, the noise, the smell and it became clear that I just had to do it by motorbike, exposed to the real Africa.

“I’ve never been a fan of the big bikes, the Superbikes and I did not want anything beyond what is essential and necessary to make the sensations more real.

“Nor did I want to spend a fortune because I prefer to use the money to be on the road as much as possible.

“The most obvious and economic choice was clear; a Yamaha XT600E. It took me a good month but eventually I found a XT600 with a single owner, a low number of  kilometers and selling at a good price.

“It was done…”

The project has taken several years to plan and prepare—but in the last six months it began to gather pace as the adventurous Rui devoted himself heart and soul to making the trip a reality.

Rui will travel alone, taking with him everything necessary to complete such a demanding trip independently and without assistance.

His bike has been skilfully packed with a huge amount of essentials such as camping equipment, tools, spare parts, pharmaceutical items, his laptop and accessories to charge the batteries and smart-phones en route.

“Everything has had to be meticulously planned and prepared in detail to ensure the viability of the trip,” he said.

Although he has a planned route, Rui Nuno admits that there must be some flexibility. “Africa is a huge and often unpredictable continent There

Rui Nuno

are lots of variables constantly changing—for example the difficulty of obtaining a visa for some countries, which means I have to be constantly adapting,” he explained.

Rui jokes that although he will be alone on his epic adventure, he “won’t be really alone” explaining that people interested in his project can follow his progress on the website

www.africaevolta.pt

which contains all the information and details and it will be regularly updated with reports, photos and videos.

The progress of the journey will also be shared on social networks Facebook, Google+ and Twitter.

Amovate is seeking more new members—and this is why…

Vale da Telha will see some changes in the coming months and years.

There will be a new Government policy set in motion for this part of the National Park which will have repercussions for all of us.

Since the previous Prime Minister José Sócrates and Environment Minister Francisco Nunes Correia visted Vale da Telha six years ago—and invited Amovate officials to meet them over a lunch with various dignitaries from the Camara and other public bodies—we have kept open a dialogue with the authorities to make sure we were fully informed and kept in the loop over these plans.

Also, we are currently fighting to have high-speed fibre optic broadband delivered to Vale da Telha after the Park Authorities refused to allow the relay towers to be installed, despite the Government’s pledge to have the service rolled out to every home.

This meant the company providing the service to the Algarve simply by-passed Vale da Telha at the bottom of the hill and continued down towards Lagos, leaving all of us up here on with what one MEO employee described this week as “the worst broadband service on the Algarve”.

We wrote to the President of Portugal and the Prime Minister of Portugal some months ago voicing our outrage that the Park authorities overruled the Prime Minister’s office, and had replies from both saying they would pursue the matter.

Now, within the last week they have followed up those letters by again writing to Amovate to say the Prime Minister and the President’s offices had passed on the letters to the appropriate departments and told them to investigate.

As you can see, Amovate is constantly active on your behalf and that of the community.

Five years ago we launched a campaign to have electricity supplier EDP improve the service to Vale da Telha residents in the face of constant power outages—and soon saw an investment here by the company that greatly improved the service. But we will continue to press for a further improvement to eradicate the problem.

Remember, too, that we restored the lakeside walk, making it possible to complete the full circuit by bridging that notorious gap along the path.

We supplied wheelchairs and other equipment to Portimao Hospital’s orthopaedic unit, a laptop for a rehabilitation centre that had helped two of our residents, a pain-relieving ripple bed for another charity and many other donations to various charitable causes.

Amovate played a key role with Dr David Quinton in launching the drive for two state-of-the-art defibrillators to be placed with the Bombeiros and in the Hotel Vale da Telha for the use of residents, with dozens of volunteers being trained in CPR at Amovate Old School House HQ.

And, of course, we made headline news here in Portugal and in the UK by working with UK Fire Service charities to have €50,000 worth of fire fighting and rescue equipment shipped out to Aljezur Bombeiros at no cost to them.

Our “Amovate in the community” programme was launched to place various functions with local restaurants and bars to support them through the recession, and has been warmly received and backed by the community.

The Old School House is a hive of activity through the week with various classes and our tennis section is going from strength-to-strength, becoming self-sufficient to the point where a fair sum of money has been spent refurbishing the courts, the nets and the net posts.

As you may be aware Amovate have been making significant strides in the local area, from forging stronger links with the Camara to strengthening our relationships with local businesses and businessmen, some of whom joined the Committee.This has been due to them all realising that we need to keep our membership growing so we have an even louder voice in the community, which makes it more possible for us to get things done.

It is in the interests of us all to increase the levels of our membership numbers and retain that strength-through-numbers ethos that has raised our profile in the area.

To that effect we would like to ask all members and former members to please renew their €15 annual subscriptions and help us to continue making a difference to our Community.

And if you have never been a member, then please think about joining us and playing your part in making Vale da Telha and the surrounding areas an even better place to live.

You can do this by:

………clicking on the Membership form below, to download your form.  Alternatively, if you are unable to print the form, you can collect one from the Amovate office.  This can be handed in to the Amovate office with your €15.00 and your Membership Card will be ready for collection in a couple of days.

Alternatively, if you are an existing Member wishing to renew, simply drop in your old card and your €15.00 at the office, and your new Membership Card will be processed in a few days.

Thank you for your support.

MEMBERSHIP FORM