Winter has officially arrived here in Vancouver, Canada and I am finally ready to embrace it.
I just got back from two weeks on the beautiful Azores Islands which are located in the middle
of the Atlantic Ocean, some 1,400 km from mainland Portugal and over 1,900 km off the
coast of Canada.
It's considered the Hawaii of the Atlantic and, like Hawaii, the weather can be a little
unpredictable especially during the winter months.
Unfortunately, it was a little more rainy and windy even than usual.
But I still had a really great time.
I'm planning on making a documentary on my entire adventure but that won't be ready for
a couple of months, so in this video I'll give you a little preview of both my experience
running the EPIC Azores trail race and of what I got up to on the rest of my trip as
I arrived on São Miguel Island, the largest of the islands on the archipelago, just two
days before the start of my race, the EPIC Azores 60k race.
I arrived early this morning, around 7am.
Got my car rental then checked-in to my hotel and had a quick nap.
I only had a couple of hours sleep last night on the plane.
I normally try to travel up to a week early to give myself more time to settle in and
adjust to the time change, but the Azores Islands are only a 7-hour difference and I
wanted to give myself more time to relax after the race while I explored a couple of the
other islands.
And they have a saying here on the Azores, that you can experience all four seasons in
a single day.
The weather was perfect when I arrived but that certainly wouldn’t last and the EPIC
Azores would certainly lived up to its name.
The morning of the race brought heavy rain and there was also heavy winds in the forecast
so the race actually had to be rerouted in a few spots at higher elevations where the
conditions would make it too dangerous.
We'd end up getting hail and heavy winds with gusts over 75 km/hr.
The temperature dropped and the already challenging course turned completely to mud.
The rest of my race wouldn’t go exactly as planned, but I won’t spoil it for those
of you who didn’t read my Strava report.
The film will show it in all its rugged, messy, and amazingly fun glory and, well ultimately
defeat.
A few days after the race, I got a chance to join a group of guys to see what I’d
missed while they pulled the remaining flagging from the course.
And it was stunning, to say the least.
I also joined the race director Luis for a run around an area called Sete Cidades which
was absolutely beautiful.
This wasn't part of the course, it was further west on the island, but it's a must-see location
for anyone visited Sao Miguel.
After a week on São Miguel, I took a 40 minute flight to nearby Terceira Island where I’d
spend the next few days with João and Angelo chasing waterfalls and enjoying some really
great local food.
Just like us back in Vancouver, when the weather is bad they head for the cover of the canopy
where the creeks come alive with the rainfall.
We did have one decent weather window where we hit the coastline to run along a coastal
trail and scramble around on the rocks.
I also got a chance to visit Joao's place for lunch and to learn more about his running
career.
He's been running for 42 years and his story is really incredible, you'll get a chance
to meet him and learn all about it in my documentary.
After a few days on Terceira, I'd planned to hop over to nearby Pico Island but unfortunately
my flight on the Sunday was cancelled due to strong sidewinds, and then further delayed
on Monday morning because of weather.
This is pretty normal for this time of year, so you've just gotta roll with it.
But the local airline is really great with this kind of thing and covered the cost of
an extra night's hotel, along with transportation and food, which honestly was worth more than
the flight itself.
But when I finally did arrive on Monday afternoon I only really had about 24 hours on Pico but
I still managed to get out for a run to explore the island a little bit with a local contact
I'd made named Carlos.
He also gave me a quick tour of some of the local sites, like the traditional walled vineyards
which are a Unesco World Heritage site, as well as a wine tasting at a local winery.
I then headed back to São Miguel where I'd have a few more days on the main island before
heading home.
I was able to squeeze in another run with Luis as we explored a whole bunch of waterfalls
in the drainages along the northern coastline.
His dog Sete came along with us for what was his first run since Luis rescued him just
over a month ago.
Sete was bred to help hunt rabbits but wasn’t exactly being raised in the best conditions.
He was from an area known as Sete Cidades which is how he got his name.
He did great on his first run and even managed to bring us a rabbit carcass which he seemed
very proud of.
One of my favourite parts of my trip was definitely the food.
I had some of the best seafood of my life there, including trying barnacles for the
first time which were delicious.
I especially loved the octopus stew which is a traditional dish, and I really like the
sweet bread that they make as well.
I visited the pineapple plantation, the tea plantation, I saw a ton of churches, lighthouses,
and of course the famous happy cows of the Azores Islands.
But there were a bunch of things I missed, like whale watching and other water-based
activities that aren't really possible in the winter.
Having said that, I typically prefer to travel in the off season because you just avoid the
crowds and things are typically a lot cheaper, and that was definitely true in the Azores.
The hotels were empty, you didn't really need reservations even in the most popular restaurants,
and everything was basically half price including the car rentals.
We not only had most of the trails to ourselves but even the parking lots at trailheads were
empty.
It was just a really nice way to explore at my own pace, because it can apparently get
really busy in the summer months, not to mention a lot more expensive.
You've just gotta have a more flexible schedule and keep your expectations a little lower
when it comes to the weather.
But coming from Vancouver, I'm pretty used to the rain and the showers typically wouldn't
last for too long.
And I met so many great people there I was really able to experience it from a local's
perspective and to visit some of the less popular and remote sites.
I'm definitely planning on going back, in fact I think it would be a great place to
hold a trail running camp with a group one day in the future, sort of part running tour
and part cultural experience.
The Azores Islands really do offer a unique mix of rugged nature and European charm, and
I really barely just scratched the surface.
There are 6 other major islands I didn't even see, and while I did a pretty good job of
exploring both Sao Miguel and Terceira Islands, I definitely need to go back to Pico one day
and I'd love to summit Mount Pico which is actually the highest mountain in Portugal.
That's something you need a good weather window for which makes a successful summit attempt
all the more special.
This film is going to be a lot of fun to put together so stayed tuned for that.
But first, I've now got to focus on editing my series from my race in the country of Georgia.
That's basically going to be my focus now for the next two months or so.
My running is going to finally take a backseat as I take some much needed recovery time and
switch gears to backcountry skiing.
And let me know in the comments if skiing adventures are something you'd like to see
some content from.
But until then, happy holidays, thank you so much for following along on my adventures
throughout 2022, and I will talk to you all in the New Year.