Mountainbiking in the Burnt Landscape of Portugal – ARSON
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQ5q9g_jTvc
Making the most of a bad situation, wildfires in the Algarve have become expected. With the hard work of some locals though, out of the destruction comes new life, and new trails.
In 2016 Portugal was in grip of one of the worst droughts in its recent history. With high winds and average temperatures above 30 degrees ( 86 Fahrenheit) the country, unfortunately, provides the perfect target for heavy wildfires.
Until August last year nearly 116,000 hectares (286,600 acres) of forest, an area the size of 100,000 soccer fields, got burned.
Also the Algarve region, that is a famous tourist destination and provides some of Europe’s best mountain bike trails, was hit by massive wildfires last year with almost 500 brave firefighters trying to secure the area.
What’s worse about theses fires though is the fact that most of them are set on purpose by arsonists.
Ride Portugal, a company that builds some of the most stunning trails around, was another victim of these wildfires in September 2016. While three big fires were burning the landscape to the ground around the trails the police caught an arsonist that was just setting the fourth one!
