Final days of a week long, ~135km cycle around the Samoan island of Upolu, the slightly smaller but far more populated of the two main islands. Organised through Cycle Journeys / Outdoor Samoa, this was a great way to explore this beautiful Pacific country.

The following day was a Sunday, which Samoa is extremely quiet. Locals go to church in the morning, have an early and large umu family lunch, and then rest / sleep during the afternoon. I stayed at Brenda’s for much of the morning, before heading out on the bike. Lunch option were limited so I ended up at Saletoga Sands Resort, not the sort of place I particularly like.

Few churches of relatively unusual design by Samoa standards.

To Sua Trench is probably the best known tourism sight in Samoa, a collapsed lava cave connected to the sea. It is reached by a rather scary ladder, with the reward swimming around at the base.

Most photos don’t show the surroundings, beautifully maintained grounds sloping down toward the sea, with another huge hole and impressive coastal views.

My favourite spot though was down a set of steps to the coast where there is a wonderful (mostly) freshwater pool, close to waves crashing into the rocks. It seems that very few people venture beyond the trench itself. They’re missing out.

More sights from the road, cycling toward Lalomanu Beach.

This stretch of road along the south east coastline of Upolu was one of the most spectacular I rode on in Samoa. It was hard to capture but there were incredible lush green cliffs.

After a few more dog encounters, by far the worse thing about cycling in Samoa, I reached Lalomanu Beach, often rated as one of the top beaches in the world. I’m not sure I’d rate it as such but it was attractive, and I liked looking out toward the imposing Nu’utele island.

There was no coral but a few fish around the sea weed.

Taufua Beach Fales was more like a resort than the other fales I’d stayed in, way busier with closely packed fales.

I had a day off here so took a short walk out to Lalomanu CCCS Chapel to stretch my leg, walking past the colourful villas which are part of Taufua Beach Fales, and loving the thick roadside foliage.

The penultimate day had some of the best and most varied scenery of my entire trip cycling around both the main islands of Samoa. From Lalomanu Beach I headed along the easternmost coastline, a beautiful stretch.

Across water were two of Samoa’s unpopulated islands, Namu’a and Nu’utele.

Pu’e Assembly of God was a scenically located church by a lagoon.

There were more beautiful churches along the way.

And colourful roadside borders in villages.

Richardson Road offers quite different scenery as it climbs over 500m above sea level, with views of a lush green landscape.

There are a couple of sizeable hydrolakes.

From the high point at Le Mafa Pass there were epic views, including huge copra plantations stretching to the north coast.

Le Uaina Beach Resort was quiet and scenic.

It is next door to the lovely grounds of the Piula Theological College.

At the bottom of which is Piula Cave Pool, probably the closest decent freshwater pool to Apia.

There was a reasonable sunset to end the day.

The next day I went for an atmospheric pre-breakfast dawn, low tide snorkel by Le Uaina Beach Resort.

There wasn’t much new to see on the final stretch into Apia.

After two and half weeks on the bike it was great to come full circle and return to Apia, Samoa’s capital and only city.