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| Panoramic view of Porto |
2nd June 2016. We have
spent the last 2 days travelling across Spain via Burgos, Palencia
and Zamora. The scenery was outstanding with beautiful snow capped
mountains in the distance, a mixture of farm land and vineyards on
either side and the carriageways lined with yellow flowering bushes
as we headed towards the Portuguese border. We had spotted an
unusually large number of walkers, some solo and some in groups, as
well as many cyclists. A quick bit of googling and we learnt that
this was part of the route of Santiago de Compostela, one of the
pilgrimage routes to the shrine of the apostle St James the Great.
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| River Duoro |
As we approached
Portugal the road dropped down to the river Douro before snaking up
the other side and after a couple of hairpin bends (not Glynn's
favourite thing) we found ourselves at a lovely free parking area
right on the edge of Miranda du Duoro, overlooking the dam that
bordered Spain and Portugal. The views were outstanding as we looked
down at the dam far below and across to Spain on the opposite side of
the river. After a quick tea break we got the bikes out and set off
to explore as the parking area was bordered by what appeared to be a
very old wall and we were keen to see what it was hiding from our
view.
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| The main square of Miranda du Douro |
We found an arched entry point and soon discovered we were in
the old town of Miranda du Douro which is also a municipality with
its own language, Mirandese, which enjoys official status in
Portugal. The old town was really charming with its cobbled
streets lined with narrow houses, many still retaining their original
and well worn oak doors whilst a few had succumbed to progress and
had white UPVC doors that looked ill at ease on the quaint streets.
After a leisurely stroll (cobbled streets aren't really conducive to
cycling!) through the town square, past the church and the castle
ruins we cycled across to the newer part of town which was almost
like a separate town with its modern looking streets lined with well
kept looking shops, bars and restaurants.
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| Miranda du Douro dam |
After following the road
round towards the edge of the village we stopped to admire the
fantastic views down to the river before heading back to relax in the
sun and read.
3rd June. Glynn decided
we would head straight across Portugal towards Porto and then work
our way down the coast gradually over the next few weeks. For our
next stop we had picked out a lovely little campsite just outside
Porto that would enable easy cycling in to explore the city so we set
off after breakfast. Northern Portugal is very mountainous with
breathtaking scenery and we enjoyed what I would describe as a roller
coaster journey to the west coast. Glynn was somewhat frustrated by
my exclamations of "oh wow, you want to see the view down this
valley" rapidly followed by "you can't look, you're
driving!!"
Much to our surprise
the campsite was full when we arrived at Vila do Conde so we had to
do a quick rethink.
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| Stunning beach at Vila Praia de Âncora |
Based on a recommendation that we had been given
we decided to head north to Vila Praia de Âncora where there was a campsite for €11
(ACSI rates) a night. It turned out to be a great decision because an
hour later we were parked up on a great little campsite just a short
ride to a beach that wouldn't have looked out of place in the
Caribbean.
8th June. We have spent
a really enjoyable 5 days at Âncora which was in the midst of a
flower festival. The town looked so pretty with all the paper flowers
decorating the main street and the outside of the church.
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| Vila Praia de Âncora |
We cycled
over 100 Kms heading north as far as Caminha on the border with Spain
and then south to Viana do Castelo with a visit to several villages
in between. The ride to Viana do Castello was on our wedding
anniversary. It was a lovely hilly ride and was certainly one of our
more energetic celebrations for our wedding anniversary. We then
spent the evening sampling some traditional Portuguese food in a
family run restaurant where "mama does the cooking" as her
daughter informed us when she took our order. Mama came out of the
kitchen and did her best to try and persuade
Glynn to try her famous
fish dish, shoving two dead fish under his nose for his inspection
but Glynn politely declined explaining that he doesn't like bones (
he was also slightly put off by the glassy eyed stare the fish gave
him!) We had a lovely meal of pork loin in a creamy sauce, washed
down with a nice bottle of their locally produced red wine. A lovely
end to our wedding anniversary.
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| Avenida dos Aliados, Porto |
This morning we decided
it was time to move on and we drove to Porto. We parked up at a
lovely motorhome stop facing the town centre but on the other side of
the river and an easy cycle ride in to explore. As with much of
northern Portugal Porto itself is very hilly and it seemed like we
were either freewheeling down roads at great speed or doing a long
slow slog upwards with little in the way of flat roads in between.
Still it was certainly beneficial from a fitness point of view. Porto
was beautiful with some amazing buildings and we enjoyed the morning
exploring the centre and taking lots of photos. We returned to the
motorhome and had lunch before deciding to move further south.
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| Chilling on the waterfront at Bico |
After
consulting our motorhome stopover apps we headed to Bico, near Oveiro
which had a lovely free camping area for Motorhomes right on the
waters edge and adjacent to a small beach and picnic area. It was so
relaxing watching the sun set on the water and after a short stroll
we spent the evening playing crib which Glynn won 2-0!! So far on
this trip I am winning crib by 5-3 and he is winning brag by 7-3 so
we'll see how this progresses over the time we are away. As regular
readers will know we normally play Trivial Pursuit but we have
retired the game for this year having recently learnt how to play
Crib whilst in Goa so until the novelty wears off it is our current
game of choice.
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| The Moliceiros at Aveiro |
9th June. Today we
drove to Aveiro which is known as the Venice of Portugal because of
its situation on the edge of the large lagoon known as the Ria de
Aveiro and the canals that criss cross the centre. It was a
fascinating and colourful town, the banks of the canals lined with
grand buildings and former fisherman's houses and the centre hiding
some quaint and colourful streets with lovely little cafes spilling
out on to the pavements. Even more colourful were the beautifully
painted Moliceiros, the fishing boats that at first glance resemble
the Gondolas in Venice. They were traditionally used to harvest
seaweed but are now used mainly to transport tourists on a tour of
the city.
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| Aveiro |
We enjoyed a lovely morning exploring the city and then
decided to move further south as the Aire, although in a fantastic
location for exploring the area, was little more than a large car
park with the motorway passing overhead so we guessed it would not be
a quiet place to stay. We drove a short distance to Praia da Vagueira
and found a great place to stay with nothing but a sand dune between
the Aire and a stunning beach that again wouldn't look out of place
in the Caribbean. There was a great wooden walkway/cycle path along
the edge of the dune and before Herman's engine had cooled we were
already on our bikes and cycling to Costa Nova.
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| Praia de Vagueira |
Costa Nova is a
picture postcard town with its pretty coloured houses painted with
vertical or horizontal stripes. They were traditionally known as
haystacks and were painted in red to welcome the sea with colour and
energy. They were used by the fishermen to store their equipment but
gradually many were developed inside so that they became liveable in
order that families could spend the summer in them. Over time they
have been painted other colours and what you see now is a beautiful
town that cries out to be photographed. Costa Nova is sandwiched
between the Atlantic ocean on one side and Aveiro lagoon on the other
and we opted to cycle back along the canal path with its lovely new
walking/cycle path.
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| Costa Nova |
It appeared that some money had been spent quite
recently making the area appealing to walkers and cyclists alike and
I must say they had done a good job. It was nice to be able to ride
separated from the traffic as unfortunately Portuguese drivers aren't
always as courteous as they could be when it comes to keeping their
distance! By the time we got back we had done a nice easy 24kms on
flat cycle paths so for those of you that like to explore on your
bikes without feeling like you've done a qualifying round for the
Tour de France then this is definitely a place to visit.
10th June. We were just
debating whether to stay another day or move on when we received an
email from Nick and Karel, a lovely couple that we met in St Jean de
Luz in June 2014. It transpired that they were currently on a
campsite just 1 mile away!! What was the odds of that! We immediately
delayed our plans to move on and set off on our bikes to meet them
for coffee at a little café right on the beach at Praia de Vagueira.
As is often the way when you meet up with old friends the time flies
and coffee led to lunch in a fabulous fish restaurant. We then cycled
back to their campsite for wine and more catching up before we all
headed to the beach for a lovely long walk. We had a fantastic day
with them and were so pleased that they had taken that moment to
contact us as just one day later and we would already have been
further south.
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| Coimbra |
13th June. After a
brief visit to Coimbra and a night at Praia da Lavos on our journey
south both of which left us feeling uninspired we arrived at a lovely
little campsite at Outeiro yesterday. It was a very well thought out
site with as much of the layout as possible left natural with the
minimum of environment cleared to make spaces for camping
set amongst lots of trees, flowering bushes and bamboo. There were
ducks, geese and baby chicks wandering the grounds and 2 beautiful
white doves in a dovecote. We could hear the local church chiming its
bells every half hour to what sounded like the tune of Oh My Darling
Clementine which seemed quite novel at first but quickly lost its
appeal after midnight (just kidding as it wasn't really loud enough
to keep us awake). It had been a drizzly start to the day but soon
cleared so after lunch we decided to cycle to the coast which was
only 12kms away. We had travelled about 8kms and were cycling on a
lovely wide cycle path when we had to take a sharp right hand turn to
cross a roundabout. The next thing I knew I saw the ground coming up
to meet me at alarming speed. I instinctively put my hands out to
break my fall and can remember in that split second feeling surprised
that I was going too fast for my hands to stop me and realised I was
about to smash my face into concrete. I just managed to twist my face
at the last second and caught my chin on the path before banging my
head on the ground. I literally saw stars and lay on my back trying
to get my breath back. Poor Glynn was terrified as he'd been ahead of
me and heard me crash only to turn round and see me flat on the
floor. My hands had taken the brunt of the fall and thank god I had
been wearing cycling gloves as I probably would have shredded my
palms with the force I hit the ground. Once my head cleared I was
able to sit up and inspect the damage. Both my wrists felt like they
were badly sprained and I had minor cuts and grazes to my chin and
knees. I figured I'd got off quite lightly really. Poor Glynn was
more shook up than me bless him as he was so concerned that I was
hurt. As I stood up I almost fell again and we realised there was
something on the cycle path making it dangerously slippery but we
couldn't see it. Another couple cycled past and they stopped to say
that they too had fell foul of the slippery patch, borne out by the
man's grazes. We decided it was best to return to the campsite and it
was a slow and painful ride back for me as my wrists were in agony
trying to hold the handlebars. The owner of the campsite was great
and called the police immediately to report the location of the
accident so that the path could be cleaned.
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| Lisbon |
14th June. As is often
the way I woke up with far more bruises than I had accounted for the
day before. The palms of my hands were purple and my chin and knees
were scabbed but in addition I had bruised my upper arm and shoulder
too and was struggling to lift my arm. Cycling was definitely off the
agenda for the next few days so with a few rainy days forecast we
decided to skip further south to Lisbon and miss out Nazaré and
Paniche. We found an ideal site at Vila Franca de Xira which was just
a 40 minute train ride to Lisbon centre at a cost of €4.80 return
each. Bargain!
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| Praça do Comércio, Lisbon |
After settling in at the campsite we walked into town
and caught the train in to Lisbon and spent an enjoyable day
sightseeing. It was a pleasant city but didn't quite have the wow
factor that I found with Porto.
One place that had been
very highly recommended to us was Bacalhôa Bhudda Eden, the largest
oriental park in Europe. More than 6000 tons of marble and granite
have been used to create this incredible park which, as well as the
giant Bhuddas and over 700 hand painted terracotta soldiers contains
an African Sculpture Art Garden dedicated to the Shona people of
Zimbabwe. When we got back from our day out we were planning our
route for tomorrow only to discover we had almost passed it on our
route to Lisbon. How annoying!! I had searched Bacalhoa on Google not
realising there was another Bacalhoa near Setubal, just south of
Lisbon. Oh well it was only an hour north!!
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| Sculpture in the African garden |
15th June. We left at
8.30am for Bombarral and just an hour later we were at Bacalhôa
Bhudda Eden, although the journey wasn't without its hiccups when we
had to avoid a road closure which resulted in our sat nav trying to
get us to take a tight left hand turn through a small village that a
car would have struggled with let alone an 8 metre motorhome!! We
spent a brilliant morning at the park which only cost €3 each to
enter. All the sculptures were incredible but my favourite area by
far was the African Sculpture Art Garden. It was definitely worth
backtracking to the park and if you are ever near Bombarral I would
highly recommend a visit. The final bonus was when we walked through
their wine shop. I purchased a bottle of white and a bottle of red
for a total of €4.85 and very nice they were too!!
After we left the park
we headed back towards Vila Franca and then carried on to the dam at
Pego do Altar. It was a beautiful peaceful spot and we parked up
facing the water with a lovely view of the mountains on the other
side.
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| Golden Bhudda |
There was a little restaurant back on the main road but it was
closed when we walked up to it so we guessed it only opened in the
evenings. That evening I made a lovely fish curry accompanied by a nice red wine
and then we sat and played cards, enjoying the peaceful setting.
18th June. We have
spent the last 2 days at Porto Covo, a lovely whitewashed village
with blue trim on the houses. From the Aire there was a little avenue
of restaurants and tourist shops leading down to a low
cliff with a lovely sandy beach accessible via a stairway. I was
still struggling to ride with the pain in my wrists but we did manage
a 20km ride along the coast which was a gorgeous stretch of beautiful
sandy beaches, many of which were completely devoid of visitors. We
even passed a field with loads of ostriches which took me by
surprise.
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| A field full of Ostriches! |
With the cupboards
running low we set of for the supermarket to stock up on supplies
before heading to Sagres Fort. We were finally going to be hitting
the Algarve and I was really quite excited. The Aire at Sagres Fort
was part of a large car park in a cliff top location offering
panoramic views of the sea and the stunning coastline. The fort
itself is uninspiring so we decided against paying the entrance fee
and opted instead to take some photos of the beautiful views. It was
an extremely windy day, to the point that it was too dangerous to get
near the edge of the cliff for fear that a gust of wind would blow me
over.
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| The view from Sagres Fort |
Glynn was very relieved when he persuaded me to walk a safer
distance from the cliff top. As the wind was so high we decided
against spending the night on the exposed car park and after a quick
consultation of our map we decided to carry on the short distance to
Praia de Figeuiras.
20th June. We spent
yesterday morning on the beach which was just a short walk from the
Aire. I am running out of superlatives to describe just how beautiful
the beaches in Portugal are and this one was no exception. In
complete contrast to the day before there was no wind so we barely
managed a couple of hours on the beach before we had to head back in
search of shade.
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| Praia de Figueiras |
Today we decided to try
another ride as all my bruises had disappeared and I was hoping for a
relatively pain free ride. By the time we were ready to set off it
was already late morning and in hindsight this alone should have
stopped us going out as it was extremely hot without any wind. It was
a very hilly area and it was a tough ride, pulling on my sore wrists
when I was climbing the steep hills. I started to develop a bad
headache so we decided to cut the ride short and head back rather
than risk getting heatstroke. We were only 300 metres from the Aire
when a convoy of jeeps came towards us on the road. The first
jeep was driving too fast for the narrow road and forced Glynn on to
the gravel verge which sent him flying. I heard him crash and looked
back to see him lying in the middle of the road. He was really dazed
and had bashed his head hard on the road. Thank god he was wearing a
helmet because a large piece of gravel had caused a dent in the
polystyrene padding so that would have been really nasty if it had
been in direct contact with his head. He had a nasty cut on his
elbow, lesser cuts to his knees and where he had gone over the
handlebars he had scraped both his thighs. He had done the same as me
and landed full force on the palms of his hands causing severe
bruising. In both our cases we would have suffered much greater
damage to our hands were it not for the fact that we always wear
fingerless padded cycling gloves. The ones we had on were only the
cheap £3 pairs from Aldi but they had done the trick in protecting
us from cuts and the gloves weren't even damaged from the impact with the road.
The convoy had stopped although mainly because Glynn was laying in
the road. The offending jeep had the decency to reverse up to check
he was ok and hopefully the incident will make the driver think about
how vulnerable cyclists are when vehicles race past too close. Glynn
was unable to ride as he was in too much pain so we took a slow walk
back so that I could clean and dress his wounds. I couldn't believe
that both of us had crashed just a week apart, we are normally
counting how many punctures we get on a tour, let's hope we won't be
counting anymore bruises on this trip!!
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| Portimão |
22nd June. After a
relaxing couple of days while Glynn recovered from his accident we
decided to move on today. We had initially planned to stop at Lagos
but there was a circus parked next to the Aire so being concerned
about noise we carried on to Portimão. We found a great Aire just 5
minutes from the beach and at €3 a night it was a bargain. We
parked next to an English couple, Kath and John, not realising we had
met them before. When they came to say hello we recognised each other
as we are all members of Motorhome Fun and we had met at Peterborough
motorhome show 3 years ago. What a small world!
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| Coffe break at Alvor |
24th June. Referendum
day!! We have spent the last 2 days exploring the area on bike and on
foot. We are both still struggling with wrist pain so we only managed
a 16km ride but it was nice to get out as we have both had our
confidence knocked and I have noticed that I am taking corners and
roundabouts with a great deal more care than usual! The area is
lovely with its limestone cliffs and more gorgeous beaches. The
temperature is much higher on the south coast but most of the time
there is a lovely breeze coming in off the sea making it pleasant.
Today we decided to ride to Alvor with John. He has recently taking
up cycling so we invited him to join us as he had visited Alvor
several times. It was a lovely ride and although it was hilly it
wasn't too tough and we managed a respectable 29kms stopping at the
marina in Alvor for a coffee break. It was a welcome escape from all
the Brexit news and watching the value of the euro plummet!!
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| Jug of wine anyone?? |
There is a lovely
little bar and restaurant on site and in the evening we joined John
and Kath and 2 of their friends for a drink and a game of Phase 10. I
had never heard of the game but it was easy to pick up and great fun.
I will definitely be buying it when we get back to England so we can
take it to Goa with us. The glasses of red wine that the bar served
were absolutely enormous, there must have been half a bottle in each
glass. Needless to say I was more than a bit squiffy by the time we
left the bar and Glynn had to help me back to make sure I didn't fall
over as I was apparently rather unsteady. I tried to explain it was
the gravel surface making me unsteady but he was having none of it,
especially when I tried to enter the wrong motorhome!!
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| View from the lighthouse at Ferragudo |
29th June. The last 5
days have flown by too quickly. We had a couple of lazy days,
especially after the card night and the excess of red wine that I
consumed!! We have cycled to Ferragudo and along to the lighthouse
where we could look over to Portimao and yesterday we cycled to
Silves, a lovely hilly ride with stunning scenery. Although it was
very hot the breeze made it bearable and we cycled 37kms. Today we
decided to ride back to Silves again (gluttons for punishment) and
invited John to join us. After a great ride we spent the afternoon
relaxing. John and Kath then joined us for dinner as it was our last
night at Portimao.
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| Stalks nesting at Silves |
I cooked a ginger chicken curry and Kath did the
rice and we had a great evening together but with rather less wine
consumed than the last night we had spent together!!
30th June. The last day
of the month found us on the move again. After a fantastic stay at
Portimao we headed to Vale de Parra and a great little Aire which
also boasted a swimming pool and very smart games/tv room all for
only €8 a night including electricity. What could be better than
cycling, swimming and then watching the Tour de France every day. It
was in a perfect location for cycling to Albufeira and that was our
plan for tomorrow.
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| Galé near Vale de Parra |
In the meantime today we settled for a short ride
to the coast which was only 2 Kms away to check out the local
beaches. It was a beautiful coastline with long stretches of golden
beach and rocky outcrops forming secluded little bays. By the time we
had explored along the immediate coastline we had cycled 14kms. Time
for a nice glass of wine!! Oh damn, today is a no alcohol day, why on
earth did I instigate a 3 days a week no alcohol rule!! Oh well,
mine's a green tea then.
We have had a fantastic
month exploring Portugal, travelling across the beautiful and
mountainous northern region and then working our way down the west
coast before finally reaching the Algarve. We have seen some of the
most beautiful beaches I have ever seen outside of the Caribbean and
visited many beautiful towns and villages. My highlight was without
doubt the visit to Bacalhoa Bhudda Eden. The only downside was the 2
cycling accidents we had and we are both still struggling with wrist
pain which is limiting how far we can ride. We have only cycled 385
Kms this month with the travelling and the accidents so our total so
far this trip is a rather disappointing 450 Kms. Wrists permitting we
will step it up a bit in July. We will probably spend another 10 days
or so working our way towards Spain and then..... who knows??
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| Colourful Lisbon |
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| Ready for a parade in Caminha |
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| Costa Nova |
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| Porto |
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| Porto |
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| African sculpture at Bhudda Eden |
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| More amazing sculptures |
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| The Terracotta Army |
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| The Golden Bhuddas |
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| Our stopover at Pego do Altar |
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| The castle above Silves |
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| Pretty water display at Silves |
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Viano do Costelo
|
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| Bhudda Eden |
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| Another African carving |
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| A modern Sculpture at Bhudda Eden |
