Monday September 22, 2014

Happy Birthday Joy, Lynne and Melinda.

Today was one of those cycling days, that I am sure every touring cyclist has, and that is I want to go home.  I want to sign up for curling, wear thick winter woolies, eat Ralf’s homemade risotto and never have to deal with insane Portuguese drivers again.

Today was a horrendous day for me.  We knew we would be cycling in the rain, but we are not just fair weather cyclists and braved the elements.  It rained for most of the day.

It took us an hour and a half to negotiate the streets of Porto and finally get on to the N1/IC2.  At one point we stopped at a roundabout to check the map and were watched by two business men who were having a cigarette outside of their offices.  They didn’t offer any help or ask if we needed help, we have found that to be the norm in Portugal.  We are stared at as if we have grown a second head.

We knew the route we had chosen was going to be “major highway” but was expecting it to be more like the Spanish N Roads we had been on.  That wasn’t what it was like.  It was like a motorway only a two-lane motorway and when we went through Town’s or villages there was nowhere for us to go.  The curbs in Portugal are high and I was constantly afraid that I was going to catch my pedal on one and fall into traffic.

On one particular busy section, I was so scared I had a panic attack.  We got of at the next available Town and I tried to breath.  This is when our first Portuguese road angel arrived. A car had stopped and the lady (Marie) walked over to talk to us.  She had noticed Ralf’s Canadian flag and it turned out they lived in Quebec.  They had lived in Quebec for over 40 years but were originally from Portugal and had a house near the Town. She noticed that I was still breathing heavily and told us another route to take, which would keep us of the IC2.  She then walked us to the road where we would make the turn.  However, before she did that she took us into a coffee shop, bought us coffees and cakes and made sure I was o.k. before letting us lose on the road again.

Unfortunately, about 10 ks later we were back on the IC2 again.  This time a van decided to overtake a car and was coming straight at me.  I lost it completely and had to get of the bike.  It was awful. I really was petrified, and it took me about 10 minutes with Ralf talking to me and gently encouraging me that I eventually was able to push the bike on the sidewalk for a while and then get on it again.

The funny thing was, as I continued to catch my breath and regain my composure, I spotted a windmill in the construction yard across the street.  I had to call it and we had a laugh about it.

Ralf and garmin then routed us through some small villages and we eventually arrived at our destination safe and sound, but still a little shaky.

We stayed in a small pension and had a great meal.  The proprietor didn’t speak any English and I spoke to somebody on the phone who translated our order for dinner.  We thought we had ordered pork with potatoes, but it seemed to take forever.  When we asked how long it would be, he typed into the ipad that the pork loin was in the oven.  When it eventually arrived about an hour and a half after we had ordered, the food was absolutely delicious.  The pork was so tender, you could cut it with a butter knife.  We had wonderful vege soup to start with, two glasses of wine and the wonderful roast pork loin for E26, about $40.

We are now trying to plot a route out of Portugal, Lisbon has had rain for the last week and is experiencing flooding.  We have decided it was safer in Spain.