Portugal wins the competition for worst car drivers.  Not that they were specifically bad against cyclists, they have no regard for any other road user.  They double park sometimes on both sides of the street.  When we were in Porto, Ralf counted 10 cars and 9 of them had dents or scratches on some part of the vehicle.

There is no infrastructure for cyclists, possibly because there are few cyclists.  Not that we need special bike lanes as we are used to cycling in traffic, but in Portugal, you need protection from the car drivers. The only time we saw other cyclists were on the week-ends and then we saw a lot of them, often in big groups because there is safety in numbers.

One of the things that surprised us with regard to Portugal was the lack of accommodation for people in wheelchairs.  There are no sloped areas at pedestrian crossing areas, just a big curb.  On trains, there are two big steps to negotiate, which is hard enough for two active people with touring bikes, but anyone with a disability or even older people struggle to get on the trains.

We noticed a huge divide between the rich and the poor in Portugal, in many cases living right next to each other.  A large house next to a tumbled down house.  We conclude that the houses were just left to disintegrate.  A new house would be built next to the tumbled down house, instead of demolishing the old house it was just left to fall down.  Leaving a mix of prosperous looking houses and ruins in most of the villages and towns.

There didn’t appear to be a lot of pride in their villages or towns, garbage was strewn all over the place even in mountain villages.

Portuguese people tend to be on the chubby side, a lot of unhealthy people.  Their diet is based on salt cod, pork and potatoes and vegetables and of course coffee and pastries.  At any time during the day we could see people sitting at cafés drinking little cups of coffee, eating pastries.  The food in cafés was cheap, but the food in general was expensive.

Portugal is said to be a nation of pessimists, and we definitely noticed their dour nature.  Of course, at the moment they have a lot to worry about. Banks closing, we are not sure what happens to people’s savings when that happens. Factories closing and lots of people unemployed.  The unemployment rate in Portugal is higher than in Spain.  The weather hasn’t helped either, there was flooding in Lisbon and Porto on Monday night due to the heavy rain and thunderstorms.  September 2014 has been the wettest September on record in Portugal since 1968!

The surprising thing was the little help we received in Portugal.  We would often be looking at the map and no one offered help, whether we were in a small village or a major town.

However, the scenery in Portugal is stunning, in the mountains we cycled through we often wondered how people survived.  Their houses seemed to hang on the side of the mountain.

Ralf said he wouldn’t be coming back to Portugal, I tend to agree with him. I left my Portuguese/English Phrasebook at the Tourist Information Office in Alacantra!

Thursday September 25, 2014

Yeah we are back in Spain, people are friendly and most of the car drivers give us a whole lane when they overtake.

We left Castelo Branco at 9:15 under sunny skies, a little cool, but we soon took the jackets of and didn\’t need to get them out again.  It was a great days cycling.  Really good quiet roads, rolling hills, ribbon roads and lovely scenery.

We cycled through the Tejo National Park area.  Our final view of Portugal was of a lovely village with Peregrine Falcons and Gryphon Vultures soaring in the skies above us.

I was very happy when we crossed this beautiful bridge into Spain.

It was a long ride today, but I was determined to get to Spain.  After we crossed the border, we weren\’t sure how much further we had to go to get to the first Town in Spain.  We decided to push it to Alacantra – 18 kms.

As we came down the hill towards Alacantra, we spotted the signs for the campsite – we decided to go to the campsite and then explore the town of Alacantra tomorrow.

A 2.5 km climb up to the campsite and the dam place was closed and had been closed for a while.  We checked to see if there was any water available as we were going to wild camp.  We both only had a bottle left, which would give us enough water to cook dinner and coffee in the morning, but nothing else. There was no way we could get down to the lake/river to wild camp.

We decided to cycle in to the Town of Alacantra and see if there was any cheap accommodation.

This bridge was originally built in 101-103.  Really it is that old.  Of course, it has had some major reconstruction work done on it in the 16th century after the Spanish destroyed one of the arches to prevent the Portuguese from invading Spain and then again in more recent times about the 18th century.  Awesome history.

Here we are breaking the budget again staying at a hotel, but we hope to recoup as we carry on through Spain.  The proprietor of the hotel told us about a mountain bike race that is coming through the Town on the week-end, we told him about our ride and he laughingly called us crazy.  It is so nice to be back in Spain where people greet you with a friendly hola and chat to you even if you can barely understand what they are saying.

Wednesday September 24, 2014

An interesting day today.  We were a little slow to get moving but managed to get to the train station with 10 minutes to spare for the train that was going to Entroncamento – the hub for trains to Lisbon.

I went in to the ticket office to ask if we could get a train to Spain – the answer NO.  Can I get a train to Spain from Lisbon? – NO.  Can I get a train to Castelo Branco? – (this is the closest town to the Portuguese border) \”YES,  get on the train now to Entroncamento, pay on the train\”.  We rushed to get our bikes on the train that was leaving in 2 minutes.  We were told that it is difficult to get bikes on Portuguese trains.  Bikes are allowed on regional trains and there is a special area for the bikes. I think what they meant is that it is difficult to lift your loaded touring bikes onto trains in Portugal.

When we arrived in Entroncamento, we discovered that we had a five hour wait for the next regional train to Castelo Branco and we would be arriving in Castelo Branco at 8:00 pm.

As we came into the station at Entroncamento, Ralf spotted what looked like a train museum.  Ralf went to investigate the train museum.  It was being worked on and should open to the public in December.  Ralf had a wander around anyway as the gate was open.

I had noticed a tourist information office and went to see if they could find us accommodation in Castelo Branco  He gave me the name of a hostel, but couldn’t find the phone number, so we could not make a reservation.

When we arrived in Castelo I asked a taxi driver for directions – we followed them as best we could, but after a couple of turns I had to go into a bar and ask again.  The young people in the bar were really helpful and directed us to the coffee shop across the road. The owner of the coffee shop also owned a hostel, which was only 100 metres down the road.  We stayed in a lovely hostel, which was more like a B&B, except we could use the kitchen to cook our dinner.

Tomorrow we are leaving Portugal.

Tuesday September 23, 2013

We left Albergaria under sunny skies at about 9:15.  The forecast was for more rain, but the plan was to get to Coimbra by the most rural route we could find.  Ralf plugged Coimbra into the Garmin and road cycling and away we went.  The direct route along the N1/IC2 was approximately 60kms, the safe route was 74kms.   It was a lovely days cycling, through lots of small villages and towns, a little hilly but nothing major to worry about.  The car drivers, even in the small villages had little regard for us or other vehicles on the road.

We stopped at a small village for lunch where there were already four “pilgrims” walking the Portuguese Camino.  Two were from Kingston, Ontario and the other two from Perth Australia, a third couple walked by us as we were chatting – one was from Quebec and her partner was from Latvia.  We had a chat about their route and they all seemed to be enjoying Portugal, except for the traffic.  The lady from Kingston, said she had a near miss with a car yesterday.

The Portuguese really like their tiles.

Occasionally we come across diversion signs.  We will often ignore them and hope we can get across the road works.  Nine times out of ten this works out for us and the road workers, wave us through.  We had to take the diversion on this occasion!

We arrived in Coimbra at about 3:30 and noticed the train station.  I went in and asked about trains to Lisbon, there are trains leaving Coimbra tomorrow.  Ralf and I discussed whether we should take the train and decided to “get the hell out of Dodge”.

After we left the train station, we tried to find the pension that the Australian woman had told us about.  But couldn’t work out how to get up the steep cobble stoned streets to the main square.  We spotted a lady with a map and asked her where she got it.  This lady was from Quebec.  We chatted to her for a while about her vacation and our adventure.  She had also noticed the extreme poverty as they were travelling through Portugal.

We went to the YHA and spent a couple of extra Euros for a private room, then we got a discount for being “pilgrims”.  We made our own supper and for the first time in a long time we are on budget!

Tomorrow, we are either heading for Lisbon, Castelo Branco, (Portugal) or Bodejas (Spain)!!

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.

Saturday and Sunday September 20 and 21, 2014

We met at 8:30 in the breakfast room.  I don\’t like not sleeping in the same room as Ralf, but when it is half the price you do what you have to do. After breakfast we took the bus into downtown Porto.  As we walked to the Tourist Information office we struggled to keep on track, there are so many historic buildings.  Today was the Port wine tasting day not the touring the old city day.  I had read that the inside of the train station was stunning.  We got of the bus around the corner from the station and popped in for a quick look, we thought the tile work was amazing.

We went to the Tourist Info office to see if they had a self-guided walking tour of the city.  No, but we did get some good maps.  We headed over the Bridge to Vila Gaia.

This is where all the port houses are.  We had decided to do two tours and tastings.  We had to do Taylors – Ralf’s and my Dad’s favourite port and then we choose an older Portuguese Port lodge (Ferrereia).  After the tastings, we preferred the port from Taylors.  We discovered that the port grapes are still stomped on to extract the juice – really.

It was fun wandering around the streets and along the waterfront on both sides.  There were small market stalls along the harbor front.

As we walked towards the Ferreria Port Lodge we noticed a boat building area.

We caught the bus back without any problems and had a lovely dinner in the hostel.

Tomorrow we are heading to the old city and the historic side of Porto.

Sunday September 21, 2014

I got an email from John (my brother-in-law) Joy is obviously in a lot of pain, but the surgery went well.  She will be “celebrating” her 55^th birthday tomorrow without a tumour.  I wonder if the Doctor will give it to her as a birthday present ugh.

After another breakfast at the Hostel we headed back into downtown Porto.  It is quite a densely populated city with houses and apartments crammed into a small space.

The houses/apartments are very narrow, and along the waterfront there are archways to go through and explore.

Throughout the city we saw evidence of the poverty mixed with the wealth.

The Municipal Offices were stunning, but on the same Avenue there were buildings that were completely abandoned, including two banks.  Portugal has been very badly affected by the crisis.

It got rather warm during the day, so Ralf began to strip off!

We also found time to  stop and have a drink and watch people.

As we walked we noticed the poverty, with people rolling up their bedding from doorways.

Before leaving downtown Porto we stopped in a shop that were selling items made from cork.  They have a process that mixes the cork with fibres and can make bags, shoes and even umbrellas from the cork, it looked really nice.  The lady in the store told us that the cork trees are first cut when they are 42 years old and can then be cut again about ten years later.  She had this lovely cork bark in her store.

We caught the bus back, other people got free rides on the tram.

It is now very humid and there has been a thunderstorm rolling around the area for the last hour.  Tomorrow we are leaving Porto and heading south.  I hope it doesn\’t rain.

Friday September 19, 2014

When we got up this morning it was raining but with my Mum’s old maxim of rain before 7 cleared by 11, it had stopped raining by the time we were ready to leave.

We knew it was going to be a long day today, the distance and the hills.  We left Amarante and began to climb almost immediately.  The hill was never-ending, we would come around a corner and it would kick up again and again and again.  I ended up swearing at the hill, it didn’t stop the hill going forever upward, but it made me feel better for about two seconds.

We missed the turn for the N211-1 and took the long way to Port.  I don’t think it added to the hills, but it did add a few more kilometres.

The forecast was for rain at noon, we stopped for something to eat at a really nice café around 12:00 and it started to rain while we were in the café the heavens really opened at 1:00 and we got soaked.  However, it cleared up and we were dry by the time we cycled into Porto.

We encountered the worst Portuguese drivers today.  Twice we were cut of, one driver  made a right turn right in front of Ralf and at one point as I was in the roundabout a driver looked straight at me and pulled out in front of me, I said some very bad words.

Ralf plugged in the address to the hostel in the Garmin about 10 kms outside of Porto and it did a really good job.  We had to negotiate the cobbles of Porto, but they are everywhere in Porto.

The YHA is a little out of the core of the downtown of Porto (about 5kms).  They have separate floors for men and women.  Ralf is on one floor and I am on another (:  It is a busy hostel.  I am sharing my room with an older American and two younger Germans. Ralf is sharing with a German and an Austrian.

Thursday September 18, 2014

The shortest cycling day on our trip so far.

We started out with no rain but the proprietor of our Residencial told me it was going to rain (chuva) and a lot.  The clouds were moving fast and we knew we were going to get wet and cold again.

The route was quite nice, we are amazed at the small villages that seem to be hanging on to the side of the hills.  This is still the Doura wine growing region and we are in the District of Porto.

It began to rain as we arrived in Amarante.  Amarante is a Town that is split in two by the River Tamega.  The old part is where we were going to spend the night.

We headed for the Albergue I had found on line – it was no longer in business.

We then headed back across the river to the new area of Town to find the Tourist Information Centre and as usual it was well hidden.  We found it, and we discovered some cheap hotels in the area.  It was 11:00 and we discussed whether we should push on towards Porto or stay here and plan the route etc.  Once again we are booked into a hotel, it is still raining and our clothes are hanging around the hotel room.

I dried the bikes and cleaned and oiled the chains, the gears could do with a clean, but that will have to wait.

We have slow internet, in the room.  We managed to book into the International Youth Hostel (HI) in Porto – E18.00 per night in a 4 bed dorm room.  We have been pretty fortunate in other HI, the people on the reception have put us in the same dorm and we haven’t had to share with other people, we have paid for a dorm room.  Maybe we will be lucky again, if not we will be in separate dorms for 3 nights. At least we will have a kitchen and be able to cook some good food, free wi-fi and somewhere safe to leave the bikes.

We came down into the cafe this afternoon and found the internet a little quicker, blog is up to date.

Tomorrow\’s ride will be 70 kms, a long hilly ride.  The hostel is booked and we need to get to  Porto regardless of what the weather throws at us. The forecast is for rain early and then clearing, thunderstorms in the afternoon.  We will have to get started early and try and beat the weather.

Wednesday September 17, 2014

Before going to bed last night we had agreed that if it is raining when we get up we will stay an extra night.  The forecast is for rain and thunderstorms for the rest of the week.  At some stage this week we are going to get wet.

It was drizzling when we got up but the sun kept coming out.  The rain wasn’t heavy so we made the decision to push on towards Porto.  If it is going to rain all week, we might as well cycle in showers and not heavy rain.

We found the N15 easily and started to climb and climb and climb up to an elevation of 1,024 metres up into the hills and into the rain.

We put our yellow jackets on as it was quite humid and we figured we would get wet from the inside out, rather than from the outside in, if we wore our heavier rain jackets.  By the time we had summitted the mountain range it was raining heavily and the temperature had dropped by 6 degrees.  Coming down the other side we were cold and very wet.  At about 20 kms we spotted a hotel, we pulled in and noticed the Michelin Guide stickers on the door – this could be expensive.  The guy behind the reception desk peered at us as we came in and I asked him how much for one night E85.00.  Both of us were really cold so Ralf said yes lets check in.  We began to push our bikes through the door, and the guy said no bikes.  I asked him where we could put them, he indicated outside.  I thanked him for his hospitality and we carried on in the cold wet rain. We put on our heavier rain jackets.  It was absolutely throwing it down and we were getting colder as we were coming down the other side of the Serra du Marao.

We came through two small villages with no café and then stopped in Candemil where there was a small restaurant with a Residencial sign on it.  This indicates that they have rooms.  It also had a For Sale sign on the building, we were keeping our frozen fingers crossed that it would have a room.  We were fortunate, the elderly proprietor came out and showed me the room – it was very basic and could do with a clean, but we were so cold we needed to warm up.  As we were unpacking the bikes and bringing our gear to the room, the sun came out and it began to warm up.  I was tempted to change my mind and carry on, but we had secured the bikes in the garage and some of the bags were in the room.  We both had hot showers and put clean warm clothes on. Then we heard the thunder reverberating around the valley and more rain.  It was a good decision to stop when we did.

We went down to the small restaurant and met the proprietor again, we ordered soup – and it was a lovely thick vegetable soup with good buns and butter.  We really needed something thick and hearty and it definitely fit the bill.  We are going to eat dinner in the restaurant as well.  We have already decided on a typical Portuguese dish – bacalhau, salt cod.  Hope we like it.

We have our wet cycling clothes hanging in the bathroom.  I don’t think they will be dry by the morning as it is cool and damp in this quiet hillside village.

Like so many towns and villages in Portugal and Spain the motorway has cut-off these villages.  No cars come through this way on a regular basis, the hotels, restaurants etc have no business and are closing down.  This was the view from our bedroom window.

They are currently building a second motorway, through the mountain.  The bridges are in place and we passed an area where the tunneling is in progress.

The scenery today was absolutely stunning, if it hadn’t been raining so hard, it would have been an awesome ride.

Our dinner consisted of more thick hearty soup, poached salt cod and potatoes, beans and carrots and half a litre of local wine.  It was a basic home cooked meal but tasted really good.  The portion seemed huge at first glance, but we polished of the whole lot.  Need energy for tomorrow.

The proprietor went through everything that was on the plate in Portuguese and I repeated each item, she then asked for the English translation and she repeated it – Portuguese and English lessons were free. The room, lunch, dinner, wine and breakfast cost E80.00.  A little over budget, but hopefully we can get a cheap room in Porto.  We are going to stay their 3 nights, as we want to experience the city and Ralf can enjoy some Port.

Tuesday September 16, 2014

I am not sure what is “worthy of note” about this city, because for what we can see it has two lovely churches, the large seminary where we stayed and a nice old square and that is about it. It is a university City and has a very large shopping mall. The first big shopping mall we have come across for quite a while. We had a lie-in until 8:00 and had a nice breakfast. We packed our bags and left the albergue at about 10:30.

We decided to stay in a hotel tonight, and choose the one that is on our route for tomorrow.

As we passed the post office an English couple spoke to us – noticing Ralf’s Canadian flag. We chatted to them for a while and then made our way to the hotel, which is about 2kms out of town and down a steep hill.

We had also decided to go to the big shopping mall, for some window shopping. After we had got settled in to the hotel, we caught the bus to the shopping mall. We spent about 3 hours just wandering around, looking at some nice stores. I bought a Portuguese/English phrase book and Ralf bought a new memory card for his camera.

We have decided not to get a new sim card for the phone, because wi-fi is available almost everywhere in Portugal. If by the time we get to Porto (about 2 days away) we decide we need it, we will get it there. The weather has turned against us, it is very humid and rainy, I had a migraine today, first one for a while. Hopefully the weather will be better tomorrow, although it is forecast for more rain and thunderstorms, more hills tomorrow, but after a days rest, it will be good.