Thursday, May 1, 2014

Day 1 - Valenca to Barcelos (80km, 1170m)

Saturday, May 3rd, 2014



Route Map and Garmin Ride Statistics

Having gone to bed without a bicycle, it was with some trepidation that I woke early and went to reception around 6:00am to get the "news", hopefully good. And it was! The non-English speaking night porter said "bicicleta?" and I said "sim!", and he gave me a thumbs up!

Apparently, the bike arrived by courier an 1:00am and they clearly (and fortunately) decided against waking me. The box was in near perfect condition and I took it back to my room to unpack and assemble the bike.



It had been very well packed, if I do say so myself! Thank you Prue for all the polystyrene, and Masters for the inexpensive roles of bubble wrap:


One hour later, and still well before the 7:30am breakfast, the bike was ready to go and the packing back in the box for transport by Bike Adventures van on the nine day ride to Faro where it will all get packed up again.


After breakfast, everyone assembled up in the walled city for a briefing and group photo. The main purpose of this particular location was to have Spain in the background and therefore "prove" that we had indeed ridden from the top to the bottom of Portugal.


The group assembled, the back row taking care not to take one too many steps backwards and fall into the "moat" ten meters below!


The first 20km or so was actually quite tough, certainly harder than any of the Pisa to Sicily ride. This was mainly due to a couple of short, but quite steep climbs on the back roads away from the coast and the motorway. One look at my heart rate will provide the proof - maximum for the day 177 (I should be dead with a rate like this).

What goes up must come down, and in some cases this meant a cobbled road descent. Here Derrick being extra careful like the rest of us.


Climbing (and descending) over, at least for the time being, it was coffee time, and we found a lovely little bar beside a clear and rapidly flowing river. Outside the cities, Portugal seems to have lots of small villages, but with not much happening. The state of the economy is evident everywhere, and with coffee and beer costing only 1 euro, it will be a long recovery.


Back on the road the search turns to lunch, and we decide to stop in Ponte de Lima. About 2km from there we crossed a river and saw a lovely medieval bridge near a town.


We changed plans (we thought) and headed there, and "off route" for lunch (oh, and a refreshing beer).


The restaurant owner was a character, and he knew it. But when he could name every Australian cricket captain, knew Coogee and Bondi better than us, and could talk about every Clive Loyd (West Indian cricket hero), we forgave him.


His fixed price lunch was fantastic, and probably provided even more calories than we needed to finish the ride. He admited that one thing the Portugese took from Brasil was its cuisine, and he was right (note the bean and pork dish).


Heading towards our destination, and on a long climb, we came across a Camino de Santiago pilgrim shell sign. You see these all along the Camino in Spain, but this being the (so called) Portugese Camino, I didn't expect to see it (Prue - Joe and Jude would have walked through here).


The destination for the night, Barcelos, was celebrating its annual festival, and that had its up-sides and its down sides. On the positive, there was an interesting religious procession between the old fort and the cathedral. Out front were the mounted police, followed by the local band.


Following them were the faux sinners, penitents, icons and angels. I reckon some of these costumes are probably recycled for Xmas and Easter processions.


On the negative side, there was a huge amusement park set up in the middle of town, and this sat right on top of our "route" to the hotel. It was also right outside the front door of the hotel, and it wen on the whole night! That is, the amusements and rides went to 2:00am, the firework display was at midnight, and the "doof doof" disco was at 200 decibels and went continuously until 6:00am. I suspect the only reason for this time was so that the revelers could get to early mass. That's what I love about Catholics.


But Barcelos has a nice river, and this bridge was part of our route out of town the next day. Unfortunately, all the outdoor bars near the river and the bridge were closed for the festival - huh?!


And if anyone need proof that the Catholics know how to combine religion with a good party, here's more of it - the cathedral was decorated with fairy (Xmas?) lights.


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