Thursday, May 1, 2014

Day 4 - Praia de Mira to Pombal (88km, 610m)

Tuesday, May 6th, 2014



Route Map and Garmin Ride Statistics

The day started with similar weather to yesterday, although not as foggy. The start has been quite staggered with some people getting away by 8:30am and others (such as ourselves today) as late as 9:00am.


It was a much quieter day than the previous three, which also means not many towns and not many stop options. When we did stop, there was just a bar on a corner where we thought we'd be more conspicuous to the riders behind us. While there were better cafes in the town (allegedly) this one as fine, and we were glad to give them our custom.


While the start of the ride nearer the coast was relativelt flat, once we left the coast the road became more "lumpy". Portugal is very rural, and most houses look much the same. But every now and then some colour or "style" is injected into house architecture. This one is yello, but we've seen hot pink and purple as well.


While the day was 88km long, there wasn't much to stop for. Indeed, we didn't even stop for lunch because there were so few options, and the pace was relatively fast. When we arrived in our destination, Pombal, it was 1:20pm, still virtually lunch time.

So early, in fact, that our rooms weren't ready (view of the castle from mine, taken later), and we had a coke and sandwhich in the delightful square outside the hotel.


After settling in, we showered and changed, and in my case had a run-in with shower technology I'd never seen before coming to Portugal. My intention was to run a bath, but in adjusting the nozzles etc I managed to drench myself with the series of spray outlets that run the length of the "device". I wonder whether Bunnings or Masters sell anything like this?

 

At around 3:00pm we walked up to the castle which is only 15 minutes away.


There have been some major renovations and improvements in recent times which make both the castle and its precincts very impressive for the visitor.


We thought we would walk back to town for a beer, but found the new cafe was open, and the terrace the perfect place to have a couple.


On the walk back down there were some workers finishing off some quite interesting sculptures made from dead and half dead trees.


Back at square, with hotel in the foreground and view of the castle in the background, we retired to our rooms for a while, as well as researching possible restaurants for dinner.


We asked at reception, and our usual sources (ie. Tripadvisor) confirmed, that the Vintage was a nice place, and so close to the hotel. Sick of seafood (well, some of us anyway), we all decided to eat meat, and it was fantastic. We accompanied this with a white (chardonnay, apparently) and a red (naturally), and the restaurant provided the (free) cherry brandy aperitif.



And so to bed, dear reader! I'm stuffed...



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