Saturday 25th June Braga – Skydiving Distance 20.36 km Max Speed 75.4 kmph Average Speed 13 kmph Total Distance 4393. 60 km Today we cycle from Braga to the aerodrome and whilst cycling up a cobbled Street get a puncture en route, in the back tyre. Daz soon has it fixed and we’re off again. We enter a stretch of national road and it swoops smoothly down hill, reaching our top speed so far – 75.4…
Saturday 18th June Lisbon to Santarem Distance 108.16 km Max Speed 47.1 kmph Average Speed 15.4 kmph Total Distance 4079.33 km Our intention from Lisbon is to follow the Camino Portugués to Santiago, approximately 614 km. We’re going to use ‘A Practical & Mystical Manual for the Modern Day Pilgrim’ by John Brierley. It’s the guidebook we were given by John Gallegos in Faro. Since this is a pilgrimage designed for walkers we will mention the…
Wednesday 15th June Our first full day in Lisbon and today we plan to visit a bike shop that is listed as an Azub dealer (a Czech recumbent bike specialist) to check out their bikes and seats. So off we cycle. A truly shit decision. We soon realise that it’s very hilly and the roads are horrendous but we persevere and en route visit the Eduardo VII Park, Lisbon’s largest central park. The park is named after Britain’s Edward…
Saturday 4th June We have a lovely lie-in this morning and then a lovely relaxed breakfast before we head to the nearest town, São Teotonio, by bike. We stop at the nearest local bar for a beer before finishing our journey. In town we find the central square and pick a cafe. No Internet. We check the bar opposite; they have WiFi so we move but the signal keeps dropping out. Damn! We came to town so we could…
Thursday 19th May A quiet day today. We’re just waiting for Des and Chris to return. They return around 7 pm and it’s hectic whilst we catch up on our news. Then they discover the blackbird that’s nested in their hot water heater flue. We’d heard the ruckus from the chicks but left the nest undisturbed but of course Chris and Des will want hot water so a nest in the flue is going to prove problematic. They are…
Tuesday 3rd May We’re up early because we need to take the dogs out for a decent walk but still be in Alcalá for our 10am appointment with the estate agent. Our agent, Alejandro, is from Inland Andalucia and he has 6 properties lined up. It’s an unusual visit in that on some occasions he has no idea where the property is and has to ask the locals and after a couple of visits he’s using Daz and MapsMe…
Sunday 17th April After our late night and long drive from Olhão we’re pretty tired so we have a lovely lie in and finally manage to drag ourselves out of bed. This is only our second housesitting job since we started our ‘biking phase’. And actually I think it’ll be a nice, restful phase. We don’t need to cycle each day, nor do 5 hours labour, nor sightsee. In fact our responsibilities are fairly straightforward, we have Vinny and…
Wednesday 30th March Cochichos Farm After a good night’s sleep we get up and go to see about breakfast and meet Marc and Paula our hosts for the next few weeks. We sit in their kitchen and over coffee and toast Marc gives us a history of the place and how they came to be here. Then Peter arrives and joins us for breakfast too and we learn he is another workawayer from Belgium. There is also another couple…
Thursday 24th March Last night we cycled into the nearest village Bollulos de la Mitacion. It’s not far, only 7km, but most of that is rutted dirt track. In the village we did some shopping and had dinner. Cycling back in the dark along the dirt track was challenging. We don’t cycle much in the dark, let alone on rutted dirt tracks. But we got back safely to our campsite – no one else around for miles. This morning…