Portugal (Réel)

First ride barely out of the plane. The brakes were poorly adjusted. I derailed, of course, on a climb. I arrived an hour late at the AirBnB... But the weather was really nice, and I met an Austrian couple who were heading to do the same trip, plus the Algarve.

Premier trajet du périple. Avec un arrêt pour la dégustation du vin de Porto dans les caves Fereirra. Le porto de 20ans... Super bon ! Une bonne partie sur des sortes de pontons le long des plages. Et puis les premières côtes...

The hell. The worst day of all. After Oliveira de Azemeis, I got lost in sandy paths with a crazy elevation. The region had burned and the maps were outdated. I had to push my bike for hours, to the point that my left hand still remembers... I ended up taking the horrible national road to make up f…

Not much to say about this road. Nothing particular to see. Nothing special happened to me.

Without a doubt the flattest road. And it was very good, since I had not yet fully recovered from the hell of Tuesday. A bit disappointed not to have seen much of the river I was following due to a huge embankment that probably protects the crops from floods. Quick stop in Montemor-o-velho which ha…

I should have checked the weather. After that, I became a big weather geek. I consulted it several times a day. At first, the weather was simply gray. Then there was a light drizzle. A light rain. A breeze. A heavy downpour. Wind. Torrential rain. Gusts. I stopped as soon as I found a campsite. Th…

These are cycling days that we love. Well, my tent is soaked and I have no way to dry it. Same goes for the towel. Unless... It's nice out, and I'm arriving in Nazaré around lunchtime. The little nap at the beach allows me to finish drying my towel. Perfect. A good steep hill awaits me, so the meal…

Bon Obidos, it's charming. But it's also packed with tourists. And mostly older ones. The streets are narrow, not pedestrian... A nightmare. Much more pleasant is the tour around the basin. The road to Peniche... The problem is that the eurovelo is not indicated anywhere. And sometimes it goes thro…

I leave Peniche almost with regret. The city is awful, but the atmosphere in the hostel was cool. There was a lot of chatting, it was lively. I planned to go to Santa Cruz, they seem to have a campsite. The road is a bit disappointing considering the description on the Eurovelo site. But the worst …

Although I slept in not-so-great place, this day was undoubtedly one of the most pleasant. A dry wind (finally!) allowed me to dry my tent, which had been wet for 4 or 5 days. The coast is finally full of cliffs and rocks. But it's windy. This time it's lateral, which is less bothersome. It did mak…

If we look at the elevation curve, one might think that it was in the morning, at the beginning of the ride, that I struggled the most. I struggled to get up this thing. Certainly. But no, the worst was arriving in Lisbon. Just before the Belém Tower (10 km from Praça do Comércio), in the span of a…