Cycle Touring Portugal Part 3

November/December 2019 – join me on the journey from Fatima to Lisbon

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[Music] this film has been a long time in the making it’s almost two years since i was in portugal and who would have thought we would be where we are now so come take a trip with me back in time to another dimension to portugal late november 2019 [Music] since i left santiago de compostela in spain a few weeks before i had hardly seen the sunshine and when i left fatima that morning the cold rain did not relents straight out of fatima i was into more muddy trails and rolling hills at times i had an amazing view of a valley to the south and i could see the rain coming in sheets from the west giving me time to find a tree to shelter until the downpour passed me by my wheels were slowly rolling southwards towards my destination the continent of africa and ultimately south africa home a little bit of sunshine no rain but leaving fatima i headed west to the coast there was a famous town i wanted to visit famous for its huge waves in the vast eucalyptus forest the wet sand trails were unmarked by tire tread boots it was eerily quiet in there nothing but the sound of wet sand on my wheels and dripping water [Music] nice very quiet camp last night i got caught in an icy downpour just outside of nazareth and as i reached the sanctuary up on the hilltop overlooking the town the sun came out i came across an empty washing line and hung up all my gear shoes included at this point i was bursting for a pee and there was nowhere to go i asked some of the locals if i could use their loo but i wasn’t having any luck word got out somehow that the stranger walking around without shoes needed a pee and an elderly couple offered for me to use their loot they took me upstairs to a small flat and pushed a towel into my hand and insisted i take a shower after weekly protesting i did as i was told freshly scrubbed i was then seated at the little table served lunch with dessert and handed a pair of shoes after lunch i visited the beach and i left town heading south [Music] perfect [Music] waking up and seeing the sun again after so long made my day i was short right away from the coast and after passing a little lagoon town looking totally beautiful in the sun i continued on the tar road heading south and to my right i had the deep blue atlantic ocean keeping me company the road followed the contours of the coast and it was up down up and down most of the day the coastal regions are typically more developed and this was no exception however the roads were very quiet and the riding was [Music] good [Music] winter cycling is a completely different animal to summer cycling the days are shorter the weather is colder harsher the continual dampness of everything is very challenging to deal with there’s also a lot less daylight and i was only doing about 50 kilometers per day on average i was spending a lot more time in my tent but there are other aspects which i enjoy it’s a lot quieter people tend to stay at home in the bad weather i was also seeing a different side of the natural world the colors the vegetation the fruit the feeling the cold something i’ve never experienced before and at the end of the day once the tent is up and once i’ve washed the salt from my skin with cold water and the freezing cold air shivering and then when i’m dry and i’ve got my dinner on the stove and i’m feeling nice and toasty and clean in my winter jacket my breath is smoking in the night it is simply unbeatable hmm the previous night’s camp on the beach might have been the perfect setting but it was the coldest night i had and it was a bit too cold for me so the next day i decided to go back a few kilometers inland to camp a bit higher as it was a few degrees warmer and a bit drier at night [Music] i had also found what looked to be a nice route through the backcountry and the following morning i found out it was an old roman road paved in stone and it was impossible to ride up [Music] i was meeting a friend in lisbon in a couple of days so i rejoined the coast and the paved road being this close to lisbon meant that most of it was a long dedicated cycle lanes and i flew through sintra flew around the bend spent the night on a patch of grass in one of the many suburban coastal towns around lisbon the following morning i did some laundry and had breakfast in a cafe i only had another 25 kilometers to ride along the coastline and into the targus estuary where lisbon is situated leaving me with a nice easy ride the weather was perfect and it was a dedicated cycling all the way into lisbon i met up with orb in the late afternoon and we spent the weekend in lisbon being tourists three days wasn’t nearly enough to see everything but in the time we had we made the most of it [Music] [Music] before we knew it the weekend was over orb needed to get back home and i had a few kilometers ahead of me yet you