Esposende via Oporto to Lisboa

I left Esposende on another glorious sunny day. Riding past beaches where the waves pounded the shore line and eventually arrived at Oporto. I would have liked to stop here for a few days and explore the city. It looks very interesting with it's cobbled streets and interesting buildings, but the deadline for departure to England for the wedding was more important.

Again signs were in short supply and finding a route out over the only bridge allowed for my moped proved difficult but after following my nose and the suns position fell onto the bridge that would take me south.

The other side was equally difficult as the motorway is the priority for the route signs and it took me some while to find a route through the connurbations to the south of the river and arrive atEspinho.

It was a baking hot day and as I pulled up I realised I was leaking oil from a hole in the clutch cover due to the kick start bolt wearing a hole through the casing. It was the difficulty changing gears that aleted me to it and once more the plastic padding came to the rescue.

A couple of beers there and I was back on the road south following the coast an the rail line to Aveiro. There are two spits of land to the west of Aveirto which look unconnected so I had to start coming inland to pass through Aveiro, however after crossing the river there I found myself heading up a blind alley and finished up at the Northen most point of the southern spit of land with no way out except to return and pick the route up again south away from the beach.

My intended destination for a stop was Figueira de Foz, whiere I arrived at the end of the afternoon, but arriving there got bad feelings about the place. I stopped to quench my thirst and as per usual the bike wouldn't start again. I was parked on the pavement fixing it when an old guy about 80 in a uniform approached asking me for money for parking. He had a badge saying he was the port parking officer and yet we wen't in the port. He pursued me until I gave in and gave him 60 cents in change, which didn't satisfy him, even thouhg it went into his back pocket. He kept on harping about a Euro and chasing other motorists who were stopping to go to the restaurants near the bar. It wasn't just him as while I was fixing the bike I thought this guy had broken into a parked car and was trying to hotwire it. I watched him fiddling under the dashboard and then realised it was a taxi and it was his cab. All perfectly humorous and innocent events but I decided I wasn't happy and would prefer a smaller village for sleeping so headed off to Praia de Vierra.
Leaving Figueira de Foz I missed the bridge that I was permitted to travel over and finished up on the motorway. A car blasted his horn at me within 50 yards and I was ignoring him but he persisted and having got me to stop told me I had lost my trainers off the back of the bike.
I had them under the luggage netting to dry out after the rain in Galicia. I decided it wasn't worth riding back the wrong way on the hard shoulder and continued on the motorway, cross the river and exit the first junction.
I then managed to spend two hours riding around in the dark in a war zone in the sandhillish area  to the south.
I took the wrong turn to the coast and finished up wandering around lanes in the pitch black. These lanes kept coming to crossroads which I would guess at and follow the lightest shade of dark in the sky which was the west. I just kept coming round in circles and then suddenly I was deafened as three or four bombers flew low level right above me.
I was wandering around a military air base and these bombers were practising night flights and either the same 4-5 planes were taking off and landing again or there were at least 16 planes that flew directly above me.
It wasn't until I returned to the main road by chance and then found the right way into Vierra  that I came across signs to the base whick re-assured me that World War Three hadnt kicked off while I had been away.
Vieira was so small with only a couple of bars and very little in the way of shelter for sleeping. I stopped nonetheless and deposited myself in the one bar that was open. I was so tired tonight that I left there at 11 and just curled up under the trees on a bench in the square and spent the night there.

The following morning, I was back in the bar for my three cups of 60 cent coffee, before chasing the bike round the back alleys to start the bike.Once started I went down to the praia and watched the waves pounding the shore before leaving for Nazare further down the coast. I was low on fuel and was getting a little concerned as the road cut its way through the Parque Natural of the area. The parque is a whole stretch of pine woods and sandhills a bit like Freshfiel Nature Reseve but seems endless, and the road just disappears into the vanishing point of perspectivity. This is an excellent area for anyone who wants to cycle for a couple of weeks as the two lane cycle path runs the whole length of the road and is separated from it by a verge.

I arrived in Nazare. A pleasant small resort with a sweeping beach with a couple of headlands at each end. At one end is a venicular tram up to the top of the cliff where I imagine one can walk out to the point of the cliffs.
Walking was not on my agenda as today was designated a bath day, so off to the beach with my bag and down to the edge where the waves still had enough force to make me rethink about swimming and settle for a stand up bath.
Change of clothes and back for my first sandwich of the ride nad a couple of cups of wonderful cheap coffee.

The next port of call was the beach of Sao Martinho do Porto, a lovely quiet beach that is lagoon like with a narrow entrance that calms the ocean in to a pleasant and safe looking beach for swimming, although I was not in the mood for another bath so soon.

I followed the road on over the headland to Foz do Arehlo before cutting back in to Caldhas da Raihna. situated east of a quiet inlet with what appears to be shallow beaches. 

For a small town, Caldhas da Raihna was quite busy and there were roadworks that made escaping difficult.

Once done I passed by the walled town of Olbidos.I would have stopped here and had a look around, but my camera battery was dead and I would have been very frustrated not to record the visit. I decided to continue on to the coast, so I worked my way back to the coast at Lourinha, having missed the turning to Peniche.

I found a bar in the early afternoon sun that was packed by locals most of whom were there with their own motos. One stood out a Zundapp 50cc so I stopped to look and share a drink with them.

They were very welcoming and after a couple of beers I agreed a price of 200 euros for the Zundapp which I will return in February to collect.

Off down to to Ericeira for the night

The road followed over the headlands which concealed small beaches inlaid into the steep cliff faces. It certainly is a stunning coastline and the jewel for me was Ericeira, where I arrived early evening in time to charge my phone and camera at a cafe on the cliff top overlooking the harbour and the setting sun.


This was beach immediately below my bedroom at Ericeira. The bedroom was a small paved square in the open overlooking the harbour and the beach, where I imagine people sit and chat during the day. The cafe where I sat and enjoyed a couple of beers and watched the setting sun while my phone charged away, was just to the left.

I found a bar that put Liverpool v Napoli on for me and there was at least one other semi Liverpool fan who was also a Benfica supporter for the other half.

It was a bad first half brightened up by the second half performance of Stevie that at least had me happy as I went in search of a sleeping area.

The sunset from the cafe terrace.

The followingmorning I awoke to the sound of the ocean below me and waited for the cafe that were so helpul the night before to open. Coffees done I had the easiest of times pushing the bike down the steep road to the beach to get it started. It was also another beautiful Portugese sunny day to set off for Lisboa

I rode down the N247to Sintra where I branched off to visit Cabo Roca. It was a cool morning in the shadows of the headland of the Nacional Parque there. I finally arrived at a typical Cornish landscape and situated there was the lighthouse of Cabo Roca. It was unfortunate that I couldn't stop for more than 10 minutes anywhere due to the difficulty in starting the bike when it cooled down. I took a couple of pictures and then continued around the coast to Cascais, which seemed a pleasant but posie little resort on the mouth of the natural harbour of Lisboa. The road which is a dual carriageway and quite rare for Portugal, follows the water all the way into Lisboa and the bridge is visible for the vast majority of it.

I stopped at a vantage point to get a photo and decide if mopeds were allowed over or whether I would need to catch the ferry. I decided the ferry was the only option as the height of the bridge would have required a days ride to get across. Although it was a hot sunny day by the coast the wind was quite cool and I was riding with both coats on and still felt cold for the most part of the ride. There was really only about two hours of the day in the afternoon when it was comfortable and that was generally more than 800 yards away from the coast. It took what seemed an age to reach the ferry terminal, but I was surprised to find that the ferry was only 1.60 euros.

I thought I would include myself in a picture from the ferry to prove it was me riding

Getting off the other side at Almada I quickly started to follow the sun to get back to the coast which would take me round to Setubal. I came to Costa caprica with some lovely sand stonw cliffs and beach shack cafes and bars but no exit out South. I had to return 10 kms to get back onto the N10 for the direction of Sesimbra and then Setubal.