L2L Days 40 - 42: Foz do Arelho to Lisbon

 Hello readers of the blog! Alex here, with our final update. 

On October 22 we continued our tour of Portugal from Foz do Arelho to Santa Cruz. As the crow flies this is less than 30 miles, but we managed to make it 65 miles with over 4000 feet of climbing! Along the way we stopped at Óbidos, a cute town contained entirely within the walls of a medieval castle. It was fun to ride on the cobblestone streets, walk atop the stone wall, and listen to the troubadours. We even snuck a photo with a real life knight (for a 2 euro donation of course)! A local told us of an annual medieval festival with arts and crafts and other fun activities, I’d LOVE to check that out one day. The rest of the ride was beautiful coastal scenery. For dinner we demolished some barbecue chicken at a local restaurant.

“How do I get up there?”

Ran into this nice chap on his way to slay a dragon

No railing on top of the wall, scary!

Along the coast of Peniche

Riding a sweet path

On October 23 we rode from Santa Cruz all the way to Cascais, setting us up for an easy final day into Lisbon. The ride to Cascais was a challenging 52 miles, with steep gravel climbs and hot sunny conditions. Too confident in our fitness, we became complacent with our nutrition and bonked near the end of the ride. No problem though, nothing a bunch of Thai food can’t fix!

Fresh and chipper leaving Santa Cruz

Lots of interesting rock formations all along the Portuguese Coast

Nice beach and foggy cliffs

Reminds me of Rai stones, but this isn’t Yap!

Pretty descent after 1k climb

Bonking all the way to Cascais

On October 24 (today), we rode into Lisbon from Cascais. This 26 mile ride was almost entirely on beachfront cycling paths, making the day stress-free and relaxing. It almost felt like a victory lap. After arriving at our hotel, we dropped off our luggage and rode to a local bike shop which will help us pack our bikes to fly them back home. It is both satisfying and surreal for this incredible adventure to come to an end.

Final approach

End of the route!

Victory pose!

Happy ending :)

Dropping bikes off to be packed

I leave you with a few parting thoughts:

By popular demand, here are the rose, buds, and thorns from this trip:

Dad Rose: Cycled 4 countries uninjured with son. Experiences like this don’t come often in life.

Dad Bud: E-bike adventure planning with lovely wife Julie!

Dad Thorn: Being cold and wet in the Burgos public library while waiting for our hotel to check us in. 

Alex Rose: Making lots of great memories with my dad at a pace only doable on a bicycle.

Alex Bud: Seeing Bonnie and continuing wedding planning (!)

Alex Thorn: Not being fluent in French and Spanish, but this provides motivation to study and learn more!

Food Power Rankings:

(1) Portugal

(2) Spain

(3) France

(4) England

Cycling Infrastructure Power Rankings:

(1) France

(2) Spain

(3) England

(4) Portugal

Natural Beauty Power Rankings:

(1) Spain

(2) France

(3) Portugal

(4) England

Trip timing: Overall we are very happy with the timing and route. Early fall meant that tourist numbers were off-peak, enabling us to readily find accommodations 1 or 2 days in advance. Furthermore, the weather was relatively mild, with few days above 75F, perfect for riding. Starting north and heading south meant these conditions remained nearly constant over our 6-week journey.

Favorite Things about our bikes:

Dad: Silent Onyx rear hub and custom paint job w/ peace sign

Alex: Arkel panniers, wahoo computer, and non-custom paint job of the Trek 520 Grando

Questions or comments? Leave one below and I’ll get back to you! Thanks everyone for following along and for all the love and support!

L2L Day 39 - Pedrogao to Foz de Arelho

Our ride today was really something special.  I'm saying in my top 10 all time best rides.  I should be keeping track of my best rides and rank them - future Cam project.

The ride was basically half-way between Porto and Lisbon along the Portugese coast.  Wind was non-issue and it was a beautiful sunny day.  This time of year is post-tourist season, yet the temps and weather is beautiful.  So if you ever come to Portugal, I definitely recommend October!

We had lunch at a cafe along the cliffs - a place called Paredes Velhas.  And upon arrival to Foz de Arelho, we were able to do some laundry - desperately needed.

Alex wanted me to mention how the Portugese help us from ourselves during the last several days:

1.  During a breakfast, I ordered an egg/bacon/toast/coffee type thing and then also asked for pancakes.  The waiter was worried that I'd not be able to eat it all.  He told me to eat my eggs/bacon/etc and after I finish them, I could order pancakes.

2.  During a lunch there were 3 items - fish, chicken and a veal stew.  Alex had the fish and I ordered a chicken with rice dish, which was a bit small.  So later, I asked for the fish dish also, but the waiter said 'no' you need to try the veal stew so that now you'll experience all 3 dishes of the day.  uhh... okay :)  The veal stew was delicious!

3.  We go to the laundromat tonight and begin to put our clothes in the 15 kilo washer that costs about 10 euros to run.  The owner says, 'NO'!!  You can fit all your stuff in the 10 kilo machine and it will only cost you 6.5 euros.  She was right... there was plenty of room in the smaller washer.

All three situations gave us good laughs for sure.  

Tomorrow we have a strong tail wind for the first time in a long time!  We will ride about 60 miles to Silveira via Peniche.  You should google the story about the "friends from Peniche". 

For those of you who have stuck it out reading our blog, we've got a special treat for you.  Enjoy a Foresty Forest type of interview as well as a couple of bonus youtube clips from our day..  below the usuals...

Cheers ~Alex and Cam

Also, Alex will guest write the blog tomorrow. 

L2L Day 38 - Praia de Mira to Pedrogao

 Great riding day.  Lots of variety in scenery.  Beautiful coastal ride and some inland.  Sunny!  Seemed more aired than northern Portugal.

Tomorrow we are expecting good weather, very small headwind.  We do a short ride tomorrow ~45 miles, followed by probably a long ride on Tuesday because a strong tailwind is expected and we will take advantage :)  I think we stay at Fox do Arelho tomorrow.

Words later.

What do you see?

Maybe??

A Cat hunting in the field for mice??

L2L Day 36 - Porto to Praia de Mira

 Headwind, bit of rain, almost missed a shuttle... stinky hostel.  Interesting lunch guy put on his US flag sweater to talk to us.  Lunch was great.  I had the traditional salted cod for dinner, Alex had an excellent half chicken.  We ate a local mom and pop place that had maybe 3 tables and 5 bar stools.  The couple running the restaurant were very nice!  I'll have to put the words together better.  For now, here is the vid.

L2L Day 34 - Santiago reflections

Whose bike is better (or worse).  Please let us know in your comments.

    Cam's Bike Issues:

• Loose Crank
• Broken Spoke
• Unstable Drivetrain (tuned by Alex and Cam, then by a shop, then again by A&C)
• New Chain
• Garmin Front light screen shield melted 
• Brake adjustments
• Garmin computer lockup (once)
• Saggy saddle as it broke in (stopped after France)

  Alex's Bike Issues:

• Loose handlebars
• Bottom bracket replaced
• Flat tire
• Brake pad replacement
• Un-aero panniers
• Drive train tune
• Daily Wahoo lockup - reset/reboot
• Worn out pedal bearings 

Hostel/Hotel  Reviews - best/worst stays

Rated Overall by Country

1. Spain (best)
2. France
3. England

Best Hostel/Hotel overall 

    - Estella Spain,  Hosteria de Curtidores ($57 Euros, including breakfast and located on a river)

Worst Hostel/Hotel overall 

    - Tours France, Hampton by Hilton Tours Center ($322 Euros 2 nights no AC, windows don't open

       had to ask staff for a fan, which ended up being squeaky all night)

Daily Travel costs by Country

1. Tie Spain and France (least expensive)
2. England (oof spendy - need to rejoin EU)

Best Rides:

1. Saint Jean Pier de Port to Pamplona (Pyrenees mts pass)
2. Bexley to Faversham 
3. Villafranca de Bierza to Sarria

Worst Rides:

1. Belorado to Burgos (weather)
2. Tours to Chatellerault (weather)
3. Leon to Astorga (highway traffic)

Best bicycle infrastructure:

1. France
2. England
3. Spain (friendly drivers so make up for less infrastructure)

Today, we walk to the train station to buy tickets and figure out how to deal with bicycles.

L2L Day 33 - Melide to Santiago de Compostela

 Arrived in Santiago.  There was heavy rain at the beginning of our day and we (I) was worried that we'd have a long day ahead.  But it cleared up well and we had a pretty enjoyable ride into Santiago.  

About 10 miles outside Santiago, there must have been some sort of motocross route for dirt bikes.  We encountered many of them for at least 5 miles as they sort of weaved into and out of the forested areas.  

When we arrived in town, I stopped and bought a new chain for my bike.  Sorry folks, I had it installed at the shop, so no pics or videos of me doing the work on my bike.  It was a good thing, because there was no good space to work on the bikes near our hotel and also, we had to check them at a local post office for storage during the next few days.

We are running low on days as I've got our bikes scheduled to be boxed up for the plane ride on Oct 25 and I fly out next day.  So we are thinking about taking a train to Porto this coming Thursday.   But for tomorrow, we sleep in ;)

Cheers!  ~Cam and Alex

L2L Day 32 - Sarria to Melide

We had a great time!  Besides the excellent ride, it was a day of maintenance and repair.  Alex got his first flat in his awesome Schwalbe Mondial tires.  And, when we got to Melide, we found a bike shop to purchase new brake pads for Alex.  The hills are just grinding our pads away and his were actually scraping on the metal retainer spring.  Anyhow, he is a capable mechanic with the help of Park Tools videos on youtube! 

There are a couple of bonus pictures below with Alex replacing his brake pads after our ride.  There is also a couple of older ladies hitching a ride in the scoop of a tractor - NBD!  

Tomorrow we ride into Santiago de Compostela, where we will take a day off and maybe attend a mass at the Cathedral on advice by both my big bro, Mark and Maureen!

Cheers! ~Cam and Alex

L2L Day 31 - Villafranca de Bierzo to Sarria

 Today we had a massive breakfast at our hotel.  This was a good thing because we both felt quite strong for the significant climbs we faced - second in ascent to our day in the Pyrenees.  The weather gods treated us very well - just a few short rain showers, but overall very still and dry.

As we move further west, the landscape has become more lush again, similar to the Basque region.  The number of people on the Camino has increased significantly.  The route that we are taking (Eurovélo 3) inter-twines with the Camino way and so we often have to share the road with the pilgrims.  Occasionally we have people get salty with us being on bicycles (in every case so far - Americans, not that I'm judging hahahah), but 99% of the pilgrims are very friendly to us and we work together!  

During the main climb of the day, we rode a short spell with a gentleman from the Canary Islands.  I had to query google map to give me a reminder on where they are located.  Do you know?

Our hostel today had a washer and dryer, so we were able to wash our clothes.  Tomorrow, we face another relatively tough day of climbing, so it will take us one day longer than planned to arrive in Santiago.  

So, tomorrow we will ride half-way to Santiago to a town called Melide.

Alex really enjoyed this cake with almonds in it.  Good timing during our climb too!

L2L Day 30 - Astorga to Villafranca del Bierzo

 It's interesting, because we are sort of riding from town to town and don't realize some of the spectacular sites in each of them until we continue on our way out the next day.  This was the case today as we left Astorga, there was an amazing Palace of Gaudi and also Cathedral of Santa Maria de Astorga.  

The first 20 miles today ascended several thousand feet, plateauing at around 5K.  Following the climb we enjoyed an amazing 10 mile coast into a beautiful town called Ponferrada.   Tonight, we are staying in one of the nicer and spendy hotels of our adventure.  After our 92 mile ride yesterday and heavy climb today and tomorrow, we feel like we deserve it :)

We've booked a hotel tomorrow in Sarria.  The ride should be another tough one (46 miles and 5500 ft climb), but expect some dazzling pictures from it in tomorrow's post.

Cheers!  ~Cam and Alex

We were a bit hungry when we ordered - hahahah :)

Credit for the below picture goes to a very nice lady we sat next to at dinner only to run into her on the patio at our hotel!  Her name is Pat from the Los Angeles area.  I regret not getting a picture of her to add into our blog.  After she completes walking the Camino, I think she intended on going to Marocco.

L2L Day 29 - Carrion de los Condes to Astorga

As advertised, we  made today a big day - 92 miles, which makes up for one of the extra days we waited out the storm in Burgos.  

This morning Alex helped a lady from Pennsylvania set up her phone so she'd be connected for the rest of the trip.  I guess she'd purchased a sim card that had expired and didn't realize it had an expiration date.  

Today, we noticed that much of the Camino trail now has trees lined along the path.  Currently, maybe it's not something that you'd think much of other than the esthetic.  But, practically, for any of the pilgrims walking the Camino during the dry hotter months, these trees have to be much appreciated for shade they provide!  We rode through Leon and took a couple of pics near the Cathedral.

92 miles is a long way on bicycle.  But it felt pretty good - we both felt strong the whole way.  

We've changed our route once again.  We've decided to ride to Santiago de Compostela.  It will mean more climbing and a bit more mileage, but hey.. that's what we are here for!  Tomorrow will be about a 50 mile ride and something like 3000 ft elevation.

Comfort food!

Plaza in the town we are staying tonight..