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!