É uma maravilha

Or, it's a wonder

Another week and a bit since I last posted - how did that happen? As always when I begin writing, I don't feel like I have a lot to tell you about, apart from last weekend. It's been the standard combination of work, sport (lots of rowing) and food (a couple of restaurant meals with Carly and others).

So, I might as well skip to the weekend.

Can you guess where I went?

On Saturday I went to the normal rowing session, which was fun - the sun was shining (more or less) and it was good to be out on the water. Afterwards I had a coffee with one of the rowers, and got engaged in an interesting conversation about European politics (as you do) which meant I didn't hear my phone ring when Carly tried to contact me. Fortunately it wasn't a serious problem, as she and Kieran (one of her colleagues, who we were going to spend the afternoon with) got off the train and waited for me at the next station. Yes, an adventure was beginning!

We finished the train journey to Cascais and, leaving the station, were met with just what we needed - someone advertising bike hire. We found our way to their shop and decided to get lunch in a nearby café before picking up some bikes and helmets. At €5 each, the bike hire seemed like a bargain! There are some free bikes sometimes available, provided by the town, but getting there later in the day meant it made more sense to just pay a bit, and enjoy the superior bikes (with gears! and locks! and other special features).

Safety first (Carly and Keiran)

The people in the shop were lovely, giving us directions and all kinds of promises of help if we ran into difficulties. They didn't even ask us to pay until we got back, and we didn't put down a deposit or anything... top marks for trusting your customers. Sadly I can't find the name of the shop anywhere, but if I manage to, I'll update it here, because they deserve a serious recommendation!

Definitely not a staged photo

We found our way to the cycle path leading up the coast, and set off - beautiful views, a good route, and altogether a lovely way to spend the afternoon. Many photographs were taken...

Uninventive people would caption this 'dramatic scenery'

We stopped at a small beach (near Praia do Guincho), mainly because at that point the cycle path ended abruptly in a pile of rubble. Sadly I didn't manage to take a picture - it would have been a great demonstration of something profound about Portuguese infrastructure projects (just kidding). Anyway, after a brief paddle in the Very Cold water, we set off back towards Cascais and got there in record time, with time to wander around the marina before giving our bikes back.

More dramatic views

That's a good cycle path right there

Since we'd enjoyed the café we went to earlier, we decided to return for an extra snack before getting the train back to Lisbon, and a quiet evening for me. All in all it was a very enjoyable day.

Sunday brought more exercise for me - I set off early to get to the rowing club for 9, where I met up with the fellow rowers for another excursion. We rowed across the Tejo to a small beach near Trafaria (indicated below) - very exciting. There were only a few fishermen there to see us having fun landing the boats (two 4+ yoles) through the waves... We all enjoyed a good 'bracing' swim (some intentionally, others less so) before tucking into the picnic we'd brought with us. I have no photos (fortunately decided against taking my camera into the boat) so the map will have to do.

Click to enlarge. We rowed from the red circle to the red arrow, and back.

By the time I got back home it was mid-afternoon. I had time to do lots of laundry before going to read (and nap) in the park, then met Carly for postcard-shopping and a quick snack. Eventually I went home and had a relaxing rest-of-evening, involving a very early night! Also - look who I spotted near Marquês de Pombal...

Yep, some students from the university of Coimbra... and their coach, and their guitars. My educated guess is that they'd been performing their special Coimbra fado somewhere, but this is based mainly on the guitars and my knowledge of Coimbra.

So, that's a summary of pretty much all the most exciting things I've been up to. Otherwise, life has gone on - including lots of translations at work, an Indonesian lesson, finishing off some bureaucracy ready for the next stage in the year, Portuguese food... all sorts, really.

Tomorrow is bringing an extremely exciting rowing adventure, which I will update you all on later, assuming I survive... let's just say it may involve rowing up to 60km...

One final picture - looking up to Sintra

The blog will return soon - as ever, thank you for reading.