Sesimbra to Melides

Hello again from Melides, at the end of another excellent day.

We rode a couple of kilometres to Santana for breakfast - very necessary to eat well before a big day. And it was big: 80km and 764m of ascent.

After a fairly gentle first stretch, we soon got going, climbing a small mountain, part of the Serra da Arrábida. It was a good workout for the legs and very satisfying to get high up, even with the added weight of the panniers. There were plenty of other Saturday morning cyclists heading up or down, but none of them had much with them compared to us! We were rewarded with spectacular views out over the sea.

After an exhilarating/mildly scary descent back to sea level, we soon found ourselves in Setúbal, with a couple of minutes to buy ferry tickets before the 11am departure to Tróia. 

On the ferry ride we caught our breath, ate our chocolate croissant (which had survived breakfast due to the very large portions of torrada), and spotted some local wildlife.

After this second (and final) ferry ride of the trip, we settled into a long flat section on two good roads, first along the Tróia peninsula, and after the town of Comporta, a little way inland and south to Melides.

We took in a range of scenery - dunes and mudflats on the peninsula, rice fields with many storks near Comporta, and then lots of pine forest.

We had a few pleasant stops: in Comporta to get water, under a pine tree to eat our lunch, and in Melides for a cold drink before checking in to our room for the night. 

After a bit of downtime and laundry we made a visit to the beach, providing a first chance for a swim in the ocean for me. 

A hearty dinner was the ideal way to round off the day.

Lisbon to Sesimbra

We have had a wonderful first day of cycling. We started by seeing some familiar sights in central Lisbon, including the Jardim de Estrela and St George's, the English church I used to attend.

We headed down towards the docks, passed my old rowing club, and went out to the Monument to the Discoveries and the Torre de Belém which Stephen had never visited before.

Associação Naval de Lisboa in the background

Then it was goodbye to Lisbon as we got the ferry across the Tejo to Porto Brando. We had been planning to continue to Trafaria but there was a bus replacement operating so we took the extra 5km of cycling to get back onto the route. 

From there we had a great run south away from the river, seeing some beautiful coastline with many people having surfing lessons. We stopped for a drink and a pastry at Fonte da Telha which was very welcome. (No photographic evidence of the chocolate bolo de berlim the size of my head, regretfully.)

The next couple of hours included a fair chunk of what cyclists call "technical" terrain, which in this case meant some very sandy patches, as well as plenty of gravel. This is particularly appropriate as we're using gravel bikes. We both really enjoyed a scenic track through a forest.

As the sun came out and the day heated up, we made more good progress southwards, including a fast stretch of about 10km on a properly paved road, which felt like something of a novelty. It remains to be seen how much of the route is off-road! We came to a promising lunch spot in the form of Aldeia do Meco and took the opportunity to refuel.

After that we had a mere 13km left, but this turned out to be one of the more challenging segments of the day, with variable road surfaces and some decent stretches of climbing. It was another hour until we arrived at our destination for the evening, just outside Sesimbra.

We enjoyed the spectacular castle views, a swim in the pool and a brief nap, before walking down into town for the final meal of the day. I wouldn't say that the whole point of the cycle tour is to enjoy more Portuguese food, but it may be a contributing factor!

Much carne de porco à alentejana was consumed by both.

With a solid day of around 63km and 900m of ascent complete, and no mishaps or misadventures to report, we are both ready for a good sleep and another day in the saddle.

Blog resurrection: cycle touring in Portugal

 After a long interlude, the blog is back!

Stephen and I are setting off on an exciting cycling adventure, from Lisbon to Portimão. All being well, we will cover about 450km over eight days.

We expect to see all sorts of beautiful places, especially the beaches on this part of the Atlantic coast which neither of us have visited before. 

We will try to post some updates with photos as we go. To start things off, here we are at the Marquês de Pombal in Lisbon this evening.