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