I left the big wave capital where today, the waves weren’t even breaking. The Atlantic was a lake.
I had a coffee at a place near the beach where there was another cyclist, a local guy. He sat in the coffee shop for a coffee and some food but wore his bike helmet the whole time. Weird or not ? I notice cyclists doing that a lot here. Maybe it keeps their heads warm, or maybe they’re scared of attack or the roof falling in. I prefer to live dangerously and look remotely normal.
The first part was easy and flat in some nice sunshine – it was another superb day. I passed a police roadblock due to an accident where a driver had flipped his car on the side. No sign of ambulances, just lots of cops standing around.
Then the climb started. It was so steep but worth it for the view, and it kept going up and up and topped out after a few kilometres. The coastline here is pretty stunning and under populated, although there’s building work happening in a few places. There were also a few kilometres of dirt road with a fair bit of mud – and I’d have to wipe the mud off before sneaking my bike into the hotel room later.
And that’s where I stayed for a while – tooling along the top of the coastal ridge until I dropped down to the town of São Martinho do Porto which almost surrounds a large protected bay. I had some lunch here and exited on the bike path but I had to climb back up to the coastal ridge again.
The locals here, all had a smile and a wave for me, as I did for them. A few raised their voices and gave me a thumbs up, which I took as encouragement. I’m told by the Portuguese that they really don’t have a cycling culture here and that I should expect bad driving. My experience is that the driving is just unaware. Unaware of the danger to the poor bugger on the bike. Gee they go close. In Aus, the same thing would be due to malice, but here, they’re just going past and not hitting me, which I’m thankful for.
Anyway, I dropped down again to another bay, another town and turned inland with the final 15kms and four hills almost in my sights. It was nice riding (a bit hilly), but at the end of it, I felt like I’d done a lot more that 40kms.
I’d booked a small hotel room earlier in the day and there had been many messages sent via Booking.com who are currently battling their systems that have been hacked – with scam messages being sent, asking for payment details etc. that’s why I was wary. It turned out to be legit but as tedious as it comes.
Luckily it was a self check-in with no staff on hand. I unloaded the bike put my bags in the room, cleaned the mud off the bike and snuck it into my room. There was nowhere else to leave it.
Óbidos is a quaint town simply crawling with tourists right now. There were Chinese tour groups as well. Tour groups being led through very narrow lanes doesn’t really make for a relaxed stroll through a beautiful town. Impatience was the order of the day, so I retreated to the walls of the castle.
You can walk along the walls, very high up, with no railings or safety features at all. (That’s the best way in my opinion). The views were fantastic up above the town but I was hungry by then and had to re-enter the human maelstrom to find some food.
It wasn’t easy. I was hungry before the standard eating time. Snack bars were closing and restaurants were only starting to think of opening up. I could get all manner of sweets, cakes and pastries though. I’m a bit sick of all of that.
I found a restaurant and asked for a large Spaghetti Bolognese. The waiter explained that this is usually a kids meal. That’s why I wanted a large one ! I was definitely hangry by this stage.