Day 14 Lagoaca to Miranda do Duoro

Day 14. Lagoaca to Miranda do Duoro. 64.57 Klms cycled. 4.08 hours cycling. 53.21 km/h max speed. 15.56 km/h average speed. Weather – cold throughout with heavy rain early followed by overcast conditions.

Well, I have made it. After a total of 751 kilometres I have completed phase one of my across Europe adventure and cycled from the south to the north of Portugal from Faro to Miranda do Duoro.
I must admit I feel a sense of achievement, because Portugal was much, much tougher than I had expected.
While I had read that it was a country of hills, nothing could have prepared me for the reality!! Throw in tough mid-30s heat for the first couple of days, three days of horrendous headwinds while cycling through central Portugal’s mountainous region and torrential rain over the final two days and I have had just about everything thrown at me.
But all that said, Portugal is an incredibly beautiful country and there is only one way to see it as I have discovered …. from the seat of a bicycle.
The country has an incredibly diverse landscape, mostly quiet roads, great food and very reasonable prices. Its small size means you can cycle beside the sea and the mountains easily in just a couple of weeks of touring.
The rustic landscape is nothing short of amazing and the roads are a cyclist’s dream. You have to work very hard at times in the mountainous areas with grades of 10 percent and more, but long descents often follow on near perfect roads and hardly any traffic.
Highlights for me were the Unesco world heritage town of Evora with its Roman temple, aquaduct, cathedral and multitude of other historic monuments and Sabugal, a real hidden gem full of history.
Another highlight was the ease of finding free internet. Just about every town of reasonable size has internet available at the local Tourisimo office or library and many towns also have Municipal-run campgrounds that are very cheap.
Also, on the couple of occasions I decided to stay at a hostel, the most I paid was just 31 Euro for bed and breakfast – value indeed.

My final day saw me wake up to torrential rain and a decision to make – should I sit tight and wait for the rain to stop or should I just press on.
In the end I guess I did both. After eating breakfast and generally getting my panniers organised, I lay down and promptly went to sleep for about an hour.
When I woke the heavy rain had eased somewhat so I decided to put on the wet weather gear and get going.
It proved to be the right move, because after 30 minutes or so the clouds had lifted and while still incredibly cold, at least it wasn’t raining.
With the threat of rain never far away though, I decided to get to Miranda do Duoro asap. With the help of a tailwind, I covered the 64 kilometres in good time.
What a difference a tailwind makes, after battling 3 days of headwinds earlier in the trip.
Anyway, after arriving in Miranda do Duoro I discovered the camp ground was closed for some unknown reason, so booked into a residencial for 2 nights to prepare for the next leg of the trip – Spain.

No photos today, I am afraid. It was all cycling and no sightseeing. I will be having a look around Miranda do Duoro tomorrow, so that should be interesting