Cycling adventures across Britain and beyond
The marshy levels around Aveiro, south of Porto, are great fun to explore by bike. Partly because of the birdlife – flamingoes, storks – but also because of the boardwalks you can ride along: kilometre after kilometre of clanky wooden planks. It’s like cycling to the accompaniment of Taiko drummers. We were there because we’d…
Final days of End to Ends can be a curious mixture of climax and anti-climax. When I completed my first – Land’s End to John o’Groats, in 1997 – I was literally in tears of joy and surprise, rang all my friends to tell them, and had a slap-up champagne dinner at JoG House Hotel….
Last night’s guesthouse came with the bonus of a petrol station/cafe run by the same lady. So like the drivers we could fuel up, except with coffee and home-made pastéis de nata, not petrol. Though one local was getting stuck in to his own morning rocket fuel, in the shape of macieira – Portuguese brandy,…
The longest day of the entire trip – and the flattest. We left Abrantes by crossing the Tejo, greeted immediately by the N2’s arrow-straight road across the dusty flatlands of the Alentejo. Goodbye hills the colour of emerald and avocado, hello wheatfield plains the colour of… er, wheat. And hello cows. Also, hello cork. We’ve…
I’ve cycled to the centre of various places. Britain; Belgium; London; York; and of course Yorkshire (hence the world). And today I added Portugal. For two minutes, I was central to the entire country’s economy and everyone else in the land was marginal. Which was quite an achievement from buying a €1.20 coffee. There was…
Yesterday, Day 5, was a rest day exploring Coimbra’s mazy, steep old-town alleys, and the university area. I was intrigued by the reliefs decorating the entrance to the maths department – the stonemason was reasonably adept at mathematical notation, even if a violin f-hole has served as an integral sign. That infinite sum for π/4,…
Wonderful, wonderful riding today: half on one of the best railtrails I’ve ever done; half on beautiful quiet scenic mountain roads; and what felt like half on a terrible forest track I wouldn’t wish on even a Tory MP. First, that fabulous railway bike path. The Ecopista do Dão was opened in 2011 on the…
A shortish day, but a strenuous one. Because despite yesterday evening’s ascent, we had much more climbing this morning: five hundred or so more metres, up to a summit just shy of a thousand metres. At least it would burn off last night’s burgers and beers. And give us an appetite for tonight’s. Portugal’s cafes…
The first full day of riding, and a chance to get some proper miles under our belt. Also under our belt went custard tarts, cake, muffins, Iberian ham and local cheese, cod empanadas, garlic sausage, enough fresh bread to insulate an Antarctic research station, and litres of coffee. That was some hotel breakfast. We followed…
I’m cycling the Portugal End to End, with my chum Nigel: from Chaves in the north to Faro on the south coast. It’s a journey of about 475 miles (760km), or about 25 custard tarts. We’re taking the old N2, once the main road that runs – or rather, crawls – the length of the…