Days 3 & 4 in Portugal 🇵🇹

Finally, I now have time to catch up on my blogs so you will probably see two today in order for everyone to come up to speed with the recent events of the trip to Portugal.

It was always our intention that week 1 of the trip was going to be focused on cycling and in discussions about possible routes, we settled on a variety of locations based on returning everyday to our base at Domus House on the northern side of Braga. We had been sent a route for us to try out so on Tuesday morning we climbed on our bikes with the idea of going to Guimaraes Castle, a round trip of some 42 miles

We set off downhill into Braga and the very first road we took to climb up the other side of the valley was very steep, being resurfaced and extremely treacherous to ride. This was then followed by steep cobbled roads which, yes, gave us some spectacular views over the city but, oh dear, were very tiring and difficult to ride. Pushing bikes uphill meant time evaporated and we were increasingly exhausted in the heat. We headed up to the mount at Sameiro and decided to take break and walk up to the church building. Boy, were we rewarded by this decision as the view from the top was amazing!!

Having returned to our bikes we then made the decision not to go the Guimaraes but go down part of the hillside to Bom Jesus (Good Jesus) another religious church buildings but with gardens, cafes and a chance to relax.

Finally, we came back down the hill to Braga and some of us went to MacDonalds to grab some ‘food’ before returning to Domus House.

Having experienced such a tough first ride, I agreed to amend the other rides using ‘Ride with GPS’ so that we avoided really steep cobbled roads and stick with easier main roads but that also involved experiencing and seeing more traffic. With this in mind, on Wednesday we headed off to Ponte da Lima and, oops!, started off down a steep cobbled road!! At least it was downhill and not uphill, as we avoided it on the way home.

We made good progress and made our way to Ponte da Lima only for a mix up close to the town and I found myself alone as everyone picked up on the return route and they had to avoid going the wrong way down a one-way street. Nevertheless, we all arrived safely at a group of roman soldier statues close to the bridge (ponte) and the river.

This town. as well as others in this region, are linked to the Camino de Santiago and the bridge forms part of one route. Many people walk the Camino each year and take the pilgrimage to the cathedral in Santiago. In fact some of the team are staying on to do part of the Camino after the build week.

Everyone made it home safely after grabbing some lunch in one of the many cafes.