This morning Liam and I were up early and on the road by 8:40 am.  It was quite foggy as we rolled out of the house and the temperature was reading only 12 C on my Garmin.  I had not put any leg warmers and had only short finger gloves so I was a little chilly.  As you leave Liam’s place there is a long steep downhill and at the bottom I was questioning my choses of clothing.  However this was quickly put behind me as there is a nasty steep pitch of around 15% almost right around the corner.  Half an hour later the sun was out and burning all but the stubbornest of fog patches off. By 10:00 the sun was out and it was a brilliant blue sky.   I cannot believe the luck we have had with the weather on this trip not a rainy day, or even a cold and blustery day.   

By 10:00 we are cycling through some of the ex-pat communities which hug the coast line.  These are really upscale places with fancy golf courses and Marriot hotels.  I have to admit the views are spectacular and the places look palatial.  After leaving the ex-pat communities we passed the motor scooter club going the other way.  There must have been 2-300 scooters and a few tiny motor bikes.  All of them were two cycle and the blue hazy was chokingly thick.  We joked that we had just smoked a couple of cigars.  

Liam and I are just cruising along and taking our time. It was a lot of fun not rushing and stopping to take pictures.  The views along the ocean are magnificent.  The coast has vast sand beaches below 100-200 meter high cliffs.  Along the head lands the waves are crashing against the rocks.  This was just a beautiful day with very nice temperatures in the low 20s and beautiful blue sky. 

We rode out on to this little spit of land at Balale which was few interesting as there was a beach on both sides of this little concrete road.  Out on the spit were a few houses, cafes and hotels.   It was crowded with late season tourists and locals getting in a last opportunity to enjoy the sand and sun. We sat in a beach side café and had a coffee.  It was great watching the people on the beach. 

From there we rode further along the coast to our main goal of the day which was the Peniche Peninsula which as the town of Peniche on it.  There are old walled fortifications long sections of the peninsula indicating that it was a major military post.  Now there are fish canning factories and tourist infrastructure. Along the north side of the peninsula is huge sand dune which protects the town. The front of the peninsula has tall cliffs with very large flat cliffs. Liam was talking my picture just as the section of rock I was standing on broke loose and I slid down along way before it stopped.  It took a long time to scramble back up.   The south side of the peninsula had a fishing village and a harbour which has some ship servicing facilities and a large marina.

As it was getting on we headed home.  Liam entered home in his Garmin and we flew off aided by a nice tail wind.  It was a great day of riding we covered 88 kms and climbed 1100 meters.  I have really had a lot of fun riding here in Portugal.   

Tomorrow is a long day as Agnes and I fly home.

Agnes and I really have to thank Liam and Siubhan for hosting us.  This has been a really great trip, exploring Portugal and Spain.  They did a wonderful job picking highlights, organizing hotels, driving us around, planning bike rides and a thousand other things.   Special thanks to Liam who lent me his spare bike which was a great ride.  The triple front crank and the low range gears were perfectly suited to the hills of Portugal. 

Terry