19th October (sun and cloud, warm) about 10 km of hill walking!

At 4.00 am this morning, I woke from a great sleep, feeling a burning sensation in my throat and down toward my chest. I lay there for a short time before I sat up on the edge of the bed. By this time I was beginning to sweat a little, but felt nothing, other than this burning sensation, which by now had intensified. I got to the bathroom and just stood over the bowl of the toilet, but at no time did I feel as if I wanted to throw up. However, by now the sweat was literally running off my head onto the floor. I opened the shower doors to let the sweat drip inside, but whether or not it was, I didn’t notice. Julia had come in and was placing cold towels on my back and head, but I was burning up. I really thought that she would be calling an ambulance. At no point did I vomit, or ever feel like it, but the burning sensation was very worrying. An hour later I lay down in bed, still feeling very concerned, but the sweats had gone and the burning in my throat had diminished, although even now, at 8am, I still have an odd feeling. I will be monitoring that closely today. I managed to sleep until 7am, when the German family above us decided it was time to play games with their kids. They were that loud, that if I understood the language, I could have translated every word.

The lighthouse at the end of Peniche Peninsula

Checked out around 9.45am after a nice breakfast, which I was able to eat. Granted, I had nothing like my usual quantity, (only three trips up to the buffet this morning) but at least I could take something on board. We drove into the seaside and harbour town of Penische, to get a couple of shots of their old fort and since the surfing world tour boys had made today…of all days, a rest day, there was nothing else to keep our attention, so we began the drive down the coast keeping off the motorway. On the way out, we spied their base, along with flags and security everywhere and cars for Africa. 

The old fort at Penische

Our first surf stop was at Sao Lourenco, where we watched four surfers, including a body boarder, trying to get on some good sized waves, without much luck actually, so we moved on.

Praia Ribeira

Just a few guys out

On top of a cliff edge, along with another dozen people, at Praia Ribeira, we watched about fifty guys and this time they were more successful, with a few getting really good length rides in decent swell. Headed inland around 12.30pm and stopped at a supermarket to buy some lunch. Julia reckons that it was the rich food we ate last night that caused the problem with me, as she didn’t feel the best either. Got our lunch and ate it in the shade of the supermarkets underground carpark. We certainly weren’t missing out on scenery, as a lot of Portugal we have seen so far has been a mixture of small landowners growing crops of some sort, or just desolate waste land. The cities are like most European cities, with a vast amount of multi-storey apartments, some brand new or well kept and some look decidedly derelict. There are just so many people living in the towns and cities, that it’s the only way to house the population and it works well.

After we’d eaten, we both felt a little better and hit the road for Sintra, a place we’d targeted in NZ, mainly for the different palaces it has here. With huge population, comes huge problems with parking, especially in the tourist towns, where tour buses are everywhere. After driving around looking for twenty minutes, we accidentally got one by a shopping complex, but not in it. Fed the metre for three hours and took off exploring. Now Sintra is famous for its palaces, so we decided to catch a couple. Problem being, they’re all up huge hills, but hey…if campgrounds can be…palaces certainly can. Decided on the Moorish castle which dates from the twelve century and is spread across part of the hillside. A half hour hike up there granted us fantastic views of both Sintra, but also the castle from so many different angles. 

We loved being able to walk over the ruins of this Moorish castle

As we got higher we were rewarded with magnificent views - the big white place is the National Palace of Sintra

And also a magnificent view of Pena Palace

Time for a quick ab workout!

The climbing and clambering were thoroughly worth it!!

They have done a great job in preserving it and we didn’t mind paying the entrance fee. From the higher points you also have views of the Pena Palace, which is where, after wandering all over the battlements of the Moorish Castle, we once again climbed up to, being as it was set further up the hill. Now we’ve seen a few palaces in our day, so we only wanted the outside shots of this. One fifteenth century dresser is a lot like another and you can only do so much with a four poster bed and unlimited amounts of gold.

Doing whatever it takes to bring you the pictures!

After another twenty minute climb, we found ourselves at the entrance to Pena. Decided on the garden entrance fee, which was half the normal fee, but I was concerned that our photos of the palace would be limited as the castle sits atop the hill and all the gardens run down from there.  The gardens consist mainly of a lot of very tall trees, obscuring the views of the palace.  Ended up yomping across to another hill to get the better views, but it was a nice day to be out and I think, for the limited options that we had, we did pretty well. Got back to the car with two minutes left on the clock and drove a couple of kms out of town to our hotel for the night.

We were so impressed with this area Georgie, that we
bought you your own villa.  Only problem is there's no
parking....and it's at the top of a bloody great hill!!

Once again Julia had come up with a nice one. We have a room in this couple’s house, which is lovely, but because we have to spend so much time writing and putting up photos, we can’t really get into too much conversation. This could be our last bit of luxury for a while as we’re back on the bikes tomorrow and both ready for it, although I’m not sure what the weather forecast is doing, because they are getting dumped on in certain parts of the country.  Had a very plain dinner – back to sardines and tomatoes for us – followed by a cup of tea and both feeling better although I still have a sore throat.  Hoping for a good sleep and all better in the morning.