20th October (sunny and warm) 28 km

After arriving late afternoon yesterday and not showing our faces until we checked out at 9am this morning, having been holed up in our little room, I got the distinct impression that the owners of the house were not well pleased. I did apologise for our lack of presence when I began carrying the bags out to the car, citing the fact that we had to pay our staff online, write our blog, download photos, post the last two days blogs, but to no avail.  I could tell the lady was not amused and probably said the same thing to her husband, in Portuguese in front of me. Still, if the lady isn’t happy….too bad. We’re on a tight schedule and haven’t got time to sit around for hours just to hear about things we don’t need to know. Sorry…but we’ve places to be.

The main place we needed to be this morning was in Cascais to drop off the rental car. First stop however for us once we had reached this lovely seaside town, was the supermarket and some breakfast. Found a Jumbo Mercado, which translates in any language… well at least to us and left the car in the carpark, walked to the beach and ate our fill. It was after 10am by this time and the car had to be back by 11.30am. We had done our homework though and the rental company was only about 400 metres as the crow flies from where we were parked. That in driving terms and getting a park outside, is something else.

Enjoying breakfast in Cascais

By 10.30am, we were back at the car, unloading and assembling our bikes in the supermarket carpark. We did a damn good job too. Everything went smoothly and after locking them up there, we drove the car through the busy streets, hoping there would be a park, but if not, do what everyone else does over here and park where you like, in our case, we pulled up on the footpath and left the hazard lights on, whilst we went inside. All ok, so back to the bikes and along the very busy coastal road for the remainder of the afternoon. 

Looks like a good place for a swim

The view from our sunbathing spot

Part way along this lovely stretch of beach lined coast, we pulled the bikes up and leaned them into a wall, donned our togs and jumped in the clear water to cool off, then lay on the beach, before going in for another dip during the hour we were there. The water was refreshing but so inviting. Once again, there were no changing rooms available, but it seemed to be accepted to just strip off on the beach and get changed there.  Further along road, we found the shade of a couple of trees and sat on the grass overlooking the sea to enjoy our lunch.

It should be pointed out that our cycling today was mainly on footpaths or cycle tracks as the roads into Lisbon were busy. The footpaths were white cobbles and not the best thing to be riding on but the cycle tracks were very good, when we had them.  We spent a bit of time riding on the roads when the footpaths got too narrow or congested, and the drivers were very courteous.  Nobody beeped at us and we got plenty of room – we were a bit nervous about the Lisbon area in particular as we had heard the roads are horrendous for cyclists.  This was one of the reasons we decided not to spend any time in Lisbon itself and just skirted the edges before catching the ferry from Belem to Trafaria.

Tired of having an everyday grey fort like everyone else, Keren decided to paint hers

It had remained very warm throughout the day and even during early evening as we pedalled for the ferry to cross the Tagus, we were still in t-shirts. Plenty of people, locals and tourists filling the bay area as we wove our way in between the masses. Arrived at the ferry terminal just as it docked, (talk about perfect timing!) and paid $5 for the two of us to cross the river.

Getting to the outskirts of Lisbon

Happy to be on the ferry and leaving the hustle and bustle behind

Arriving in Trafaria

The sky now had a few ominous looking clouds hanging over us on the other side as we cycled into the town of Trafaria.  Bought some supplies for dinner and just along the road we found a campground for the night. Found a good pitch, or so we thought originally, until the little German toddler, in the van next door, began whining. I know what everyone is thinking. He’s just being a little boy….well, we all know what happens to whining little boys don’t we ?.....they get taken away in the dead of night, never to be seen again.

Julia here – yes, I gotta say, that kid is one helluva whiner.  Seems every five minutes he’s whining about something.  We reckon this kid has whined more since we got here than Brody did in the first five years of his life.  It goes dark now in Portuguese time at 7.30pm so we’re hoping he’ll be in bed soon!

It has felt really good to be back on the bikes again.  It’s such a nice slow pace that you can really immerse yourself in the country you are travelling through.  It’s also so nice on a hot sunny day to feel the breeze, sail past the traffic jams and be faster than the poor sods walking everywhere.  You just feel like you are cruising through life…..literally.  Add to that the fact you can stop just about anywhere you want to take a photograph, you can always get a park right outside wherever you are going and if you get too hot, you can easily park up at the beach and jump in for a dip.

The last ten days have been a bit of a whirlwind and we both enjoyed the slow pace today.  We like the simple life, that is for sure.  It is nice to be sitting in the tent again (now that the brat hasn’t whined for the last ten minutes) and tummies full from plain food out of a can.  I have to confess, when I opened the can, it looked and smelled so much like Jellimeat, I checked the can to make sure I hadn’t picked up a can of petfood.  Even though I couldn’t read the label, I reminded myself, I had picked it up from the section where in most countries you would find vegetable stew, country hot pot or chilli con carne.  This was some kind of bean (haricot I think) with sausage sliced into it.  Or maybe half a sausage as I got three slices and Pete got four.  It will be interesting to see how well we sleep after all that time in hotels and private accommodation.

Oh God, here we go again, whine whine whine.  Because he hasn’t had a whinge for so long, he’s making a real song and dance about it.  I wonder why he keeps doing it as the parents don’t seem to be rewarding the whining in any way.  The only thing Pete’s wondering is why they can’t shut him up!  We’ve come to the conclusion he must be teething or ill.

We went over to the communal lounge after tea and uploaded the photos and charged the gear and wrote the blog before adjourning to the tent at 9.30am for a milky coffee before bed.