Garry McGivern’s Portuguese bike ride, Thursday 13th-August-2009 Porto Covo to Estoril. 100 Miles. I was on the road nice and early and wasn’t locked in this morning. And for the first hour or two, there was a sea mist, which sometimes made it pretty hard to see the road, but at least it was nice and cool! It was also nice and flat, a double bonus!
I was rather anxious this morning. According to my map, there was a ferry that ran between the Troia Peninsula and Setubal, which hopefully, if it still ran, would save me about 30 miles! However, if it wasn’t, not only would I have the extra 30 miles to cycle but also another 20 miles going up to the end of the peninsula and back again!
I arrived in Comporta, which was the point of no return. I either went up to Troia Peninsula and took a chance on the ferry still being there, or I cycled the long way round decisions decisions! I looked around to see if there was anybody I could ask, which of course when you want to find somebody you can’t! In the end, I decided to go for it, and if there was no ferry, then there was no ferry. I’d just have to come back!
Point Of No Return
The road up to Troia was quiet, with no other traffic on it! After all, why would there be if there’s no ferry? There didn’t look as if there was any other reason to be heading up this road! I was starting to get very anxious now. But before I knew it, I was over halfway to Troia. No point in turning around now; I’d just as well carry on! Shortly afterwards, three cars in a row passed me coming in the opposite direction, which made me feel a lot better. Maybe the ferry was still there after all! Why else would three cars be so close together if they hadn’t just come off a ferry?
With renewed vigour, I picked up my pace and spotted a sign for the ferry shortly after! Panic over, no need to worry. It looked pretty much as if I would be able to get a crossing here after all! And I certainly couldn’t miss the ferry. It was bright green!
The crossing only took about thirty minutes, and I was in Setubal before midday. After leaving Setubal, I had my first real hill of the day, which I didn’t enjoy! It was long and winding without any shade! Which in the midday sun made it hard going! Coming down the other side was nice. It was good to feel the cooling wind in my hair, or what hair I have!
Two Ferries In One Day
I had to catch another ferry today. This time it was to cross the river Tagus into Lisbon. Once in Lisbon, I was going to do the tourist thing, but after finding myself on the right road I needed to get out, I decided to stick with it and carry on cycling! After all, it’s not very often that I manage to negotiate cities and towns without getting lost!
As I made my way out of Lisbon, there was an accident just in front of me! I’m not too sure what happened. All I saw was a body skidding along the road with a motorbike on top of them! I think they possibly got hit from behind! They finished up in a pile at the side of the road! It didn’t look good from what I saw, although I didn’t look too closely!
That put me on edge for the rest of the day, and I was glad to stop this evening!
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