When The Going Gets Tough

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We plan our trips, as far as is practical, to enjoy decent weather but this is never a given. A bit of rain is to be expected, and nothing to be afraid of, but the forecast for Lisbon was wetter than a wet thing.  Faced with the prospect of finding shelter for building our bikes then 20 miles of sub-aqua cycling to our hotel we resolved to get a taxi.

Arriving into Lisbon, there was a noticeable absence of rain so figured we might as well revert to plan A and cycle.  The promised long queues for biographic data capture didn't materialise.  Those cunning Portuguese had found a way round the problem...they didn't bother trying.  As a man who has been preparing his stool sample for several days this was a bit of a disappointment.

Finding a good spot to build the bikes is always a challenge and today we came up with a corker.  We hauled the boxes off the oversized baggage belt and built them right there.  This created the tantalizing possibility of cycling through customs and straight out of the terminal.  Neil persuaded me this was a bad idea.

The combination of an on-time flight, fast border checks and our general cycling magnificence meant we were at out hotel by 4:15.  Or, to put it another way,  three and a quarter hours before the restaurant opened.  Now, if ever there was a place to get shit-faced while waiting for diner it is Portugal, where beer costs so little that you wonder how anyone makes any money selling it.  Plum and I haven't seen each other for 6 months so we drank and caught up.  This involved him telling me about how he is going to put a BMW motorcycle engine in a Hillman Imp and me talking him through the fine detail of my recent brush with Norovirus.  Ahhh...good times.

As I'm writing this we still haven't reached the magical hour when people are allowed to have their dinner.  We are considering the merits of popping down to LIDL for a bottle of port.  

Tomorrow, we have 68 miles to look forward to and the weather is looking pretty splendid so, if our headaches aren't too bad, it should be a lovely day.


Comments

  1. Anonymous2 November 2025 at 01:44

    Always great to learn what you two are up to….bouncing off each other (as usual) making all the right calls…..enjoy fellas!

    ReplyDelete

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