Sarah
This ones for you honey...special request. I am 4 days into an end to end of Portugal and hadn't intended to blog the trip but one of the two 'shes that must be obeyed' has indicated that she would like it to be otherwise. So don't blame me, blame my daughter!
We are in Pombal, about 200 miles from the top, and have enjoyed 4 days of splendid weather and splendid riding and it has all been rather...well, erm.....splendid. I am riding the whole trip so am having to overcome a rather serious training deficit but the miles are helping to make my '10000 miles in 2014' attempt seem slightly less impossible. We have a mixed group of 22 but i think i am the third youngest so have no excuses and am trying to be manly when the hills get steep.
The most important thing you need to know about Portugal is that it is chirpy chirpy cheap cheap. Last night, at dinner, we had a salad, a very generous main course, all the wine we could drink ( which, naturally, is SOME) and coffee for ten quid. The other day we had three courses, though with only one glass of wine, for seven quid. AND tipping isn't expected or required!!!
Naturally i like Portugal, though i do have an issue with their rather stupid language. It appears to much in common with Spanish but, when spoken, sounds almost Russian. They have also taken the whole 'masculine' and 'feminine' nonsense to a whole new level and even words like thankyou are different depending on the gender of the thankee. This is a particularly tricky with some of the older peasants where, without checking their chromosomes, the difference isn't always that clear.
We have had a couple of flat days along the coast but we are now back in the hills and tomorrow looks 'lumpy'. Time for a glass of port i think.
We are in Pombal, about 200 miles from the top, and have enjoyed 4 days of splendid weather and splendid riding and it has all been rather...well, erm.....splendid. I am riding the whole trip so am having to overcome a rather serious training deficit but the miles are helping to make my '10000 miles in 2014' attempt seem slightly less impossible. We have a mixed group of 22 but i think i am the third youngest so have no excuses and am trying to be manly when the hills get steep.
The most important thing you need to know about Portugal is that it is chirpy chirpy cheap cheap. Last night, at dinner, we had a salad, a very generous main course, all the wine we could drink ( which, naturally, is SOME) and coffee for ten quid. The other day we had three courses, though with only one glass of wine, for seven quid. AND tipping isn't expected or required!!!
Naturally i like Portugal, though i do have an issue with their rather stupid language. It appears to much in common with Spanish but, when spoken, sounds almost Russian. They have also taken the whole 'masculine' and 'feminine' nonsense to a whole new level and even words like thankyou are different depending on the gender of the thankee. This is a particularly tricky with some of the older peasants where, without checking their chromosomes, the difference isn't always that clear.
We have had a couple of flat days along the coast but we are now back in the hills and tomorrow looks 'lumpy'. Time for a glass of port i think.
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