São Miguel da Guarda to  Vilar Formosa – 42km Our last day in Portugal gave us reasonable weather and reasonable hills! The terrain reminded us of the moors of the UK, with granite, mist and lichen-wrapped trees, with the exception of the vineyards, of course! It felt a long way from Lisbon. We checked in to our ...

Celericos da Beira to São Miguel da Guarda 24km Voyages, voyagers – so many different types! So many nationalities in the world! Many professions! Many people! So many different purposes you can give to life, In this life that, after all, deep down, is always, always the same! So many curious faces! All faces are curious ...

Viseu to Celorico de Beira – 56km It was a stunning day, as we climbed steadily on the N16 up into mountain country.  We had fine views of the snow covered Serra da Estrela and recalled our conversation yesterday with the proprietor of the VeloCafé. He told us about the great cycling in the Parque. He ...

Old Viseu is a beautiful, well-preserved medieval city. It is the kind of place we would have loved to linger in, exploring narrow cobbled streets and the city’s historical and architectural richness, not to mention the wonderful food and elegant Dão wines. We did visit the Sé (13thC cathedral), the 18thC Igreja da Misericórdia and ...

      Coimbra to Santa Comba Dão – 59km         Santa Comba Dão to Viseu – 51km         Packing up in the rain at the Cafe Vale Martinhlo           There is a dusting of snow on the rooftops in Viseu seen from our hotel window this morning! Again (see LEJOG 2015), we have gone from cycling in 25C to 1C over the ...

          We started our morning wanderings with espressos at Nicola Cafe, before visiting the Romanesque Old Cathedral, Sé Velha, built in the 12thC and with its 13thC Gothic cloisters. Also designed to be a fortress against a Moorish threat (Coimbra had been a Moorish stronghold for centuries, but were evicted by Christians in 1064). Lunch at Maria’s ...

Pombal to Coimbra – 40km The morning’s cycle was on an undulating highway, more like cycling across Canada – noisier and less pleasant than the hilly Portuguese countryside, but quicker and easier! It was cooler and we missed the aroma of eucalyptus, pine and flowering trees that have accompanying us. We had booked a couple of nights ...

Fatima to Pombal – 52km               As a young child, Lois was fascinated and enchanted by the story of Fatima in which, in 1917, three local shepherd children: Lúcia dos Santos and her cousins, Francisco and Jacinta Marto, saw visions of a lady since believed to be the Virgin Mary, known as Our Lady of Fátima (Nussa ...

Santarem to Fátima – 60km (aka the hilly pilgrimage) Given Lois’ Catholic upbringing, a ride through Portugal without visiting Fatima seemed, well…sacrilegious. By the third long hill, we were  feeling significantly less devoted. Fuelled with an espresso and cappuccino at Pascoalini Geladaria near the hotel,  we left Santarem cycling back down the very steep Rua Alexandre Herculano (N3). ...

On recommendations from our trusty Lonely Planet guide, we visited the Convento de S. Francisco and the calm of it’s cloisters, the Mercado Municipal, the Jardín Portas do Sol with fine views of the Tejo, the Iglesia de Nossa Senhora da Marvila with walls covered in tiles (azulejos), and the Igelsia de Nossa Senhora da ...