Caldas da Rainha to Praia da Vieira - 58km

My re-routing worked a treat and today’s ride was fabulous. It was a mixture of some busy roads, quiet roads and lots of separated bike path. The ascensor worked well albeit with stairs at the other end that required unpacking the bike and doing the ferrying of gear. The driver told me the bike was too heavy. 🤯🤪 When it fell halfway up, I thought my holiday was over and bike would be forever in the chasm of the funiculare. 

Today I met some other touring cyclists, finally. Everyone has their own agenda and when I was stopped in town today and a tourer rode past without so much as a word, I must admit I was a little miffed. Anyway, that resolved after a Swiss guy and an American both stopped for long chats on the path. It was so nice to connect to other touring cyclists. Both had their individual stories as we all do, one was credit card touring, the other has a holiday house close by. They shared information with me about the forward route and I with them about where I’d come from. 

I arrived in Praia and found the campground easily. Unfortunately, as was bound to happen eventually, this was one of those places that I should not stay. It just felt wrong. There was no map to show me where to camp. I pushed my bike to the end of the campground which apparently was the area for tents. You’d need lunch to get to the bathrooms! There was no dedicated tent space that I could see.Luckily for me there was a hotel just up the road and they had a vacancy. 

Today is the summer carnival for Praia so I spent a little time wandering the streets, connecting with the local culture, and listening to the music. Unfortunately, gluten free food here is a little challenging particularly in the smaller towns. I’ve managed to gather enough together with most food groups covered although some veggies would be nice!

Now to plan tomorrow as it should have been a rest day but I’m going to ride.