(Explanation later)
We were underway at 9.30, and made the most of the cooler morning, much less traffic as we took a route down the N550 to Pontevedra. Loads of bikes out today including a nutter two up on a scooter going on the opposite direction giving everyone a bad gesture .. I can only assume he had too much sauce last night ! The road took us up and down fast roads winding through pine tree valleys and later vinyards either side of the road opening out across estuaries near Redondella ...
Eventually we headed south east, avoiding Vigo and stopped for coffee at a great little coastal resort called Baiona, right on the Spanish side of the border.
The next section the PO-552 was just sublime, following Lindsay as we switched back up and over the bay inland to rise up to see the bay in full splendour below us. Just wish I had the GoPro on, but would need about a dozen memory cards anyway the twisties and views are that good so never mind !
Finally we crossed the border into Portugal and pulled up at a garage to fill up, get more water to drink and unzip the linings out of Jacket and trousers. We got in the shade of the mechanics garage closed for the weekend, ideal for us to cool down as the temp gauge rose above 32 deg c in the afternoon.
Our first look of Portugal.
There was a distinct change from Spain. Everything seems a little more run-down. The roads have huge seams of Tarmac and cracks in the road you could lose your foot crossing the road! We took care going into bends, as bend arrows were either missing altogether or inconsistent e.g for a sharp right hand bend you would get three arrows, for a hairpin you would see only one!
Along the way we kept seeing markets in the little villages, and plenty of community activities being a Sunday. In one village asI glanced left II saw everyone in one village attending an open air church service. Another common attraction is the makeshift fruit market stalls by the side of the road. Care must be taken with the driver in front as he tends to decide at the last second he fancies a peach or something and just slam his brakes on and pulls over!!
The last 20 miles as we tried to get through Povoa de Varzim was a nightmare. Sunday traffic queues forced us to filter most the way down to Porto, zig-zagging our way through villages to avoid getting snarled up and stationary. The wind had picked up too!
The TomTom took us straight to the hotel
Castello Santa Catarina, arrived about 18.45.
Later we went for a walk to get a beer and dinner.
Here's one of the Douro from a side street.
Tomorrow a day of the bike sight seeing around Porto ! More photos.
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