Day 6 The Big Iberian Tour - Perniche

55 kms is definitely a civilised distance, particularly when it's as hot as it is at the moment (it's hitting 80 degrees). It means I can take things really slowly and arrive early afternoon. Sorry Christine, I know you're arriving on Saturday but I've now got a routine. It involves leaving about 9, stopping for coffee at about 10-45 and then having a light lunch at about 12-30. I then get dinner at around 7-30 which seems to be OK in Portugal.

Today's ride was a real mixed bag, a nice mixed bag but with very different parts. As well as varied scenery it also involved different surfaces including a lot of off-road.

Day 5 - The Big Iberian Tour - Foz do Arelho

Today I've had a really nice ride on my bike. The scenery has improved, I met of a couple of Dutch who were doing something nearly as mad as me, and I visited the beach that has the world's biggest waves. The ride was just over 60 kms long with 1100m of climb which, after a couple of 90km days, felt really civilised.

The coastline has become really beautiful. It is now rugged with towns located in proper sandy bays surrounded by multi coloured cliffs.

Day 4 The Big Iberian Tour - San Pedro de Moel

San Pedro de Moel is a nice place, picturesque and very popular. On a sunny Sunday at the beginning of the Easter school holidays it's a busy place jammed with cars. It sits at the northern end of the Silver Coast and what I hope will be an improvement to the scenery. So far it's all been just a bit too flat.

Day 3 The Big Iberian Tour - Figueira da Foz

My bike can take big tyres and today I wish I'd got them on, the going was rough, hardly any smooth surfaces, and the 80 kms felt long. It was also very hot and although for once I'm actually applying the lotion, I'm getting burnished.

The rough going started as soon as I got back to the route from Aveiro. The gravel path, now following the eastern side of the lagoon I tracked yesterday, was long, straight and relentless. The tide was out and the lagoon had been transformed into a wide expanse of mud and seaweed and locals with buckets were finding something edible.

Day 2 The Big Iberian Tour - Aveira

Aveira is a surprisingly nice place, surprising because the final approach, along tight busy roads in the rush hour, was horrible. It's actually about 10 kms off the route and after making it through the suburbs, its old historic centre, a small port at the end of a lagoon, was packed with Baroque buildings and nice restaurants. I writing this waiting for my eel stew, apparently the local specialty, and half a bottle of Douro to help it go down. It's a tough life!

Actually I think I deserve it. Today's 95km was flat and easy but I was in the sun for a long time. Yes the weather continues to be perfect.




Despite a bit of dodgy navigation leaving Porto, I got away early. The dodgy navigation resulted in me carrying the bike down some never ending stairs but at least I got a great view of that bridge. I then crossed it on the bike which was even more fun. After a final view of the lovely Porto the route turned south along the coast.

Day 1 - The Big Iberian Tour - Porto

I'm in Porto at the beginning of my longest cycling trip " The Big Iberian Tour", an epic 2000km journey south along the Portuguese coast and north through Spain via Seville. If all goes to plan, we (Christine joins the expedition in Lisbon) will be heading back to the UK, on a ferry from Santander, in mid-May.


The initial plan involved a relatively modest adventure along Spain's Ruta de la Plata from Seville to Giron. Based on an excellent website, this looks like a brilliant route but we then noticed that the Atlantic Eurovelo is now complete in Portugal and that we could follow this almost all the way to Seville. As time is not a problem (for me at least), the only question was how much of Portugal to cycle and which airport to start from. 'Most of it' was the answer so here I am in Porto.

Today all I had to do was get from the airport to my modest but comfortable hotel in the middle of the city. It's been a stressful day, so a short ride and a long relaxing afternoon was just what was needed at the beginning of the trip. Getting the bike to Gatwick, packing it into a big plastic bag, with all the vital bits protected by bubble wrap, and onto plane is something I've done before but it's still nerve-racking. I saw the bike go onto the plane, gave the baggage handler the thumbs up, and yes it made it to Porto in one piece.

Cycling in Castle Country

'To dare is to do' is of course the motto of the mighty Spurs but Christine's plan to go cycling around Herefordshire in March shows that it's close to her heart as well. Not one to worry about petty details (the weather and the hills) the discovery that there is a direct train from Brighton to the middle of the west country was a clincher. Well we got away with it. I suspect the cold, occasionally wet weather was about typical for the time of year but the cycling itself was great. The empty country lanes were a real revelation and, although it was hilly, it was pleasantly challenging rather than difficult.

Since last year and our big trip across France we've both splashed out big time on new bikes. Our beloved Croix de Fers have been replaced by much lighter titanium bikes assembled in Brighton by Mike Reilly. Getting those steel bikes up three flights of stairs into our flat had become a real pain and given our go further plans for 2017 we persuaded ourselves that an upgrade was justified. We also dumped panniers and gone thoroughly modern with Apidura saddle bags. The west country trip was the perfect opportunity to test all this new gear and we are very pleased with the results.