Cycling day 2 - Espinho to Aveiro

11:11 AM shot today.

I tried to post yesterday, but was so exhausted that it had to wait until this morning! …. 

Once again, the forecast looked threatening.  The winds were coming from the south and therefore it would be in our faces.  As we were enjoying the tasty array of the hotel’s morning spread, our discussion was on wether or not we wanted to try our luck and take on the windy/rainy adventure. Or do a combo train and cycle or should we plan on taking the train the whole way.  Half hour later we were on the road enjoying the great bicycle trails, but not loving the fierce 

Fortunately we were able to find a store awning, doorway facing the north or in this case a bus stop to shelter us from a downpour. During one of the downpour breaks, I checked the map and looked for train stations nearby and possibly alternate routes. Unfortunately for us, an alternate, shorter route was found and we decided to proceed. It started off good, on a semi-quiet path sheltered somewhat from the wind that ran adjacent and to the train tracks.  We were greeted by each passing train with toot. There were large puddles that we had to manage around… but even that was not bad. 

The exhausting part was when we turned away from the path by the tracks and had about a mile of thick sand, it was unridable due to the weight of our fully loaded bikes. We were beat by the time we got out.😩

We endured the sand pit.. now it was direct headwind at 20mph. Seeing (but not riding on) the cobblestone lined streets of the small cities and villages was neat, and noticing the unique tiles on so many of the homes, businesses and churches made us appreciate being on our journey. 

Our journey included a ferry ride across the  São Jacinto. It departs every hour…we mustered  up energy (that we did not have) and got to the ferry with a few minutes to spare. We were absolutely exhausted. 

Once off the ferry we still had about an hour ride to get to Aveiro. Aveiro is a very cute touristy town made famous by the traditional boats, called “Moliceiros”. These beautifully brightly painted boats line the canal  for tourist rides. Maybe we’ll ride one another day. 😉 

When we tucked our bikes into the hotel storage area and crated up all our belongings we then checked our daily stats. We were shocked that the mileage only showed only 40 miles because it felt at least double that. (Maybe  triple!) The 20+ mph headwinds were relentless. What a blessing to get to that hotel room.