Bom Dia!

Kilometers cycled so far: 2814

Galicia (northern Spain, above Portugal):

After my last installment I kept heading north-west, mostly sticking to the coast. First up was the Rias Altas, which was really hilly (rather than mountainous). So, I had a harder time than the shading on my map lead me to expect. The upside was some fantastic views of cliffs and valleys overlooking the sea. Visibility was not so good some days, but you get that...

Then I hit La Coruna and decided to get my back wheel rebuilt because I was busting spokes (too many cervezas and "Menu del dia"'s!). This took 5 days so I hung out in La Coruna, which is a good party town and not very touristy. This was helped by Deportiva, the local soccer team winning the Spanish Liga while I was there. I didn't do a lot of touristy things in La Coruna, but I did suss out a top class Tapas bar (to which I paid numerous visits)!

Then on to Santiago de Compostela: the end of the pilgrimage (for some). This was crawling with tourists, so I only checked out the impressive catherdal from the outside and keep going the next day. Pontevedra was the next stop where I had another couple of days off the bike (it seemed that the rain in Spain was falling mainly on me). This region has a rep for lots of rain and because of this I gave the Rias Bajas a miss.

Portugal:

The weather has been fantastic since just before I crossed the border (well over 20 degrees every day for the last 2 weeks). The first stop was the Parque Nacional de Peneda-Geres, a very picturesque national park. Very few tourists at this time of year, so the camp ground was nice and quiet.

I zig-zaged my way down the coast... Porto was not really that special, but it was nice to cycle a little way along the Douro River. I'm not usually an impulse buyer but I couldn't go past the bottle of 10 year old port at the supermarket (and somehow managed to fit it into my pannier).

Coimbra, with it's beautiful university, was a highlight. It was here I had a big night out with some Germans from the hostel and we met some cool Portugese students - the next day's cycle was a bit of a struggle.

For something different, I visited Portugal's largest cave (a depth of 110 m) system in the Parque Natural das Serras de Aire e Candeeiros. A couple of nights ago I stopped in Sintra - a beautiful (and hilly) little town in a lush forest a just west of Lisbon.

I arrived in Lisbon yesterday and met up with one of the German guys from Coimbra to "make party". We (as well as a kiwi and an american) managed to get talking to a local and she took us to a little bar where the locals got up and sang fado - it was a great night. Today I spent a quiet day walking around Lisbon: checked out the castle (I'm big into castles and have been averaging about 1 a day in Portugal) and will probably spend tomorrow here as well.

From here I plan to head east across Spain towards Barcelona, via Madrid.

So hope you all had a happy Easter and thanks to everyone whose sent me email.