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Last night went well. No problems at all. The tent was a little damp though and my airbed has definetely got a leak.
I was delayed setting off as one of the tent pegs was missing. I don't really need twelve of them but I always diligently count them every morning.
An enormous search was carried out but to no avail. I eventually just had to give up. It is possible that a criminal raided my camp and stole one though. Maybe they will put it up for sale on ebay.
I guess it is a big risk losing one when pitching on sand. It is possible to tie string to them so maybe I should give that a try.
I had a good days riding - mainly with the wind behnd me. However there was quite a bit of climbing. Nothing especially untoward but I have gotten used to the flat the past few days. My legs do seem to have a little bit of extra power after five hours - wierd.
I had a bloody good wash in a basin in the car porch of an empty house. I feel great tonight - all fresh. I also washed tomorrow's clothes. Will they be dry though? I am stayinging on the concrete verandah of a failed housing development. Not tried this before.
I set off at 11am after a slow start to the day waiting for the rain to clear, packing and chatting with my hosts through Google Translate.
It started raining withn a few minutes but eventually cleared. I took a long break in a tran station while adjusting the brake pads and cleaning the chain. I found a spring sticking out of my TRP levers - will have to figure that one out.
I joined a bike lane than continued through the dunes/pine forest for 50km. Amazing. Mister Sun came for a visit.
Unfortunately there were very few trees. Looks llike they all got burnt to a crisp about 10 - 15 years ago.
Tongiht I wildcamp near the beach - pics below.
There was light occasional rain overnight rather than the promised thunderstorm. I packed quickly so I could catch the 930am ferry. The next one after that wasn't until 11:40am.
After the ferry there was a great cycleway and then the main feature of the day - The Pineda. It was a 30km ride on a dead straight road through a pine forest. Unfortunately all the pine trees have been cut down and not replaced so I instead saw a throughly denuded landscape. Boring!
The last one km did have trees and was filled with the twittering of birds. After a short lunch break for a sandwich I saw a fantastic very long beach and headed into Figueira de Foz. After a stop at Lidl I was eagier to leave - the instore announncements were in english!
Then on to another boring 22km on a drainage access road with heavy rain left me eager to call it a day.
I checked into a small BnB and started to dry off.
Overnight moisture left the tents drenched in water and they took a while to dry. A herd of goats came over for a visit.
We then had lots of riding on rough cobbles. This was a big problem. We were always looking for alternative routes to avoid the rough stuff but this led us several times to dead-ends.
It was a relief to arrive in Porto and make my way to an albergue.
It was a lovely ride along the river Minho and I started with my Portuguese audio lessons. Seems a bit tricky at the moment.
After lunch I bumped into the two Frenchmen from a few days ago and we rode, dined and are now wildcamped together.
Fantastic weather today which helps me forget how horrible it was yesterday.
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