Time to head south again, with a few stops along the way. 

Friday 12/4/13


Suzanne and I had stayed in bed not wanting to wake anyone, but when we got up we found out Sonya had already left for work, and Hugo was up. We were very fortunate that Hugo could take a few hours off this morning and we were able to have breakfast and a bit of a chat with him. It's a shame we couldn't have stayed a little longer.

Our view of clear skies from Hugo's guest room.

Hugo, like me, is a big, tough biker dude. This picture is in his bathroom. I was tempted to steal it.

We found our way up to the castle, but had all sorts of drama parking. Not because there wasn't any room, but because we couldn't find a level bit of ground. Our procedure for getting on and off the bike means we HAVE to be on level ground. Even then it's still a fall waiting to happen. I'll try and post a video of the exercise one day.The result of this was we didn't visit the castle, but rode around it. 

The road up to the castle.

On our way around we rode past the local high school and found some bikes parked outside. How cool is this little rocket?

Street legal and registered in Spain. The headlight is on the right hand side of the lower triple clamp. Sweet.

I might need to import one of these I think.

Once we left town we hit the back roads again. We had a fairly long way to go, but weren't in any hurry and the back roads offer a much more enjoyable ride, even if it takes a lot longer.

After a lot of carving the little back roads, and startling the odd local villager, we arrived in Batalha and rode straight to the church.

Another elaborate edifice.

Is the wire to keep the pigeons out, or the worshippers in when the collection plate is passed around?

While we were in Batalha we did a bit of souvenir shopping. Yes, more stuff to post home.

Our next stop was Alcobaça and it's Monastery. I was looking forward to seeing this as it has a lot of ornate carved stone on display. Unfortunately there was a very large funeral in progress so we left everyone there to their thoughts and didn't go in.

We were a bit disappointed we didn't get to go in here because it sounded like it was pretty special.

I have a feeling we'll be back in Portugal, so maybe next time.

OK, time to move again, which means...

 ...more perfect roads, and...

...more little villages.

Next stop Nazare, home of the largest surfing waves in the world. What a great little spot Nazare is, and the waves didn't look all that scary to me. Have a look...

The waves weren't much today.

Surfers come from all around the globe to surf here. When the conditions are right they use jet skis to tow them onto the face of the wave, then down the face until they have enough speed to surf the monsters.

Like this...

This is what the boys surf when they're serious.
Um, Cowabunga? Anyone?

The above photo above was taken up the hill from the lighthouse building. That actually makes the wave look smaller than it really is. I Can't imagine what they'd look like from the beach. And I have no desire to find out.

This photo was taken in front of the building in the big wave photo above, and we're on top of a cliff.

This guy, whose name was Symon I think, wanted his mate to take a photo of him with the bike. Maybe something a little smaller to start with might be a good idea.

It was now about six o'clock...lunch time! A quick ride up and down the quiet beach around the corner from the lighthouse turned up a very pleasant little restaurant that provided some suitable goodies to satisfy our hunger, and our thirst, right on the beach.

Another perfect Portuguese beach.

Another perfect restaurant.
Which one Suzanne?

Fishing is a huge part of life here. These large racks were set up on the beach and used to dry fish.

Today's catch. Tomorrow's lunch.

Alan (in my right hand) made a friend on the beach. Every time Alan squeaked, the dog came running.

Alan wanted to make a sand angel. It's sad when a rubber chicken does a better job than I can.

I'm sensing a little tension between Suzanne and Alan. He is a tad naughty. In fact he's suggested a few things for me to do that ended up getting me in strife, and I don't think Suzanne approves of his behaviour. We'll keep an eye on him. The last thing we need is a delinquent rubber chicken. His twin brother, Symon (coincidental eh?) is currently on holidays in Bermuda with Allen and Lorraine. I think he is quite well behaved, but I could be wrong.

Symon in Bermuda with Allan and Lorraine.

We had to make tracks so we found our way onto the motorway and skedaddled to Oeiras and our home for the next few days, Werner's apartment.

Wow! I can't believe we are so fortunate and Werner was kind enough to give us his apartment. To top things of, this is what greeted us as we walked in the door...

Werner, thank you so much. We have been astounded by your kindness and truly hope we can repay you in Australia one day.