Viana do Castelo

Today we cycle 50 km to Viana do Castelo.
DESCRIPTION:
Ride through residential areas and follow the coastline from Vila do Conde to the resort town of Povoa de Varzim. Then continue cycling alongside the ocean and beaches on a mixture of back roads, dirt
tracks and cycle paths for about 8km before heading inland along cobbled roads and dirt tracks between market gardens, small
patches of forest and a couple of villages before crossing the River Cávado to reach the low-key resort town of Esposende
There are a couple of hills to negotiate after Esposende but for the most part, any climbs are gentle. The approach to Viana
do Castelo across the iron bridge over the River Lima will provide magnificent views along the valley and estuary. Viana do Castelo is surrounded by unspoilt coastline and was once one of Portugal's
most important ports back in the 15th and 16th centuries, where Portuguese explorers would set off to discover far-flung lands
A wealthy city during the Portuguese explorations in the age of discoveries, it has many attractive historical buildings including a 16th century fountain and former council chambers, and a beautifully restored church. Its architecture consists of Celtic settlements, medieval monuments and award-winning contemporary buildings.

We enjoyed a hearty breakfast of our usual yoghurts, granola and fruit, meat and cheese, eggs, bacon, tomatoes and lattes. We made a sandwich for our lunch and got ready to head away. We were all reluctant to sit on our bike saddles, but away we went. We had some smooth sections of bike path to start the day. We saw a lot more pilgrims walking today all along the 50 km. We had a lot of Bom Camino greetings! Over the first half of the day it was flat with beautiful beaches all along, but we had cobblestones all day and especially the really rough ones in the latter half. I left my sunglasses behind at a WC stop😔After Esposende, we had some shorter hills and some very steep uphill climbs today. The descents were the best to rest our butts and get off the saddle. We had a cafe stop half way in an old village and had fun taking a few photos and Joanne found another cute old cat to photograph😍. We had a few key stops when our butts just couldn't take more cobblestones. Every town we stopped in was usually at or near a church. There were a lot of old stone walls that we passed alongside today. We had a few quick stops to turn back and get the correct navigation. Lots of trivky spots with quick turns easy to miss. Thankfully Macs Adventures provides a great navigation system. We also saw so many lemon and orange trees just filled with huge pieces of fruit. In Anha, some pilgrims shared a few lemons with us that a local woman gave them. We had a steep descent coming down to the Lima River which had a really long bridge we walked over to get I to the beautiful town of Viana do Castelo. We found our Airbnb and showered and stretched then went to another great restaurant called Taberna Cartinho de Viana where Joanne and I had the grilled seabream fish and the guys had pork ribs and belly. The waiter was very friendly and gave us lots of good local food information. We ended the meal by sharing their local traditional torte de Viana, a spongebsse cake coated in creamy egg yolk custard and marmalade filling. It looks like our jellyrolls.En savoir plus