Ride day whatever, Figuera da Foz to Nazare

 Swirling fog and mist greeted us again this morning – it reminds us of the Oregon coast with its summer cloudy mornings giving way to sunny and usually windy afternoons.  Fortunately, our route today is mostly southward along the coast so the wind will again be at our backs.

After riding across a bridge on the main road out of Figuera da Foz we cruised along a fairly major road that had a great shoulder (in context, far less major than, say, highway 20 from Sisters to Black Butte), but a fair amount of traffic.  We saw a few other cyclists, but for the past few days we have seen fewer and fewer other riders.  We turned more toward the coast after about 20 miles and onto very quiet roads.  Ironically, for the next 50 miles we rode these quiet and every one of them had a very nice, separate bike lane.  Odd, on the big roads where a bike lane would be a pleasure and a relief, there is nothing to be found.  But on the quiet roads with virtually no traffic where a bike lane is not needed there is a beautiful separate lane.  No complaints.  We could have ridden on the road all day and would have maybe 5 cars pass us, but the bike lane was welcome anyway.

We stopped at a small seaside town to get a coffee and a few treats.  Oh, the treats were to die for and huge.  Maybe we should have been more circumspect, but like I said, they were to die for.

Too much sweetness...

Once on the quiet roads we again encountered huge areas of wildfire scars where fires have absolutely ravaged the coastal pine forests.  Along one stretch that we measured at nearly 25 miles in length the forest on both sides of the road were absolutely decimated by fire.  And the fire was obviously recent, probably last year.  We had read about the bad fire season in 2017, a year where dozens of folks had died in the fires.  At one point in that 25 mile stretch we came across about a dozen memorial markers at the edge of the road; it must be a point where people in their cars were overcome by fast traveling fire.  Another irony: the road we were on was only 100 meters away from the seashore.  The fire must have been terrible.

It used to be a forest of maritime pines

Now a memorial to bad forest management and tragic circumstances

Harvesting pine pitch resin for some unknown market

We did some poking around on the web when we got tucked into our AirBnB and we quickly found that the route that we’d ridden was in fact the very road where around 65 people were killed in 2017.  Here’s a link to terrible drone footage after the fire: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDIdBk1OVhk .  In the video, the bike lane that we rode today is to the right of the burnt out cars.  As is typical, there is controversy over how the fire started.  Some say dry lightening, others say that it is the fibre industry in Portugal that desires more eucalyptus (short fibre for good specialty papers) versus maritime pine (the native species) that has value only for the relatively small pitch resin market (see photos above).

I have no more words for this.

The fog and mist shrouded us almost all day, keeping us cool since the temperature was still about 21 or so.  

There used to be a house here

At many times today the ride was a bit surreal

Approaching Nazare

Our endpoint is Nazare – a very pretty town that is a popular place to visit.  The town has two distinct parts: an upper old town to the north built on a high promontory and a newer lower part to the south with a nice beach that is shielded by the ridge that pokes out into the sea.  Our place for the night is in the new section, at an AirBnB.

We stopped for a while at the upper area since it was the first area we saw as we rode in from the north.  The first thing that impressed us was the large number of large tourist busses for the relatively tiny town.  And the large number of tourists from said busses wandering around town, with its dozens and dozens of booths with vendors hawking all sorts of so-called authentic local items.  There is a square with a pretty church and this being Saturday there were weddings lined up like bowling pins – we sat in the square for about an hour (we were early for our arrival at the AirBnB and we saw 2 weddings exit the church and the next prepare to go in.  A cottage industry for the church no doubt.

Main square, upper Nazare

A pretty church that was busy with weddings.  Cac-ching.

Looking down to the new town, just south and down from old town

Das bike...

South beach

The square goes right to the edge of the cliff on the south side and has a great view of the south beach and the lower part of town.  We tried a Ginja – sounds like Central Oregon weed but it is a cherry digestive drink that is pretty good.

Ginja -- pretty good but you wouldn't want to make a habit of it

To the north, in the winter when all conditions are just right, there are enormous waves generated due to a confluence of natural conditions: an undersea canyon that rises sharply out of the sea and the way that the wind and current works.  The waves are said to approach 100 feet in height and it is a big deal for the big wave surfers. We walked out to the promontory and checked it out -- no big waves today but lots of wind and fog and cold.

There's a big wave surf museum with boards, etc.

Amazing geology

The lighthouse/fort that is just above the big waves

Surfboards from guys and women who surfed 100 ft. waves -- a lot of them are actually broken

The beach where the waves crash

A pretty famous lighthouse

That's the spot where the waves form when conditions are just right

 Our host at the AirBnB said that the big waves are fairly rare and that they come in late fall, early winter, hat is isn’t really a big thing to town.  But it gets a lot of notoriety and that brings folks to town.  She said that when the waves do come it is primarily in the early morning hours when it is dark, and that when the huge waves break they can feel it shake the ground even here at south beach.  There are a ton of videos on Youtube if you’re curious, and they are worth looking at.

We had a washing machine and Lorie immediately did wash.  I guess that comes from riding behind me for days on end.  Here's our laundry hanging in Portuguese fashion.

Laundry day.

The further south we go, the more English we hear.  Nazare is full of English-speakers whereas prior to this it has been either rare, or north of Porto, not heard.  Just a change of scene.

Tomorrow we are off to Santa Cruz by way of Obiedo, a walled city that Lorie is especially anxious to visit.  More southing!

Obrigado!