Day 8

Lisbon to Vila Vicosa – Sunday, September 29

The day started off on a sour note. We had decided to meet in the lobby at 9:00 to take Ubers to the bakery where we would join the others for our bus ride to our home for the next week. Scott left first only to return. The streets in front of the hotel were closed. A protest? or a marathon? We heard both. The only solution was to walk a long block, with the luggage and the wheelchair, in a different direction then call an Uber. Thank goodness a young man from the hotel helped with the luggage. Leslie and Scott had already secured an Uber. I called one. Then Pat and Chris arrived and called a third. Theirs came quickly. Ours was lost in the closed streets. We loaded most of our bags in Finnoff’s Uber. Our hotel man called our Uber driver. He was hopelessly lost in the closed streets. We eventually walked back to the hotel, crossed the Main Street and finally connected with our Uber. The long and short of it all – we embarked on a 10 minute trip at 9:00 and barely made it to catch the bus at 10:00, the scheduled departure time .

One of our guides, Jessie greeted all 22 of us. Jessie is a former professional bike rider from the North of the UK. All guests are from the US except one couple from Australia. The two hour ride east to Vila Vicosa was uneventful. We saw several castles on top of hills, cattle in green fields, huge transmission towers, cork trees and many vineyards.

At the hotel we were greeted by our two other guides, Sara and Mikey, both from Ireland. If you added up the age of all three guides combined the number would be less than my age. The Women ride with us – one in front, one behind and Mickey drives the van. A quick lunch, the bike fittings, instructions for the use of the Garmin computers on our bikes and off we went.  

Most of the ride was small smooth roads with probably 10% cobblestones. The hills were not bad til the end when I was getting tired. We had only one rest stop. It was a tougher day than I expected. I was actually jealous of the half that were on electric bikes.

We passed many marble pits, grape vines, cork trees and one very strange field with planted rows of cactus. What was the end product of that cactus?

Back at the hotel I took a really fine nap.

We walked a few blocks for group appetizers and dinner. Served family style – all was very good. The woman in charge was very helpful and very pleased that we all enjoyed her meal.

Photographs, while I am riding, are not possible. The guides are taking photos which will be available at the end of the week. A few were taken in the evening.

Tomorrow will be more challenging. I am including ride maps for each day.