cork – Spain & Portugal 2024

Day 2/5 Riding – Vila Vicosa – Monday, September 30

I slept well, took a great shower, had a fine breakfast, finished yesterday’s blog and am ready to ride.

This promises to be a tough day – 50k (kilometers) with an almost 2000 foot climb. The weather is perfect. The roads are much more active with vehicle traffic – often passing or meeting us at what seems like an excessive speed. Once again I drop to the back of the pack. Only Chris and Scott stay back to check on me. And of course our guides are always making sure we are ok.

We pass by the marble quarries with their huge piles of scrap – “marble mountains”. We are scheduled for a marble tour later this week. Then we ride back into the country – wine yards, oak trees, the occasional small gathering of livestock (we have seen very few cattle, sheep or goats in Portugal). Off to our right I see several tall very colorful sculptures near the entrance to a wine estate. Are they giant styrofoam blocks? No! They are marble! I loved them and ask our guide if we could stop on our return – no we return a different way. I am certainly going to learn more about this unusual sighting.

We stop for a break, drink lots of water and visit a very clean bathroom. The guides tell us that one van will be waiting half way up the 4k climb ahead. So far so good. I feel strong and ready to tackle the “mountain”.

One k down – three to go. Almost half way and I have slowed until I dismount and walk. Around the next bend is the van. Discretion is the better part of valor – I decide to ride in the van to our picnic and the end of the riding day. Instead of 50k my ride was probably 44.

Our guides had arranged a taxi for Karen to meet us at the picnic. Lunch was a delicious and quite varied buffet with all kinds of drinks including both white and red wine. And of course, the sweets were plentiful.

We were met with four jeep-like vehicles that carried us way off road for a tour and lecture about cork trees. Portugal is the largest source of cork in the World and 80% of cork is used to make wine corks. It is a beautiful product – soft for floors, fireproof and on and on. This video will tell you much more.

How 40 Million Cork Wine Stoppers Are Harvested A Day

The numbers on the trees are the last number of the year of harvest, and, when the next is due. For example the tree with a “0” was last harvested in 2020 and will be due again in 2030.

We found a wonderful outdoor cafe for dinner with just our group. The Grey Goose and the meal were excellent. Another near perfect day!

Porto to Lisbon – Saturday September 28

Today’s drive didn’t start until 11:00. We showered and packed. I headed out for a walk to the nearest Starbucks. It was a perfect fall morning. The streets were full of locals and batches of tourists. I spotted several young ladies who were modeling for their dress shop. They had set up in the back of a small van with a sheet providing privacy. Welcome to Porto on a Saturday morning.

Halfway to Starbucks, I spotted a beautiful coffee shop – I can always get SB at home so I popped in, sat up at the counter for a croissant and coffee. So enjoyable. They had a case full of vintage ports – too bad our suitcases are already full. Back at the hotel, we met the same driver from yesterday, and off we went for a three-hour drive to Lisbon.

We drove through the forest fire area again. Storks build their nests in the tall power towers. The four of us need much more frequent potty stops. Every 40 kilometers are service areas with a first class cafeteria. We filled a small sack with juice and goodies at the first stop. The suckling pig looked delicious. As we drove south we began to see more grape vines – the fall red color indicates grapes for a red wine while the green vines are producing grapes for white wine. We began to see fields of olive trees then cork trees. It takes 25 years for a cork tree to yield its first cork, then every 9 years they can be harvested again. The tree should live long enough for 40 harvests. I did the math 9×40 = 360 years + 25 to get started = 385 years. WOW! And cork is Portugal’s #1 export.

A road trip tip – Several times we wondered where we were or how far along we were. I called up my Apple Map and expanded it to give us a picture of our location. Really nice!

The second pitt stop yielded more juice and snacks + a roasted chicken lunch for Karen. The driver pointed out a bridge 14 kilometers long designed by the same person who did the Golden Gate Bridge. Back to yesterday’s bridges – some were designed by Effilel as in The Effilel Tower. We were told he was from Portugal then others said he was French. I guess I should look that one up.

Our dinner is just a short walk from our hotel. We met the rest of “our group” from Boulder in the lobby. Jane Holzman was on the ride I did across northern Spain almost 30 years ago. Leslie and Scott Westfall rounded out our group of seven. Scott has sold business jets for many years and Leslie is the one who did all the work arranging this adventure. We are all anxious to start the ride tomorrow.