Vila do Conde to Rio Alto

We headed North along the shore from Porto and we had as Tomek put it the best ride ever in his life :) it was flat, it was right next go the Atlantic and it was through sand dunes covered with beautiful flowers. It must be a consistent coast preservation development because for the whole day we were following a wooden plank path with cool restaurants and cafeterias in Scandinavian arcitecture style - which i admire and which took me by surprise in a hispanic mediterranian country. Along the way we stopped by a tiny beach restaurant with its own beach, hidden and not even listed on our map, so we were all to ourselves with the hosts 2 year old son. We spent the night in Vila do Conde, which could have been a pleasant experience, but it was not, due to the stinky and unclean room and the traffic, though the city is pretty and we managed to collect our caminho stamp in the local church. Riding through the small towns has the downside of bumpy cobble stone roads which our bikes and trolley does not take too well so sometimes we opt for the N13 national road which is uninspiring but flat and fast. So we reached the Orbitour camping in Rio Alto the next day, where we rented a mobile home of some 20 m2 with a small bathroom ang kitchenett, we even had our first night in separate bed from our kids:) they slept together sweetly till the morning squashing together on a big bed. We even made a big laundry as they had a machine and decorated our terrace with all the clotes only for the night storm to wash it all away. So instead of heading further North we stayed another day to dry things, to indulge in the pool and on the magnificent ocean coast. We made a ride to Fao; to see a doctor as we suspected Lulu having a tick, but the doctor did not see it and i think he thought we were crazy for such an idea. I guess they have no such problems in Portugal... Anyway Lulu is fine and we have the nicest watermark in our passports from the Fao; church. So after 2 days in the camping we continued further North, this time a bit inland and more to the mountains, so the ritde was not easy. We made almost 40 km and reached Casa da Reina, which was our heavenly accommodation last night, a real treasure with giant hortenzias, a lemon tree, a pool, 4 rooms and all kinds of wonders in the garden. I climbed an orange tree and made a lemonade from fruits right from the tree!!! No comments can describe it :)


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