I openly declare myself a big fan of Portugal. Only separated from my hometown in Spain by the Miño river, it’s the place where I used to cross with my grandfather a few decades ago through the International Iron Bridge. On top of that, when I was a kid, my first cycling adventures were dedicated to taking tourists on secret shortcuts to avoid the long lines that formed to cross the border, in exchange for some coins… Apart from this more sentimental thing, the coast of Portugal from Sagres, to the mouth of the Miño in the border city of Valença, is one of the best cycling destinations in Europe for its landscape, culture, and gastronomy. Amazing is as well the development of bike lanes designed for exclusive use by touring lovers, so there you go, I already had all the ingredients so that Marc Gasch could not refuse my offer of a new three-day gravel adventure with our 3T Exploro.
STAGE 1: AVEIRO- PORTO
Syncing agendas in the current world in which we live is not easy for us, and less so in my case, since it’s been a crazy busy year for us at Sherpa Project, my company, hooking one project after another. Thanks, Marc for his patience, showing him, in addition, that even with cyclogenesis forecast, Portugal is a “365” country to visit throughout the year.
A big storm on the Atlantic Coast does not scare a Galician guy like me, and in a couple of days, I had planned the itinerary and all the logistics of the trip. The plan was very simple, pick up Marc and Loren at the Sá Carneiro Airport in Porto, with direct flights from virtually anywhere in the world, get a transfer to Aveiro, known as the small “Portuguese Venice” for its navigable channels, and from there trace all the Atlantic coast and the Miño river until we finish our trip in Tui, that is, at the door of my house.
We leave from “Praia da Costa Nova”, the name of a beach in the Aveiro district that belongs to the city of Ílhavo. It is located next to the Ria de Aveiro, in the tourist area of
