From Sao Joao de Madiera we only had 30 something kilometer to ride into Porto. We were looking forward to another rest day - time to relax, enjoy some of the Port houses in Gaia, and parts of the city we hadn't seen when there in April. Despite Sandy's frustration with the route getting to Madiera we opted to follow the Camino route once again. I'm not completely convinced that there isn't a better way to do this, but really, on the road is not the time to figure it out. We would once again be climbing more that we might like in exchange for avoiding the busy traffic on the N-1 highway that roughly followed the route from Lisbon to Porto. It was the right choice to make. The few times that we came into contact with the highway we were reminded how busy it could be. Inevitably there were spots where we had no choice and we would experience, again, the constant flow of cars, buses, trucks and other forms of transportation you might conceive along the way reminded us why we made the choices that we did. On the other hand, we found ourselves in spots wondering if we'd moved away from civilization and into the wilderness - destined to be there for 40 days and 40 nights. One three or four kilometer stretch took us through patches of recent clear cut and definite signs of the loggers who been around them earlier in the summer. In the final stretch before reaching Porto we walked our bikes up a steep hill on a Roman road that had never been upgraded. We've learned that "cobbles" come in sizes that range from about 3 inches by three inches to large boulders fit into the ground to create a solid surface. The smaller the cobbles, the more likelihood that the road will be amenable to cycling. Large boulders mean that slaves at some point 2000 years ago lay them in the ground only to have the world pass them by. The ravages of time mean that erosion and use have multiplied the inequities between the stones and exacerbated the natural bumps that are in them - they are not fit to be cycled on; especially when used to form a road up a hill in 10-12 foots stretches which have become plateau, rise, plateau, rise. I could imagine the small rivers running down them during a good rain storm in the winter month and wished that some municipal politician might take it upon themselves to upgrade the road surface from cobbles to modern pavement. In one stretch I'd find myself imagining what it might have been like to watch Roman soldiers with chariots march by alternated by visions of the possibilities of the modern world improving the surfaces we were riding upon.
It wasn't particularly easy riding. A good part of the distance was cobbles, and, right out of the gate, we were winding around the streets of Sao Joao avoiding the busier routes, but turning corners only to discover a hill in front of us. The people along the street were certainly friendly and encouraging. Around one corner three women in conversation paused to wish us a Buen Camino. As we passed a school yard with a class of elementary students gathered around a table for an outside lesson the teacher was shouting good wishes to us as we slowly climbed the hill. It did feel good to be getting closer to what I considered in my mind the 1/2 way point of our cycling.
The route took followed a Roman road for a good part of the day. But when we moved from that road to another we had to cross the N-1 highway. It was busy. We found ourselves stopping and starting again frequently. For a bit our directions put us on the N-1 with the traffic headed into Vila Nova de Gaia. Porto sits on the north bank of the Duoro River. Villa Nova de Gaia on the south. Like Edmonton there are limited spots to cross the river and all roads lead you there. We were initially planning to find our way to the coast, but the change of routes meant we'd go directly to the historic bridge between Gaia and Porto. Moving into Gaia took us through a urban green space that is not developed in the way we might know the River Valley to be. The pathways through the space were rutted and challenging to ride. Recent rains had left deep puddles and we had to find our way around those. Both Sandy and I found ourselves battling with thorny plants along the edge of the trail as we avoided the puddles. The mud around the puddles was greasy. Our bikes slipped as we rode around. At one point I needed to put my foot into the mud to avoid my full body and bike slipping into the deep puddle I was navigating around...We passed during this stage a couple from Argentina who were also riding the Camino. We stopped and visited as well as we could given their lack of English and our lack of Spanish. As we moved on from that stop the path took us over a rise and became a narrow, steep single track down the hillside. We walked down guiding our bikes over the steps formed by prior pilgrims making their way through.
We'd finally come into Gaia and the road to the bridge was filled with buses - transit buses, tourist buses and others. The sidewalks were full of people shopping as we passed a variety of businesses along the downtown streets. The one saving grace was that the closer we got to the river the thinner the traffic became. This bridge over the Duoro is primarily a pedestrian bridge - although the LRT tracks also cross. The pedestrians and trains cross together - pedestrians needing to move out of the way for the trains to get by. It is a system that would not work in North America, but appears to do well in Porto. Below on the south side of the River the Port houses attract thousands of tourists from around the world. At the south west corner of the bridge a gondola carries passengers down into the River Valley. We'd stayed by the bridge in Porto in April. This trip our hotel was deeper into the tourist zone of the city - east of the historic center. We needed to navigate the maze of streets and traffic to get there. The Garmin would adjust the route we were following if we missed a turn. After a number of confusing intersections we found our way to the bus depot we'd used in the spring. Built directly above was our hotel. We'd not noticed it in the spring. It was a couple of kilometers back into the historic district and we'd be doing a fair bit of walking over the next two days. Wasn't sure about how much of that I wanted to be doing; but it was good to be back in Porto. There is Port to be sampled...
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