Somewhat unbelievably and certainly disappointingly, it was raining when we woke up this morning, but in the time it took for us to have breakfast and walk across town to find our bikes, the skies had thankfully cleared. As arranged, ‘Louis’ had his Bike Store open and was waiting for us.

We spent a few minutes making some adjustments, and then set off into the morning sunshine, over the railway, and back to the apartment to pick up our gear.

With some amount of trepidation, we loaded the bikes, locked the apartment and returned the key. We were now on our own and on our way!

A short, bumpy ride along cobbled streets got us to the train station.

Tickets had to be purchased in the train in cash. The waiting train seemed to be ours, but where to put the bikes remained unclear. A helpful man opened up a cargo door that had a ‘no entry’ sticker on it and gesticulated that this was absolutely fine and normal, so without further a-do, I climbed up and in. There were no steps, so I literally did have to climb up and in to the train. Clare passed up the gear and then clambered up herself.

There were bars on the window. We weren’t sure if that made it feel safer or just more scary!

We sat on the train for 30minutes past departure time before pulling away from the station. Nobody seemed at all bothered by this, and as we had plenty of time, it made no difference to us, as long as it actually left at some point. A few minutes into the journey a guy walked to the back of the train for a smoke. I was quite surprised that this might be allowed. I was even more surprised when he opened the door to let the smoke out! It actually cleared the smoke well and gave a good view of the countryside rushing past. Oh the joys of travel! Hard to see that happening back home!

A few hours later, we reached the end of the line at Vila Teal de Santo Antonio and another kind chap helped lift our bikes down.

This is as far east as you can go in Portugal. A river divides it from Spain. We had plenty of time to see the historic town and the Christmas market. We also popped into the local church to say hi today Dad, whose funeral was a year ago today. There was someone playing classical guitar inside. It wasn’t the Beatles, but it echoed about beautifully.

Following a tip-off some someone who we chatted with on the street, we went, rather randomly, to see Europe’s largest Nativity Scene. It cost €1.00 to enter was well worth it! An astonishing creation, best described as a 3D biblical version of ‘Where’s Wally’. There literally was so much to see – many of the figures moved and birds circled overhead.

Before cycling off, we marked the start of our cycle touring expedition, with a photo by the monument at the waters edge.

Over the next few weeks, we are planning on heading west to reach the furthest western point to make a complete traverse of the country.

But today, we had just a few kilometres to go to our overnight accommodation in a little chipboard cabin. It’s a busy summer resort with infinity pool by the waters edge, but today, it’s pretty much closed. Even though we had booked to stay, they were not expecting us and had to open a cabin up for us. On the plus side, there’s just us staying and we have a private resort to ourselves! (Although the guls seem to have commandeered infinity pool).

This is our pad for the night.

We shared a pastry and gave Dad a ‘cheers’ with a gritty cup of coffee that we brewed in a saucepan!

Just before dark, we rode our unloaded bikes to the southern peninsula at Foz do Guadiana.

It seemed right to dip our toes in the sea and mark the start of ‘The Tour’.

Now we’re cozied up for the night and as ready as we can be for the few hundred kilometres that lay ahead.