Vila Nova do Milfontes

Our first stop was to be the Ruinas Romana at Miróbriga which seems to have been an important Roman town - at 2 kms.

But it wasn’t open and looked very 'ordinary' from what we could see looking over the fence. And it took a lot of messing about looking for it.

Next we had a buzzy cycle downhill past eucalypt plantations being harvested only to find we had a taken a wrong turn at the top. So all the way up we had to go again - probably an extra 10 kms we didn’t need ...

Once back in the town of Santiago do Cacém where we had started, we had another long climb on a different road (the N261) which became a glorious ride through probably some of the nicest countryside we have cycled this trip: through sleepy villages that are surrounded by undulating countryside and forests of cork oak. 

Despite the earlier mis-steps, this was a most enjoyable ride; cycling as if in a reverie with the kilometers disappearing beneath our pedals and not even a thought to take a photo …  

It was 27 kms to Cercal (the last 7 kms along the not-so-pleasant N120 with a big climb) - and it turned out to be a very pretty town with the usual network of narrow streets and alleys. There was a funeral taking place at the church where we turned off the main road into the town - bells chiming a farewell. We had coffee and cake at the cafe opposite.

More good riding to Vila Nova do Milfontes (a further 14 kms on the N390) and on the outskirts (which were pretty grotty) I saw the sign ‘praias’ so we turned off and followed these to the beach.

What a glorious sight! Beautiful coloured water as far as the eye could see; lovely beaches; and huge sand dunes covered in pink, purple and yellow flowers.

We found a spot for our picnic lunch and enjoyed the views.

Vila Nova do Milfontes sits at the mouth of the Mira River on the Alentejo coastline and is a popular holiday spot. It’s easy to see why!

Interesting fishing shacks:

We checked in fractionally early at our accommodation - an absolutely lovely spot with a most helpful young man.

We have been very lucky: the weather forecast was for rain about lunchtime. It did not eventuate although cloud did build up. Whilst we rested after checking in, the sky became quite black and there was thunder and by 5 pm some steady rain.

THEN, on checking why an accommodation booking in a few days’ time had not been able to be transacted on my Visa card, we found that there were 2 fraudulent online transactions (in Australia a few days ago) so I suspect the bank was waiting for us to respond to these before allowing any more transactions … so a call to NAB (1 am back home) and the card is now blocked and a fraud investigation initiated.

We had a rest while it rained which fortunately stopped and so we set off to walk to dinner at A Fateixa down on the river booked by the nice young man at our accommodation. We had a lovely walk there going along a board walk near the castle straddling the water (btw - first castle we haven’t had to climb up to - because it’s at water-level!; it was built in the 16th century to protect the coastline from marauding Algerian pirates). 

The restaurant did a roaring trade all night. Simple, straightforward food. We shared the Arroz de Tamboril (monkfish with rice). Delicious.

Steady rain until about 9 pm meant having dessert so we could wait it out. Fortuitously this meant I could try Toucinho do céu (which I had tried to find back in Portalegre!); this is one of many Portuguese sweets that were initially prepared at convents. In its simplest form, this traditional cake combines sugary syrup, lard, ground almonds, and a hefty amount of egg yolks - delicious!

We chatted to a German couple at the neighbouring table; like us they were ‘stringing it out’ waiting for the rain to stop. And then about 9 pm it did! Off we trouped back to our accommodation.

Cycled a total of 60 kms (incl. the error at the start) and climbed 560 m.