NOTE: I have started the emails for the blog here on the way to Porto. The posts between Paris and Porto can be found on the blog at worldwideride.ca and tap blog. I had not realized until this week that my mail chimp was not distributing the posts. So instead of inundating you with emails I a sending this email with just the next post to be published. The posts on Paris, Bilbao, Burgos, Oviedo, and the Douro Valley can be located on the blog.
The forecast again today is iffy. It’s an hour earlier in Portugal and we only have 63 km or an hour to Chaves where we plan to meet Trevor and Orvar. They have 222 km and 2 hours 40 min to meet us. We had no rain, but unfortunately they had quite a bit.
We arrived several hours before them and we toured around the city. We had a photo op at the N2 or Portuguese national road sign. The km 0 is here in Chaves. We also wound our way up into the old city and onto the wall at the keep.
The guys finally made it just after 1. We had set up at a cafe run by a nice family who advised us they would reserve us a table since it would get very busy and it did.
We had planned a 132 km route from Chaves to Braga that is supposed to be in the top 5 rides here in Portugal. Unfortunately it started raining about an hour into the 4 1/2 hour ride…..It was a very curvy road and there should have been great views of the lakes we passed and the views from the mountain side into the valleys. We had a few detours down some back roads to the lake at the bottom of the valley. We took a little break at the bridge and now there is just 108 km or 2.5 hours to get to Porto!
In Braga we had the most incredible gps route to get to the N12 and avoid the toll roads it felt like we were driving around in circles for at least 15 minutes. Even more amazing we hit all the crazy loops and turns and we didn’t loose anyone. We arrived at out rental apartment and were met by our lovely hosts. We must be tired as they came out to meet us and were very excited we made it and it took us all a few minutes to understand they were speaking to us in French!
