Two similar species. The one on the left is a white throated sparrow, and the one on the right is a white crowned sparrow.

White crowned sparrow. You’ll see this one at home too.

Oh, of course. This one is a female northern cardinal.

We are reasonably familiar with the birds that come to our feeder in BC, but these are in Montreal and we don't know them (yet).

So do you know your local birds, or is this something new for you to be aware of?

You have to love the artwork of the cobblestones for a street surface.

Generally you "windrow" hay, before coming along with the baler, but onions also need to dry and then be picked up.

Dodie kept checking the downloaded track, from the official website, and indeed this was it. The only sign indicating that this was EV 1 is the one in the photo above. Seriously a ridiculous routing choice! To make it even worse, at the start or entry to each boardwalk section a pictogram sign showed no bicycles allowed, with no alternative routing suggested.

Seriously? This is really part of the Eurovelo?

Thanks for using the word windrow in a sentence, with illustration. I’ve often read the word but just glossed over without knowing what it meant.

It never occurred to me to try identifying snails until the ones we saw back in the Gargano, but I think this is a Spanish milk snail (Otala lactea). I’m especially glad to have done this research because it introduced me to love-darts, which they and some other snails and slugs use to reel in a mate. Great article, great pics: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_dart

How wide are your tires? That's a serious question. We aren't going to northern Portugal, so I'm thinking we won't run into as many cobblestones. But I'm slightly concerned that my 1.5 Gatorskins might have too rough of a ride. I usually have Marathon Racers (also a 1.5), but was cajoled into trying the Gatorskins while in Tucson.

I'm feeling guilty for saying pavers. Let's call them cobblestones - it's more authentic to the area. We have plain old pavers here in the USA, they aren't at all in Portugal's league.

It was news to us also. Nice link between our two countries.

Make it easy order a propane fired Ooni pizza oven. We have one and it works really well. You can get a wood fired one too if you rather Not as much character but very functional.