https://www.portugal-the-simple-life.com/post/portuguese-cobblestone-art-beneath-your-feet

I don't think that link is going to come through. It's an interesting article. I'm being too literal - wanting them to be actual stones.

I was just having a side conversation about this. Are they cobblestones if they aren't stones, or are they pavers? I wonder what the locals call this sort of street.

Looks like it. The big question is why so many people grow so much of the stuff. Maybe it is mainly used for animal feed, but literally every garden has some, so who knows?

Unfortunately it is in the opposite direction to where we are headed, and the forecast tomorrow is for rain. Luckily, we already saw a similar staircase shrine in Lamego, and climbed it, although not on our knees.

That is what we thought of too. We found the Valley really lovely. Even enjoyed the cobblestones, which we find much preferable to busy car infested roads.

The heated toilet seats sound good, the fish on a stick not so much.

Maybe Jersey cabbage (or walking stick cabbage).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jersey_cabbage
The above wikipedia article specifically mentions Portugal.

I'm almost positive that there are some growing at the Horticultural Centre of the Pacific near Victoria.

What ever else you do on this tour, don’t leave Braga without visiting Bom Jesus do Monte: https://www.cycleblaze.com/journals/iberia2019/in-braga-a-walk-to-bom-jesus-do-monte/

This looks like something we might have seen twenty years ago.

At a mountain pass in Japan we got them fried, skewered on a stick. It was raining and very cold, but the fish and especially the heated toilet seats really revived us.

You are right about ebike being a game changer. Neither of us would be on the road right now without it. But of course it's never that simple. There are important variations in ebike features, design, and quality. They have differing power and endurance themselves, and the big issue of with throttle or not. The thing is, a touring cyclist does not want to get at all close to now having a "motor bike", and anyway if you get that kind of power and a throttle, you probably lack touring range. We deliberately chose the weakest e-assist going. It can give a nice push on the flat or slight hills hills all day for 100 km, and it can boost you up a pretty steep hill for a couple of minutes. But try a moderate hill for 1/2 hour and it will burn out.

With a new factory build stand up bike, the medium powered Bosch (not the "Active +", but the next model up) is probably the best choice, and we saw it lots in the Alps, but to retrofit a recumbent would take expert advice.

You could ask us more about this, we love this stuff, even while pushing it.

I don't know much (anything) about E bikes. Isn't this the sort of conditions that batteries are meant for? A little boost on the uphill?

A friend here in town, whom I didn't realize was even into bicycles, says her E bike is a game changer. Hills? Headwinds? No problem - she just goes click, click and powers right through. She was telling me this as I said I should get going because the headwind was getting stronger!

I don't think I'd have a very good attitude if I did that much bicycle pushing. I hope you had a really good dinner as a reward!

Scary roads! And pushing bikes 20km wow! You guys are hard core!

Epic accomplishment. Congratulations!

We have heard of the antiblink law too, but nobody, including us, pays attention to it. When it comes to our safety on no shoulder roads with cars breathing down our necks, silly rules have no weight. In fact, Dodie's light has a "daylight piercing flash" mode that we rather like!