Day 15: Foz do Arelho to Peniche

March 16, 2023

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We can't really start the day until we get out of the bathroom at the "Agua d'Alma" hotel. Almost all bathtubs in Europe are much narrower than we are used to back home. This makes getting in and out an athletic exercise. Let's assume that somehow you are lying on your back in there. There is no way to rotate and get on your knees. So the first step is a sit up. From there it's a move that you have seen in the Olympics, on the parallel bars. You need to get your arms horizontal and then using shoulder muscles, elevate yourself. Europeans, if there is another technique you could come and coach me!

The other thing in this bathroom was a piece of tech that seems borrowed from smartphones. It's the mirror. This has three virtual buttons on the glass, which give on/off of mirror lights, and control of the lights' colour tone and brightness. I thought this was super cool. Dodie said, it's a mirror, just look in it!

The hotel was plain and simple, but the breakfast scored high.

I tried to take some shots to characterize Foz do Arelho, but like the hotel it is quite plain and will not produce any stunning images.

Even this house faced with more than one style of tile is not all that arresting.

The big thing about Foz do Arelho is that it sits at the exit/entrance of a giant lagoon, the Lagoa de Obidos, the largest in Portugal. We swung by the lagoon, hoping to see some birds, and hopefully some flamingos. The first thing we saw was men standing out in the lagoon, scraping with some sort of rakes and collecting something. We could not make out any more of what they were up to.

Men were standing quite far out in the water.

We did see some birds as well, and though they were quite distant the camera did give some decent images.

We included this maybe ordinary seagull to try guessing what he was eating.

This one is taking a look in the mirror.

This cormorant was way out in the lagoon. Only the 30x camera and Dodie could really see him.

This is the look back to Foz on the headland to the right, and the Atlantic straight ahead.

Close to the head of the lagoon, clusters of buildings (not really villages) looked like this. Except to say that most are white, there is no real blockbuster style to appreciate.

The main feature of the head of the lake was the appearance of orchards of carefully pruned fruit trees as well as grapes. The are reminded us of the fruit growing around the Bodensee, near the Austrian town of Bregenz.

This installation of crossed reeds was a mystery.

Even a closeup does not tell us what the idea is.

These garden flowers were very pretty. I took the picture to remember them and maybe get some at home.

Here we have a blue and white style element popping up, plus the bands of colour along the bottom of the house walls.

Those blips on the wall are metal bird figures.

Tricia and Scott and Brent all had high praise for the walled town of Obidos, and pointed out that we would be very close to it. This spurred us to nip over for a peek at it. We had no idea at this point what impediments we might face to reach our destination of Peniche, so we passed on actually climbing up to the town, contenting ourselves with the shots from below.

Buildings with the blue decoration, near Obidos

This church nearby Obidos had no identification. It did not seem abandoned, exactly, but also did not appear to be in use.

We returned near to the lagoon, looking at some interesting buildings and also more orchard and vineyard lands.

Here is the river that supplies the lagoon. We had to pedal all the way out here for a crossing, that would enable us to carry on south.

In one of our last, distant, views of the lagoon Dodie spotted, yes, flamingos!

As we have travelled through Portugal we have been much less able to understand and predict the landscape, the towns, the roads, than generally in places like Germany and France. Things seem to change here quite rapidly. So it was as we left the orchard area by the lagoon, and rapidly experienced a clearcut/dunes/reforestation area, with hills, and then an intense tourist/golf/fancy house scene, before getting to surfer land, and finally Peniche, which we have yet to really investigate. Below in pictures and captions is our odyssey.

Dodie was much better able to handle hills today. And though there were some good ones after the lagoon, they were not really killers.

Image not found :( — We had gained some altitude, and here is a view back to the lagoon. But the land has changed a lot. Now we have bare sand, and some kind of forest operations.

Clearly somebody has a use for these bundles of branches.

Next we entered an upscale area where new houses and golf were the rule. Why this kind of development exists in this place is one of the aspects of Portugal that we do not yet quite get.

Leaving golf-land the nice tourist roadways turned to sand, literally. The sand was deeper than one might think. At least until I crashed in it. It was a relatively low speed affair, but still by leg was twisted and jammed under the chain rings. Dodie had to lift the thing off me. She did this despite her cracked rib, later reporting that it must have been with the help of adrenalin, because she could feel the effect later. For a while I was able to enjoy whining about the hurt leg, but all too soon I forgot about it.

After we had righted me and my bike, we set off again. But the sand was tricky, within a few feet we both almost went down. After that, we walked a lot.

What folloed was an entirely new area, of vegetable fields, notably leeks and onions, with potatoes and cabbage too. All of these crops, unlike us, were doing well in the sand.

Somebody has the idea of how to deal with the sand!

Another unexpected agricultural sight was a flock of at least 300 goats, tended by two shepherds and one dog. The dog was really good, easily keeping the goats where they were supposed to be.

The dog obeyed the shepherd's commands very well.

Finally we drew near to Baleal, which was the last of a series of coastal towns, leading down to Peniche. This turned out to be a surfer centre, with many shops and schools devoted to the sport.

Looking down toward probably Baleal. Note that our road is still sand.

Some shops prided themselves in boards made by surfers for surfers.

This condo development reminded us of Habitat 67, which in the 1967 World's Fair at Montreal was patterned on buildings in the Middle East.

We are back at the ocean, with its lovely photo ops.

This is not only an interesting photo, near Peniche, but it is a spot with a story to tell.

Quite far out in the bay we were surprised to see two surfers who almost seemed able to stand up. The waves seemed very tame, compared to ones we had even watched at Nazare. Tomorrow we will have a better look at Peniche - the town and the waves that are attracting the surfers.

Our hotel, the "Sea Garden Residence" is fine, with electrical plugs where we need them, adequate light, and so forth. The bikes have been stashed in the breakfast room, which is also fine. But there is a strange off note that maybe we will be able to better assess tomorrow. The breakfast room has a sign instructing that food is only to be eaten there and not taken away. Ok, we have sometimes seen such a sign before. But the desk lady was at great pains to have us select a breakfast time slot and other signage makes it clear that you only have 30 minutes to eat, and clear off. The lady repeated this rule. Since the hotel is almost empty, it surely is not to reduce crowding. Do they want to avoid having you sit for three hours, slowly and methodically demolishing their breakfast spread while not taking any away?

We are ready to turn in now. We need to rest up for what could be tomorrow's speed eating marathon! Every day, something new!

Today's ride: 49 km (30 miles)
Total: 415 km (258 miles)

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Scott AndersonWe’ve seen these 30 minute breakfast slots before. In fact it’s the same at our hotel here in Palermo - we’ve got 8-8:30 tomorrow. It’s a Covid-prevention measure, to avoid crowding.
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1 year ago

Brent IrvineSurprise, surprise... I stayed at the Sea Garden Residencia, too. They were militant with their check-in time but were great to allow me to bring my bike up to that storage room upstairs. Nothing was mentioned to me about limited time to eat but found for that tour, in general, most asked me to choose a time slot for breakfast. At breakfast time there was absolutely no feeling of being rushed - and the goodies were numerous and plentiful.
Strolling or cycling around the Peniche shoreline is worthy of a gander. The waves pound the rock so fiercely that you feel the shock waves.
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1 year ago

Brent IrvineTo Brent IrvineEnjoy tomorrow's ride. A tough one but fabulous. Praia Azul apartments near Silveira have ocean-view rooms where your bedroom patio doors can be left open to listen to the waves all night and you can admire the silvery sun on the water before the sun sets.
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1 year ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesTo Scott AndersonFortunately we, especially Dodie, eat quickly so 30 minutes is a generous time frame.
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1 year ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesTo Brent IrvineWe are actually cribbing from your blog significantly, and thank you for it.
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1 year ago