AS I am wont to do, I have been changing my proposed route pretty well every day or two. For pretty obvious reasons.

Any plans I have been making lately have to be completely flexible, otherwise I get nervous. Though I want to travel, I still want to minimize close contacts with people due to the pandemic, though it seems to be finally waning in places. I was going to fly into one city then take a combination of trains, buses and/or taxis to get me to a starting point. I was not comfortable with that so gradually drifted to a starting point of Porto since I can fly into there via Lisbon, then fly out of Lisbon via Air Canada for my connector to Timmins.

Back on my my 2003 tour, I cycled through Porto en route to Lisbon, but much of that route was inland from the coast connecting some cities I had wanted to see (Braga, Guimaraes, and Coimbra among others). After a longish hiatus of what will  have been almost three years, I felt I should avoid the mountains even though I prefer a mountainous route due to the views. Consequently, this tour will be less mountainous and follow the coast - Portugal's Silver Coast ('Costa de Prata'), named from 'the effect of the sun on the waves of the Atlantic Ocean'.

I look forward to re-visiting Porto, seeing Aveiro for the first time, and another return to Sintra, hopefully to stay in the hotel where my family and I stayed when I was a kid 40 years earlier. Of course, Lisbon is always a treat and I love coming to the city along the estuary via Guincho, Cascais and Estoril.

My last time in Portugal (2019) I followed EuroVelo 1 north from Faro to Lisbon; Tour 22 will follow EuroVelo 1 south from Porto to Lisbon. Using the cycle.travel website, I can plan my precise route along EV1 and then export the map to a gpx file which can be loaded into my Garmin eTrex 30 GPS. Though I can veer from this route I will always have it as a guide. Some intersections can be confusing and the EV cycle route can be unmarked and unclear. Furthermore, once I have chosen my accommodations, I can type in the address and be brought right to the door - pretty handy when navigating the old centres of some European towns.

 Another huge benefit of cycling Portugal, in general, and along the coast, specifically - availability of seafood. Anyone who knows me knows that I love to eat, love to eat even more food while on tour, and absolutely adore seafood. I would and will likely eat something from the sea every dinner I am there if it is available.

So, that sorts out the route. Now the bike. On that route I will likely bring my Cannondale and mount the front and rear racks so I can use my Arkel panniers and TailRider. If the tour was a bit longer then I would use my BOB trailer but it is too much fuss for such a short tour. Since I will be flying via Air Canada the bike fee is a reasonable $50 to Portugal and the same for the return flight. This to say that if I were using a Euro airline then I would bring my folding Dahon which goes as checked luggage thus would not incur the dreaded bike fee of possibly hundreds of dollars.