So happy to be back in Portugal - wonderful scenery, friendly people, great cakes, lots of fountains and flowers, car drivers who stop at pedestrian crossings... all good so far! We packed up our van on Friday - tandem, camping gear etc - and caught the ferry from Portsmouth to Santander. We'd been praying the… Continue reading Wonderful Start
The first Pedal Portugal guidebook should be available this autumn - a print and ebook version of the Alentejo Circuit.The whole project is a bit of an experiment as I have no idea what kind of a market exists for guidebooks to cycling in Portugal. On the other hand, I'm having enormous fun writing them!My… Continue reading Guidebooks Coming
Cheap booze, sunshine, ancient civilisations, wildlife... or getting in touch with your roots... everyone's got different motivations for why they travel and what attracts them to different places. I've got my own reasons for loving Portugal but I was curious what the main draw was for other cyclists, particularly as some are - presumably -… Continue reading Why Portugal?
To some people, riding dozens of miles in a day isn't a challenge. One of my friends is a triathlete who regularly rides 50 miles (80km) every Saturday morning - often before his wife's even out of bed. Most others though have never reached that level of fitness, or it's something now in their past.… Continue reading The Gentle Option
One of my projects in the pipeline is to turn this website into a guidebook - both printed and e-book versions. (When that will actually happen, I'm not sure. Depends on how long the pipeline turns out to be!) In the meantime, though, I thought it might be useful to find out a bit more… Continue reading What’s The Attraction?
It's a landmark day here at Pedal Portugal - I've just gone all posh and bought my own domain name. That means the "wordpress" part of the site's address is no longer needed and - hurrah! - you can now just use pedalportugal.com (Which presumably you've already done if you're reading this!) Hopefully all the… Continue reading Change Of Address
I do love Portugal but one of the biggest frustrations about cycling there is the lack of decent maps. Or, more frequently, the complete absence of maps of any sort! Oh, plus a few other issues. Like inconsistent road numbering and highly erratic road signage. And that many maps are out of date. It also… Continue reading Finding Your Way In Portugal
Calling all owners of accommodation, bike shops, guided tour companies etc. If you have any kind of business that might be of use to cyclists visiting Portugal, then this is your chance to get it listed - free - on THE top website for cycling in Portugal. I really want Pedal Portugal to be the… Continue reading Give Me Your Listings
If you like wide open spaces, roads that stretch off into the distance... and not too much traffic, then the Alentejo has got to be one of the best parts of Portugal for cycling. Over the past couple of months, I've been giving the Pedal Portugal site a major overhaul - finally getting round to… Continue reading Open Roads
Most people have heard of Lisbon and Porto and the Algarve. But that's often where their knowledge of Portugal stops... and there's so much more! I spent two very happy years living in a city called Viseu (due west of Salamanca in Spain) and did a lot of riding in this part of Portugal's Beira… Continue reading Dream Time
Pedal Portugal 