Departure at 8:30 am from my hosts. Dry start and I look for the centre of Viana do Castelo that I didn’t see the day before.
I want to see the hospital boat for the sailors going to fish for cod in the distance that José told me about yesterday, and also to get some cash so that I don’t get stuck if some shopkeepers refuse the bank card. I do all this, it takes me 3 tries before I find an ATM that accepts the operation...
At 9am when I really leave it starts to rain. It lasts a good two hours, I decide to drink a coffee in Esposende, also to study the rest of the route in the dry. It works for me because when I get out the rain has stopped.
The ride is immediately more pleasant!
Unfortunately, the rain starts again an hour later. I put the phone back in my pocket. At one point I have to choose my route at a crossroads, without checking the map I choose the tarmac road against the cobbled one, telling myself that it won’t take me too far away. It does! It takes me away from the sea and the cycle paths and it brings me closer to the main road. I decide to continue and follow the national road until it crosses the track. This allows me to move forward.
When I find the track the rain stops and the sun gradually takes its place.
A passage through a reserve and then after new paved streets I find real pedestrian/bike tracks, real wooden paths built on the edge of the beach.
Sometimes it’s a bit sporty: you have to climb some stairs!
In Matosinhos I arrive at the moment when the light turns red: the bridge rises and falls after the passage of a big cargo ship. I take the opportunity to have a taste!
One last climb and I arrive at the hotel.