Adele and Steve's Travels

Author: Steve Williams

  • April 25, 2026 – Rest Day in Peniche – Surfers and Top 10 Beach!

    April 25, 2026 – Rest Day in Peniche – Surfers and Top 10 Beach!

    It seemed like it was time to slow down, catch up on sleep, and get on a different rhythm. We had a ceiling fan in the room which helped keep the room cool and helped with sleeping 🙂

    Peniche has a massive beach that is ranked in the top 10 of Portugal. We explored part of the beach in the morning while we waited for our laundry to finish. It was fun watching the surfers getting lessons. It does seem futile, but I was reminded of the (apparent) futility of trying to learn how to telemark ski. But at least the hill wasn’t moving on us while we were learning!

    We wandered through the central market. Of course there were fish 🙂

    And some rather sad looking apples compared to our friends who grew beautiful, large organic fruit!

    We relaxed at a beach bar, trying to catch up on the blog and trip planning. A stunning view of the beach!

    We wandered around town, went for a meal that didn’t have any eyes and off to bed. A semi-rest day accomplished!

  • April 23, 2026 – Ericeira to Santa Cruz

    Sadly, it was another night of poor sleep. A few mosquitos in the room, warm, not adjusted yet, a failure of a Tylenol Cold night time to knock us out led to a groggy morning. Breakfast in town with a mediocre coffee led us to find a good coffee shop further delaying our departure!

    Of course, we had to check out the surfing beach on the way out of town, specially since we had stayed at a “Surfers Hostel” the night before.

    It’s always good to have a plan, but be flexible 🙂

    Our goal today was to cycle to a small beach area called Porto Novo that had 2 hotels that we should be able to stay at.

    The route had some busier road sections, but with some judicious selection of rural roads, we were able to avoid most of the busy roads. That’s why the GPS route looks so windy!

    Lots of beautiful scenery as the gravel roads hugged the coast later in the day.

    About 5 pm, we pulled into a town Santa Cruz which was about 8 km before Porto Novo. We made an executive decision to stay in the town and avoid another sunset arrival, continuing our late arrival, late start routine that is wearing us down.

    A quick search on google found a nice B&B and we rode our bikes over an were promptly checked in! I helped fix a broken light in exchange for a nice bottle of white wine 🙂

    Our hosts recommended a nice restaurant and we went for a delicious meal of fresh, ocean caught Sea Bream! I am not sure what our fish’s name was. But he/she was face down on the plate and still had eyes! I feel kind of guilty eating while watched 😉

    The display case was pretty amazing, many things that I wouldn’t eat!!! lol

    In the next photo, there are barnacles in the upper right corner. That’s one thing I won’t be eating!

    Well fed, off to bed for hopefully a better night of sleep!

  • April 22, 2026 -Estoril to Ericeira, 40 km turns into 62 km???

    We had another night of poor sleep. Not sure if it’s jet lag, decompressing from travel, or both. Regardless, we had breakfast at the Air BnB and packed up.

    Our plan was a “shorter” day, to get in early and try to have a more relaxing day to get a chance to catch up on sleep.

    Google gave an estimate of 40 km to the next town, I estimated it would be 50 with the various detours around busy roads, and it ended up being 62 km and 900 meters of climbing!

    I did some basic bike maintenance, lubricating the chains and double checking nothing had come loose after our bike re-assembly and ride yesterday.

    There was a huge grocery nearby and Adele went to buy some road snacks, raisins, fruit, buns, sausage, and some (smelly) cheese. Steve sat out front guarding the bikes, counting the small blocks that had been implanted in the beautiful plaza in front of the grocery store. That someone had this job reinforced once again my decision to get an education!

    The riding was a combination of beach walkway, paths, roadways, sidewalks, not altogether unpleasant, but there were some beautiful sections.

    With the view in the last photo above, we had to stop and have a beverage to enjoy the view!

    Of course, the various detours to avoid busy roads, a lot more hills than anticipated got us into our destination right around sunset. So much for an early arrival!

    Off to find a quick pizza dinner (yes, I know, in Portugal…) and off to bed somewhat exhausted.

  • April 24, 2026 – Santa Cruz to Peniche

    April 24, 2026 – Santa Cruz to Peniche

    We started the day with a fantastic breakfast supplied by the B&B that we were staying at. Packed up and on our way at a reasonable hour today. YAY!

    The riding was wonderful, and we poked into Porto Novo on the way by to see what we had missed. The consensus was that it would have been as good of a place to stay as where we did, but we had a much more relaxing evening than if we had continued cycling.

    The route used some paths and a lot of quiet, rural roads.

    As we got closer to Periche, we picked up a bike path that led us almost right into downtown!

    We had time for a shower, some relaxing time, then walked about 30 minutes to go for another nice … seafood dinner. Funny that, in Portugal we are eating seafood again 🙂

    Along the way, we explored the rugged shore of the peninsula.

    We were worried the restaurant would be be booked up, but no problem getting a prime seat overlooking the ocean. An appetizer and a main course seem to be all that we need, along perhaps with some wine and port 😉

    Yes, those are eyes staring at me!!! But I was able to overcome and break the head off and enjoy the amazing taste of their tails 🙂

    The main course was a nice piece of fish (Rock something) on a creamy rice bed., and of course, a salad 🙂

    Sunset was not disappointing, once again!

  • April 20 & 21, 2026 – A day in Lisbon, Reunited and first day cycling

    April 20 & 21, 2026 – A day in Lisbon, Reunited and first day cycling

    We had news that our bikes would be delivered sometime Monday.  A lazy day wandering around Lisbon enjoying the pastries and coffee.

    We enjoyed some traditional Portuguese Fado music. We didn’t understand the words, but the passion was clear!

    That evening, we had eyes on our bikes at our accommodations!  Yay!

    Tuesday morning we put our bikes together. A bit of a jig saw puzzle, but we have done it many times before and it’s not too stressful! No damage to our bikes 🙂

    and headed out of Lisbon at a leisurely pace.  A pork sandwich and a mid afternoon ice cream fueled our 33 km day to Estotil.

  • Lisbon bound!

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    Not all our blog posts will be as mundane as this 🙂

    We made it to the Calgary airport and had a celebratory beverage!

    Next stop was Montreal, where we found cause to celebrate as all our 2 pieces of luggage and 2 bicycles made it with us 🙂 It doesn’t take much of an excuse to celebrate these days!

    We didn’t have much to celebrate when we arrived in Lisbon to a massive lineup to clear customs/immigration. Almost 4 hours in line 🙁 It was beyond absurd, but there’s nothing to do but moan and accept the reality. This was the overflow part of the lineup. The main part of the lineup was around the corner in another large area of the concourse!

    Of course, the backup in Customs & Immigraton caused chaos with the luggage, but fortunately (?) our bicycles were still in Montreal and avoided all of this! Our 2 duffel bags did arrive, and after some time in the lost luggage area reporting our missing bicycles, we headed to our hotel

    Adele had booked a food and tour for us to help keep us busy and awake until an appropriate time to go to bed in an effort to combat the jet lag. It was a very fun evening with great group of people!

    It was in various different venues and included port, vino verde, red wine, beer, barbecued chorizo, various cheeses, runny rice & fish with prawns, cod cake, pork sandwich finished off with a sunset beer on a rooftop bar (not part of the tour, but we all went together after the tour)

    Now we wait for our bicycles to show up!

    Until next time 🙂

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  • From green grass in Revy to snow in Calgary!

    Our journey was fine to Lake Louise, where the upslope conditions cause rain, sleet, trending to snow as we approached Canmore.

    We spent the evening visiting friends and slept in Canmore.

    We woke to new snow and traffic chaos on the Trans Canada highway and in Calgary.

    A lazy morning in Canmore and an easy drive to Calgary brought us to Steve’s sisters place in Calgary, complete with a cornice 🙂