We woke to thick mist in Odeceixe, panic the e-bikes were parked outside in a lane way.Tim had tucked the terminals up but had any moisture got in?At least we had slept well the church bell chimes had stopped at 930pm.The e-bikes terminals tucked up with Tim’s socks and duct tape worked they were still ok. Our next issue was breakfast, no breakfast at the guest house so our host had said use the bakery, we walked to the local bakery.It was meant to open at 8am, well maybe Portugal is like Spain manyana.Someone else was already waiting, by the time it did open there were 5 more people behind us in the queue.They didn’t do rolls made up with ham and cheese, so we just grabbed some seeded rolls , croissants and tea and juice.The rolls must have been yesterday’s they were so tough I had to dip them in my tea to eat it and my teeth are perfectly OK! As we cycled over the River Seixe after leaving Odeceixe there was a perfectly good cafe, and it was open.

We had 11 kms cycling on the N120 before we could turn off onto minor roads. We decided to take a diversion into Sao Teotonio in case once we got onto minor roads and Tim couldn’t get his morning coffee. Going into Sao Teotonio meant going downhill we had spent ages going uphill, but coffee was important.We thought we must have somehow cycled to India, as we entered a square there were Seikhs with their turbans, women in their saris and every type of cafe on the Indian continent you could imagine from Nepalese to Kashmiri.We settled on an Indian cafe that also had some element of portugese with custard tarts on view.I ended up with a very nice Indian chai tea and Tim had a good coffee, we decided to forgo the portugese tart and went for Samosas.

I didn’t realise that Indian immigration to Portugal has happened in waves since the 16th century when tradespeople came, later Goan intellectuals visited and stayed and in 1961 the people of GOA were given the choice of opting for Portugese citizenship.Other Portugese colonies such as Mozambique, Macau, Angola and Kenya also allowed Indians to migrate to Portugal.Portugal has the largest numbers of people of Indian origin in Europe. Now skilled workers will move from India to Portugal as they can integrate very easily into the Indian community already present.

We cycled out of Sao Teotonio a different way and saw the portugese part of the town.We were now cycling on minor roads which were also part of cycling routes however this didn’t stop the drivers zooming past at over 100kms an hour. I had read the Easter stat’s for Portugese roads but maybe I shouldn’t have, 2 fatalities, 10 serious injuries in hospital, 50 with a blood alcohol of more than 1.5 etc and its only a small country! The roads were straight though which did make it easier for drivers to pass.It was pleasant countryside sheep, cows, pasture, trees , lanes with high hedges and high borders full of lush flowers plus the odd derelict building thrown in.

We diverted off to Almograve to admire the beach.It was 12 o clock but walkers were only just emerging out of guest houses to set out for the day. The beach was the Atlantic at its best with big surfing type waves rolling in, but there were still children playing on the beach.Cycle paths on both sides of the road were under construction but not finished yet.

It was off to Vila Nova de Milfontes our destination for the day.It was stunning cycling across the bridge of the river Mira seeing it open out into the sea, such a spectacular river mouth. We cycled into the pretty town with white walled houses and cobbles and settled ourselves into a restaurant set on the cobblestones and tucked into some fresh fish char grilled.What could be better?We cycled down to the river mouth and had a look at the fort Sao Clemente before heading to our hotel. The fort was built 1602 to fend off pirates.The ebikes are in an old gym tonight at Hotel HS Milfontes Beach.

We settle into a relaxing night with spectacular views from our balcony, this is the life.