So good to be back on the bike on a Big Tour, for once I havent decided on the exact route as the weather has been very poor in the North of Portugal recently and I want to go to some of the mpst remote towns in the north that are the few remaining areas I havent been to in Portugal ... Yet ! From Coimbra I headed straight north on quiet roads and passed some lovely villages with pretty churches before reaching Mealhada where I found myself on the N1 for about 15 miles - it was full of wagons and not the best part of the day. Once I reached Agueda I encountered what I an onlr describe as lumpy roads with some sharp clicks up to 14%, Near Serem I crossed a railway line and even cycled across a railway bridge before my lunch break at Sernada de Vouga Station. This was beautiful in a pretty tree lined valley and the station is the end of the Vouga line, The following 30 miles up the valley I would be riding on the Ecopista de Vouga which is a traffic free cycle route which is on the course of the old railway line. Shortly after Foz de Mau I crossed a viaduct over the river - I was in a rich tree lined steep river gorge and it was beautiful, I passed old station building which were still there such as Paradela and Cedrim but after Cedrim the track degraded to a gravel surface. I had been going up at a 3% gradient but now because of the loose surface progress became slow - At one point there was a Van with a guy who had the path closed - I spoke to him in my best Portuguese and established a tree had fallen and some rocks just up ahead and he had the path cordoned off to remove the obstructions,.... He kindly took pity on me and allowed me to pass carefully which I duly did. Next I had a gang of goats in my way who seemed very inetrested in me and even posed on the track before they moved off and allowed my passage. From the track somehow I spotted a beauty point across the nearby road, I saw a swing and knew the Portuguese build these at Viewpoints - I cycled across and got some great shots of the Baloico do Rio, which afforded a high level view abbove a bend in the river. I perceivered on the loose track until I reached the top of the climb at Pinheiro de Lafoes at which pint the smooth downhill road became too much of a temptation - in fairness I should have got onto the road earlier. A fast last 12 miles followed mostly downhill through Oliveira de Frades and Vouzela before arriving in Termas de Sao Pedro do Sul which is a pretty little Spa town on the Vouga River. What a great start to the tour !