A frustrating intermittent internet connection today lost the first attempt at the blog so this may be a little rushed. I am writing this again with a thunderstorm raging overhead and the noise of the rain on the camper roof making it hard to hear each other.
The Three Legs today were magnificent , wet and abandoned in that order. I will explain later.
After a few showers overnight the day dawned brightly. The first leg started down from our beautiful campsite along some quiet country roads. although we did end up on a cobbled main road for 3 miles which shook our bikes like crazy.
Following our campsite owners instructions to the letter we then found the magnificent part of the first leg. The Ecopista Tamega , a former railway line running along the river Tamega. 
The views from this route were superb looking out over the river
The great thing about the cycling on old railways is of course the lack of gradients but to see the work that the engineers had to do to build this particular route building cuttings, viaducts, bridges and tunnels was humbling. To think that now it is a not particularly frequented bike path must be disappointing for them but not for us.
Apart from one 5 km stretch which was nicely gravelled the whole route was super smooth and much better than the cobbled lanes that we kept crossing In the 18 miles we covered we only saw two other bikes, a few walkers and a courting couple enjoying a bench at one of the many well kept tiled but abandoned stations
We also cycled through what must have been a huge Eucalyptus forest fire for around two miles only a week or so before judging by the smell of soot and eucalypt oils and the lack of any undergrowth.
After coming out of a tunnel we finally reached the end of the track at Amarante. Crossing the river and the mobile fishmonger who had set his van up in the middle we then started the long climb before meeting our breakfast stop a third of the way up, importantly still dry.
Rushing to vacate the restaurant car park before it filled for lunch we then proceeded to climb the rest of 2000 ft to the top as the rain started to fall.
Taking refuge near the top in a bus shelter we saw the big town bus stop, wait for the village bus and then all it’s occupants leapt out with the shopping. It was here an elderly gent approached us explained he was French but Portuguese and 82 you know before shaking our hands and wishing us well
The descent in the rain was unpleasant but Nick and I still averaged over 25 mph for the 5 miles drop. Waiting at the bottom I was concerned that Chris, who was behind me did not appear and was on the verge of sending Nick back up to find him when he appeared being far more sensible in the conditions.
The last 5 miles along the port wine vineyards of the Rio Douro were more pleasant as the rain briefly held off. We even outpaced a giant river cruise boat whose decks were clear of tourists as they sheltered from the rain.
Nigel as promised had waited for us by the river at the entrance to Peso da Regua to serve tea and plan the next step
However after waiting an hour for better conditions a further weather check indicated that in addition to the rain, high winds were forecast so we decided that discretion was the better part of valour and took the camper to campsite option for leg Three. The way the camper was buffetted about over the summit of the next climb confirmed we made the right decision. This is after all a holiday challenge and we are not totally crazy. We will see what we will cycle tomorrow although if this torrential rain beating down at present does not stop we will not be sure of having any roads left to cycle on.
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nbjtours 