I crossed the border from. Spain to Portugal at Tui. The route was through bucolic wooded glades, a bit up and down, alongside large numbers of Camino walkers making their way north to Santiago.  I hadn’t realised that the Portugues Camino route is very popular, and that was very much in evidence judging by the numbers of walkers.  At one point there was a guy playing the Galician pipes, rather like Irish pipes or bagpipes, and doing good business busking as the walkers passed by.  It was very atmospheric as I went though those woods.

Tui is definitely a Camino town with all the usual coffee places, restaurants, hotels and B&Bs catering to the walkers.  The river is the Minho.  However, once crossed there was definitely the impression that I was in another country, Portugal !  In summary, Portugal is a poorer country than is Spain, definitely noticeable in the infrastructure and in the roads in particular.  Yes, they have the signature Autovia roads built with EU money, and one or two decent N roads.  But for the most part Portuguese roads leave a lot to be desired - narrow, poor surfaces, little or no shoulder and what there was would be potted and rutted with dangerous drainage culverts right by the side of the road.  

Worse still are Portuguese drivers.  In Spain I had a sense of some order, respect and courtesy from drivers.  They kept their distance, waited, gave me the right of way.  Once over the border, it was completely different. Fast, aggressive, intimidating, determined to get by no matter what, very dangerous and not at all fun.  It’s definitely a different driving culture from Spain. Portugal also has a lot of traffic, everybody seems to drive, and they drive crappy hand-me-down cars, no doubt from the more affluent Spanish, Germans and French once they have finished with them. I did not enjoy my cycling in Portugal because of the dangerous driving and the poor state of the roads, which meant that I was on edge and having to be super aware all the time.  I won’t tell you about the number of times somebody shaved me as they passed by at great speed, even though there was an articulated lorry coming the other way.  

In fact, so much did I not enjoy the cycling in Portugal, I have already decided that I won’t be doing any more cycle touring in Portugal once I finish this trip in Lisbon.  They have lost my business. I know I have cycled before for many years in the Algarve / Faro, but being an upmarket tourist area there is generally a decent bit of cycle infrastructure which seems to make it safe.  Elsewhere there appears to be very little, and also a careless and dangerous driving culture which now makes me think twice about cycling in Portugal again. Sorry, Portugal, lovely people though you are and wonderful weather that you have, and marvellous scenery - next time I will see it from a car !  I’ll just finish by reminding you that ,as well as the general awfulness of the driving culture here in Portugal, I had to crawl my way through Porto and Lisbon on this trip, and cycling through the urban jungle of those cities was just horrible as well.  Lisbon has some Gucci cycle infrastructure in the centre, legacy of some urban regeneration that has happened in the last few years, but outside of that, nothing. And, don’t get me started on cobblestones !  The Portuguese love their cobblestone roads, especially in towns, but they do not make for pleasant cycling.

Portugal has 55 road accident deaths per million of population (2021 figures), exceeded only by places like Romania (90), Bulgaria (80), Croatia (70), where I have cycled before and will not be returning.  UK figures are 26 per million, in company with places like Norway and Sweden.  Makes you think !

Anyhow, I persevered and ended up in Povoa de Varzin, staying in the wonderful Sao Felix Hotel overlooking the coast, but high up.  Note to self - after a day of climbing steep hills, don’t book a hotel that requires you to climb for half an hour at the end of the day on cobblestone roads to get to the hotel !  Still, it was a wonderful view from the top and a really nice hotel with a touch of class, definitely up a few notches from my usual hostal / B&B / pension.