We were seriously freaked by having been dumped onto the Autovia yesterday, and spent some time in the evening to avoid a repeat today. We knew we would be using the Ecopista into Viseu, so 50 km was taken care of. All we had to do was make it about 11 km to the start of the trail.
We put the question to Ride With GPS, Cycle.Travel, and Google Maps, and got three different answers, of course. So we crawled over them onscreen, finding Ride With GPS dipsy doodling all over the place for no apparent reason, and Cycle.Travel accepting to be on the IP3, too much. Only Google seemed to have a reasonable approach. OK, Google!
Since we had accepted that the hotel had no space for us tonight, and since we had now made other plans, there was no reason to wonder why there was no space. But we couldn't help wondering, since out our window was the totally empty parking lot.
At breakfast, we were surprised to find that we were not alone in the hotel, but there was a family of three. We were at a loss about how they had snuck in, with no car, but later guessed they had put it around the side, with any from the staff. I broke down and went to ask the reception lady (one of two apparent staff in the place) for the explanation of the mystery. She said that a huge flock of motorcyclists was coming tonight. Oh. The breakfast room will be a zoo tomorrow! Good thing we're out of here.
The mystery of the empty/full hotel, every time we looked out our window.
The gravel did not last too long, and then it was time to cross the Aguieria Reservoir, yes, on the IP3 bridge. It almost looked like a Classens style gotcha (they were totally blocked by a closed bridge at Huelva last year) because maybe the bridge was closed. But no, a section was open!
However, that was the end of any problems. We picked up roads that were parallel to the big one, and marked for bicycles. You can see that marking in this shot, together with the fun walkers, suitably attired in Grampy yellow!
In Santa Comba, our GPS track knew exactly where the ecopista would start, but it did not know about a pile of construction that invalidated that information. However, this sign was accurate.
The summary of the next 50 km or so is that the rail trail was smooth and wide, not crowded, and with lots of rest stops and facilities. The main thing was that is passed through a number of very attractive and interesting landscapes, affording lots of "oh, look at that" as the kms rolled by.
Yes, it's paved! In fact three cities contributed to the project: Santa Comba, Tondela, and Viseu. Each put their own colour on the surface: blue, green, and then red.
Not only did the rails get taken out and the right of way paved (in 2012), but they made a proper job of it, with info panels, rest areas, exercise equipment, and toilets at the approximately five former stations along the way. Two of these stations house restaurants, while the others are mostly derelict.
To our surprise, near Tondela, two Macaws flew out of a distant valley and landed in a tree just by our heads! They proceeded to go through a bunch of antics that had me struggling to get any clear photos. After a fair amount of time, they flew back to their valley. Go figure.
I climbed inside the locomotive and found that a lot of the levers and wheels still moved. I was surprised to note that you really can not see the track ahead, so people and animals had better scatter!
We followed the trail until what must have been very very close to the end, before we ducked off to find our hotel. After a minute or so I realized I would never find the trail again if looking to get back on it, or if starting out to go South. Anyone trying this will need a GPS fix on the thing.
As is the case with literally any modern city, Viseu was not impressive as we made our way more toward the centre. We saw just miscellaneous apartment buildings at first, and later a stairway up a hill we knew we would have to climb, soon. We also spotted something of a phenomenon that we first encountered in Evora - students roaming the streets singing. They all know the words to whatever it is, but I find them loud and tuneless. Whatever they are doing, it's way more tame than student activity in our day!
The street near our hotel. We are very close to the old part of the city, and we have read that it is very interesting. We will reserve half of tomorrow to have a look.
Our hotel, the Moinho de Vento. It has some unbeatable three star (three Grampy star) features: Electric outlets by the beds, fast wifi, breakfast included, bike garage, oh wow!
Kelly Iniguezwe also have motel room criteria. I like a night stand on both sides of the bed, and I feel smug when 'my side' is closest to the bathroom! Reply to this comment 11 months ago
Steve Miller/GrampiesTo Kelly IniguezDefinitely on closest to the bathroom. It is easier to stumble there at 2am if it is a shorter distance. Reply to this comment 11 months ago
