Retirement trip - Day 11

 Got up early this morning to make my way to what I hoped would be one of the high points of my trip - a trip to the 516 Arouca suspension bridge and Paiva walkway.

The morning was very misty and the run took me about an hour and a half on winding mountain roads. Luckily, in the last half house or so of the ride the mist cleared up, the sun came out and it was about 30C when I arrived at the bridge. When I booked, the details mentioned there was a 20 minute walk from the car park to the bridge. I think of myself as reasonably fit and walk a lot, but it took me nearer half an hour along a fairly rough path, some of which was going over boulders.

I arrived at the bridge and we were asked to wait until a suitable number of people had arrived and were given a safety talk in Portuguese and English. Whilst waiting I realised that I had left my still camera at the bike, the fastening screw for the selfie stick, and the clothing clip for my microphone. This meant I had to hold both my camera and the microphone.

Eventually we were allowed on the bridge and I made this video.

Going over the bridge was great fun! It's 516 metres long and 175 metres above the river, the floor is mesh so you can look down past your feet, and it wobbles a bit more that I thought it would.

After the bridge it was onto the Paiva walkway which runs for 7km down the Paiva river, giving some amazing views. It took me about 2 hours to complete the walkway, and it was about 30C, I had drank all my water, and when I got to the end I realised I had a 5km walk on a very hilly road back to where I had parked my bike. I was completely worn out, so was happy to find a taxi waiting to take a customer back to the car park. It was a bit expensive at 16 Euros, but the state I was in I was happy to pay.

The driver spoke some English and was proud that his off road type car, a UMM Alter, had been designed and built in Portugal. I had never heard of one previously.

I was a bit hungry, so when I saw an elderly man selling cakes from a van I bought a packet of small, soft iced buns. We didn't have any common language, so that is why I thought I was buying about 6 and ended up with a bag of about 20! They are very good and I hope they keep well as I'll be eating them for quite a few days.

I gently headed back to Porto by the same route, I could now see what I'd ridden through as the mist had cleared and it was a good, sunny ride through beautiful scenery.

Anyone know what type of trees are in the foreground? I'd never seen trees like that before, but here the hills are covered in forests of them.

Cruise ship in the Douro river.

Tomorrow I'm leaving Porto and having another 'travelling day'.

If any of you are in this part of Portugal, I would strongly advise crossing the bridge. Please note: there's a lot of walking involved, even if you only walk across the bridge and walk back, and the path to the car park is very rough and stony. You have to be reasonably fit to even get to the bridge.

More information here.