run for your life

The starting and finishing point for this cycling tour of Central Portugal was, once again, Caldas da Rainha, my second home town outside of Turku, Finland. This 9 day ride of 574km, including a solid 6000 metres of vertical climbing, would see Matilda and me ride as far as the majestic mountain top medieval town of Marvão, located very close to the border with Spain. On that outward leg, I would roll down the main street of Óbidos, also a famous medieval town that’s located just outside of Caldas da Rainha, before continuing on to do the long climb up to the summit of the majestic Serra de Montejunto. That same afternoon, I would cross the mighty Tagus River, via the historic Ponte Rainha Dona Amélia railway bridge, to reach my opening day’s destination of Escaroupim. Over the following few days, prior to my arrival at the farthest point from home, I would visit the Barragem de Montargil, Alter do Chão, as well as Portalegre, which is situated at the foothills of the Serra de São Mamede.

After enduring a very stormy night at the campground near Marvão, I began my homeward journey back to the Atlantic coast via Alagoa, and then Vila de Rei, where the geodesic midpoint of Portugal is located. It was quite an eerie, yet grounding feeling to visit this site, just as fog, induced by a relentless drizzle and high humidity, had settled in. In any case, it certainly cooled me off after a tough day in the saddle!

During the final three days, I had the great privilege of visiting the holy Christian pilgrimage cities of Tomar and Fátima, as well as the stunningly beautiful Alcobaça Monastery. After that, all that was left on the final morning was the final short, but quite challenging, push back home to Caldas da Rainha, where a beautiful sunny and warm day greeted my as I rolled into the centrally located, and superbly picturesque, Parque Dom Carlos I, which I consider my Santuário de Paz, one of only a handful of such places in the world where I always feel completely at home.

I had been ‘out there’ to the border, and I had come back home, and I felt completely at peace, and with eyes now even more open than they had ever been. To best describe that sensation, I think I will just leave you with the quote by T.S. Eliot. I can only hope that it elicits even an ounce of the profound and sweetly addictive wonderlust in you, as it does me.

We shall not cease from exploration; and the end of all of our exploring will be to arrive where we started, and know the place for the first time.

T.S. Eliot (from ‘Little Gidding’)

I hope you enjoy this latest Life on the Run’s Best of Cycling Tours video, and that I’ve been able to capture even a little of the amazing natural landscapes and towns that Portugal has been endowed with; and, as with all my bike touring videos, I also hope that it inspires you yourself to get out there and explore this incredible world a little more.

Be blessed,
Jyri

Matilda and I commenced the 3 day long Santarém Circuit cycling tour from my home-away-from-home, Caldas da Rainha. On this ride, we experienced both freezing downpours and, in complete contrast, some superbly sunny weather, I dined with some German Camino Portuguese pilgrims, and we even spent the night sharing the doorway of a closed camping ground with a bunch of feral cats! Along with all those delightfully unexpected events, we also visited some very interesting out-of.the-way places, such as the salt desalination basin (Salinas de Rio Maior) on the outskirts of Rio Maior and the holiday destination of Olhos d’Agua (Eyes of the Water).

Our main destination was the major inland city of Santarém, which is located on the banks of the Rio Tejo (Tagus River), the same one that flows out to the ocean beyond Lisbon. There we has the opportunity to do a walking tour to see some of the city’s major sites, such as the historic Santarém Cemetery, the Igreja de Santa Maria de Marvila and Santa Maria de Graça, Church of Our Lady, as well as the peacefully tranquil Jardim das Portas do Sol (Garden of the Gateway of the Sun).

With a longing heart,
into the unknown I ride.
My shadow falls long.

Beyond Chaos’ by Jyri Manninen

I hope that you’re able to capture some of the atmosphere of what it was like to not have the easiest of conditions to both cycle in, or to sleep, in the beginning, but then to enjoy, at the end, the complete opposite of riding in absolutely glorious, emotionally uplifting sunshine on the the final day of the tour.

Be blessed,
Jyri

This is a compilation video illustrating the best parts of a 4 day cycling tour on a circuit around Portugal’s mid-Atlantic coast region, which I did with a good friend of mine. The place of departure Caldas da Rainha, which was also the destination.On the way down the coastline, we dropped in at Porto Novo, Ericeira and Guincho. When we reached the very popular coastal holiday destination of Cascais, we headed north back towards Caldas via an inland route that took us through the famous Sintra, as well as a visit to the spectacular Mafra Palace.

The weather was absolutely stunning, the food was superb, and to have the company of a good friend along for this tour was the proverbial icing on the cake. I hope that you’re able to capture even a fraction of what we felt on this ride, at being able to see such amazing places, both natural and man-made. For me, the absolute highlight was experiencing the simply magical, awe-inspiring sunset at Praia do Guincho. 

I also hope you like the special cycling song that Pedro and I wrote, Snarky Puppy Roadkill.’, inspired by the many short, but rather sharp uphills enroute.

Going down, going down,
going down it means uphill,
Snarky puppy roadkill!

Snarky Puppy Roadkill | Copyright © 2019, Pedro Reis & Jyri Manninen

Be blessed,
Jyri