Tag: Life on the Run

El Jefe

Jyri Manninen | Kajura


It would be a relatively short ride of just 54km to Carreço, which is just north of the major northern coastal city of Viana do Castelo. However, it would be all the more significant, because this was the final destination of my 4220km long Finland to Portugal Trans-European bicycle tour back in 2018. I departed Póvoa de Varzim in idyllic conditions, with clear skies and a wonderful, fresh coolness in the air. It wouldn’t be long before I arrived at my first key destination of the day, the small historic town of Fão by the Cávado River. From there it was just a few kilometres more to Esposende, a popular tourist coastal location.

As I continued north towards Viana do Castelo, by pure luck, I crossed the Camino Portuguese walking trail. I took a moment there to take in the calmness of the water crossing, and to enjoy reminisce about my own Camino Portuguese, the original trek that had led to the birth of Life on the Run. Soon enough, I found myself at the southern bank of the Lima River at Cabedelo, with Viana do Castelo coming into view on the opposite side, and after a short ferry crossing, I was back in Viana do Castelo once again. However, I still had an additional 8km ahead to reach my day’s destination of Casa do Sardão at Carreço, where I had spent the penultimate night of my Finland to Portugal bicycle tour. To this day, this albergue still remains the most amazing guesthouse that I have ever stayed at, and it is run by the most gracious of hosts, Hugo, who is also a seasoned world traveller.

Seven year cycle,
from broken to renewed soul.
The boss speaks to me.

‘El Jefe’ by Jyri Manninen

When I’d started this current tour, I’d always planned to spend an extra day at Casa do Sardão, to not only catch up with Hugo, but to also have some valuable down time to re-explore Viana do Castelo and surrounds. After having picked up Matilda from Viana Bicycles in the morning, where Matilda had had a few of her rear spokes replaced, we rode through town and then up the coastal pathway back to Carreço. For the remainder  of the day I just chilled out at Casa do Sardão, chatting with some Camino Portuguese pilgrims about their own experiences. Then, in the evening, I spent some quality alone time, lying in a hammock watching the sunset, as I sparked up my ritualistic El Jefe cigar, which had been especially gifted to me back in Finland for my birthday by one of my closest friends.

It was now time to set my sights forwards to the Pe–neda-Geres National Park, which I would reach the next day by following the Lima River inland. This would then also include a reconnection with my original Camino Portuguese trekking route at Ponte de Lima. As the sun finally descended beyond the horizon, and the night sky lit up with a myriad of hues, my El Jefe gradually transformed into smoke and ash. In this moment, I felt that I was, once again, truly home.

Be blessed,
Jyri

Beyond My Eyes.

Jyri Manninen | Kajura


This third day of riding on my Portugal’s Northern Coastline and Peneda-Geres National Park cycling tour would be another almost century long one, starting from the relatively quiet Torreira, by the Aveiro Lagoon, to the very touristic, beachside tourist city of Póvoa de Varzim. At approximately the half-way point, I’d go through the major northern city of Porto, which is located on the banks of the Douro River. The morning’s ride had me leave Torreira at the crack of dawn, and I was able to ride in very quiet traffic conditions, given it was a Sunday morning. In fact, for the first few hours, I think I saw more cyclists out on their training rides than I did cars!


As lunchtime approached, I reached the long and busy beachside stretch leading up to the mouth of the Douro River. There was now a lot of traffic, pedestrians as well as cars, but the excellent bike paths made it fairly painless to navigate the chaos. I meandered along the south bank of the Douro to the famous Ponte Luis I bridge; and what views! After crossing it, I made my way back to the coast on the northern side to continue my ride up to my day’s destination of Póvoa de Varzim. On this stretch, the riding surfaces were quite varied, including nature trails, stretches of sand, wooden boardwalks, as well as very rough cobblestone roads in and around the small beachside villages, which actually resulted in Matilda breaking a couple of spokes on her back rim, but luckily not resulting in any warping.


While it had been a rather excellent day of riding, I was running very low on fuel once I reached Póvoa, and the only thing I had on my mind on arrival was to get me a shit ton of pizza and beer. So, once Matilda was set up for her rest at the hostel, I walked a few kilometres to my favourite refueling station, ‘Mr. Pizza; and boy did it totally hit the spot!

The horizon far;
all that lays ahead, still hides.
One day, I will see.

‘Beyond My Eyes’ by Jyri Manninen


Now, with a belly full of goodness, I slowly strolled back to my hostel along the beachside boulevard, as I enjoyed a wonderful, prolonged sunset over the Atlantic. It allowed me the perfect moment to reflect on not only the fantastic first 3 days of this current tour, but also on all the amazing places and experiences that still lay ahead of me, not just in northern Portugal, but also, in future years, over the ocean’s horizon.

Be blessed,
Jyri Manninen

On the other side.

Jyri Manninen | Kajura

Having just completed the Via Algarviana camino trek just a few days ago, I was now already off on my next adventure, the 4th leg of the Life on the Run Tour de Portugal bicycle adventure. This would also be the final journey that I would share with Matilda before her retirement. It would be a 2 week long, approximately 1000km exploration of the northern coastline of Portugal and then the Peneda-Geres National Park, which is located over an area straddling the north-east border with Spain. The return trip would also include some amazing, historic places, but more about them in later posts.

As we departed from Peniche, we passed by the Statue of Our Lady of Good Voyage, the patroness for wishing safe trips for the fishermen of the Peniche peninsula. Well, we weren’t going fishing, but I imagined that she was wishing us a safe journey too. After a brief glimpse of Baleal beach, one of the most popular in Portugal for tourists, in particular for beginner surfers, it was time to head to Nazaré via São Martinho do Porto. The ride there was over very familiar terrain, as I had run and rode over it many times before, both while living in this area some 6 years ago, and then on subsequent visits. 


After Nazaré, the scenery ahead would all be completely new, except for the city of Figueira da Foz, where I had visited briefly on a day trip with my mum several years earlier. Figueira da Foz would, in fact, end up being our destination for this opening day, a very solid effort of 150km. We handled it surprisingly well, despite not having ridden together for over 2 years.

When you amply roam,
your limits, you will surpass.
The unknown awaits.

‘On the other side’ by Jyri Manninen


I had to remind myself that the point of this journey wasn’t to make it a purely physical performance challenge, and so I had to do my very best to pump the brakes a bit. It was much more important to enjoy the awesome scenery, as opposed to worrying about what our average speed and daily distances were going to be. Well, I guess it’s hard to not keep behaving as an athlete, even though my competitive days are now long behind me in the rear view mirror. I have to admit that I still haven’t quite found the right balance with this, but it’s most likely due to now only having a 2 week time window to ride, while having so many intriguing places that I still wanted to see. One day, though, I will head off on a trip without any time constraints, and then I can truly move with complete freedom, but that time is not yet nigh. However, In many ways, this long first day would end up being a rather good reminder of the strength of Matilda’s and my 6 year relationship, which had originally developed during our 55 day, 4200km ride from Finland to Portugal.

Our first major interim destination would be the village of Carreço, some 400km further up the coast, where that epic inaugural ride had, in fact, ended back in late 2017. I already wondered how I would feel finally connecting back to that major locus of change in my life. It felt like it would actually provide the opportunity, in a sense, to resume that original journey once again?

Be blessed,
Jyri