Two cheeses for breakfast

21.6.2022, tiistai · Bucelas

Good morning from Bucelas! It is Freddie here having breakfast with my rider. I want to tell you that we got a new cheese. It similar to our lunch cheese, which waits for us in the fridge, but this one is our breakfast cheese. Can you imagine having two cheeses like this? And marmalade made by the chef herself? Super luxurious!

Lovely weather today. At 6am it was 14C, later maybe 22C. Some clouds.

I think it is very important to rest like we are doing now. Like doing nothing much, not having lots of attractions or distractions. Just countyside, good food and wine, a thriller to read. Just like back home in Finland spending time in summer cottage. Lovely!

My rider has been planning the next adventures in July, but he says that the plans are still secret. I may reveal that some cycling will most likely take place.

This hotel in Bucelas is so good that I really recommend it to you all. Perfect for resting and doing nothing.

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Kulosaaren pyöräkadusta oli keskustelua.

Monet sanovat, että ” ei autoilija voi odottaa hitaasti pyöräilevän takana ohituspaikkaa”. Siksi kuulemma pyöräkatu on typerä.

Olen just pyöräillyt Portugaliin Travemundestä. Koko matkan ja erityisesti Espanjassa autoilijat ovat maantiellä odottaneet takanani ylämäessä ohituspaikkaa. Alamäessä myös. Ja tasaisella.

Ylämäessä, jyrkimmässä, nopeuteni on usein ollut 10mk/h max. Siellä ovat isot rekat, bussit ja henkilöautot odottaneet ohituspaikkaa, joskus kilometrinkin. Ja sitten ohittaneet vastaantulevien kaistaa pitkin, aina vähintään 1,5m tilaa jättäen.

Niin ja vielä saa luvan kanssa polkea rinnakkain.

Kertaakaan yksikään autoilija ei ole töötännyt tai ajanut liian läheltä.

Ulkomailla todellakin asiat ovat paremmin.

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Bucelas has 4 dental clinics, 1 hairdresser and not a single barbershop. I find this very odd indeed.

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Looking handsome!

I have been told that some white in my beard makes me charming. I tend to agree.

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There are some old defensive structures in Bucelas. They were built by the Portuguese with help of the British against invading armies of Napoleon. I climbed up a hill to see some old towers.

From there I also saw some windmills and a highway, autobahn. The EU has financed many of the autobahns here in Portugal, but also in Spain and Greece. They must have been extremely expensive as they have required building wide and high bridges.

At the moment, last things we need is more autobahns. It is really strange that the EU has been able to pour billions, likely hundreds of billions euros on building autobahns. At the same time, the Portuguese railways is so broke that it cannot buy railway cars and bring back the night train to France. And that there is no high speed train between Lisbon and Madrid. A autobahn exists, of course.

I think the EU policy of financing autobahns is a cargo cult: a mistaken belief that economic growth and wellbeing somehow follows when a country pour billions euros and millions tons of concrete on autobahns. I do not think so. Much better and certainly more future proof and climate friendly would be building railways, windmills and cycleways.

Tomorrow, Lisbon.

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