Setubul, near Lisbon

After the two nights on the dunes with the sound of the waves washing over me in the evenings, it was time to bike again. Finding hosts in Portugal has been even more difficult than in Spain, so I take the chance offered by my Trustroots hosts to stay with them in Setubal.

Slight headwinds and increasing temperature mean that when I reach the ferry to Setubal I am feeling pretty drained. The national road north is nearly devoid of car traffic as the ferry is relatively expensive for cars. It's a nice encouragement to cyclists that bringing a bike incurs no surcharge. 

I meet my hosts Katya and Max at their place in the evening. They are russian-born and of Jewish decent, who have travelled extensively hiking and hitch-hiking on a shoestring budget. We have plenty of travelling stories to share and they particularly inspire me to travel Japan and Iceland. We hang out together when they are not otherwise busy and even offer me an extra night's accommodation on learning that I am not in a rush to reach Porto. I love the home-cooked, healthy food they prepare and Max even forgoes his carnivorous tendencies for the length of my stay. No doubt we will meet again on our travels.