The Dao Region of Portugal – Biking & Boarding

In the north of Portugal, just above Coimbra but below Porto and a little east towards the Spanish border, lies a region known as the Dao. Through it the river Dao and alongside it were once tracks for a train that ran between the towns of Santa Comba Dao and Viseu from the 1890s to the 1980s. It is about 50 kilometers in length and back then it provided transportation for locals and delivered them supplies. When it was discontinued a “Rails-to-Trails” was put in its place. This is the process of converting abandoned rail lines (“Rails”) into bike paths (“Trails”), and it has become very common in both Europe and North America. In Portugal these bike paths are known as “Ecopistas.”

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Paddle Boarding to Monaco

It was the 21st of November but the weather was still warm and beautiful, so we loaded up a friend’s car and headed for Cap D’Ail to do some paddling. We parked at the train station, which is right beside the coastal “sentier” walk into Monaco. This is one of our favorite walks in the area. I blew up the paddle board and started towards Monaco while Flo followed along by the coastal path.

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