Pedro

Went for a little ride with @Sofia today, to check out the biggest fortification on the Lines of Torres, which is quite close to her home. It was a pretty awesome winter day today, the weather was perfect and we took no pictures of the ride itself because we were running out of day light, but it's a little gem of an area with rolling green hills that doesn't seem to belong to center Portugal but still within the great Lisbon area. I realize this report has too many pictures of embankments and of myself, but bare with it, I'm not one for spending too much time looking at historic things and this really peaked my interest, more so as I didn't really know what to expect nor where we were going at first. The Forte Grande (Big Fort) or Forte do Alqueirão was the biggest fort in the Lines of Torres used by the Portuguese / British army to hold back the French, led by General Wellington. They built two lines of fortifications along the hills from Torres Vedras to Vila Franca de Xira, this is the most important if not only by being the biggest. (I think, look it up if you're interested, I know very little History) There's a couple of kms of sort of loose gravel with a couple of ruts climbing from the road to the fort, so Sofia left the Speed Triple and it's Supercorsa tires down below and rode up with me. Here I am annoyed on a work call, she made herself entertained exploring my different moods through the whole event We rode up next to the old stone road, probably built along with the fort, I was happy to have nice smooth dirt and not those bumpy big rocks, me examining the old road on foot and not really caring much for it: Wouldn't want to ride up this, as always the rocks look bigger in reality than they do in Pictures, bringing supplies on horse carts up this must have been a chore. Give me the right smooth road anytime: Parked right by an embankment There is a geodesic mark inside the fort, and on top of that they built a cool viewpoint from which you get reference point to all the other forts as well as a great view. And then a walk around checking out the defense structures and ruins: Cannon embrasures, and how they look now: To me, the most impressive thing about the Lines of Torres, is how quick they could transmit a message over a long distance: I got a kick out of the drawings, they really made it easy to imagine how the ruins looked back when in use, so I tried to take a picture of some of the ruins from the same angle as the drawing was made, like the below one of a Powder Magazine: Or this one: And my favorite one, the "Governor's House", which was a small house used as an office, with a division for supposedly storing maps and charts, and a room for meetings. I made a point of standing in Wellington´s meeting room, nobody showed up Afternoon was getting on, and we rode back before the sun started to go down, stopping on the way to buy dog medicines by the vet pharmacy. Good little ride, it was today!

Nice to hear, you seem to really be getting along with it. I have to say, there’s nothing green in that mud, more like brown laning!

No dashboard in sight, though, you loose!

It’s just now that people get snobby about motorcycles, not long ago you would be lucky to ride anything bigger than a 50cc two stroke.

Pretty sure they also feel severe for people spending time inside…

Same attraction as any kind of biker meeting, I guess, looking at bikes and hanging out meeting with friends? Also the road leading to there is amazing for racing, and people often misbehave with street racing, so there’s that too, for some that’s the main attraction.

Above there’s a video for the ambiance. someone let a Jack Russel sort of dog loose, and he was running around like an arrrow all over the place, managed to take a shot of him as he’s branding a monument It is a pretty place: Felt like eating something, but the local restaurant was pretty full, and didn’t feel like being in a closed space with lots of people, so rode off to meet Sofia for lunch. The road heading out, about to get on it on the white Thruxton is a brazilian lady wearing the tightest “look at my butt” pants ever, you can even see the roundness from here Traffic heading out was pretty silly and two bikes went down on the single corner with a little water running across the tarmac, so I decided to opt for the quiet and slower way out: Back on tarmac, and you can see why people like to scratch on these roads: Passed a couple of really pretty small towns, but didn’t stop for pictures, too much hassle with sunday lunch crowd arriving at scenic locations. 20 minutes later, and I stop on a cafe and order a pair of sandwiches for Sofia’s arrival: No more pictures as the traffic turned to sunday afternoon and that means annoying and slow, so went home.

Today the morning was bright and sunny, even though a little chilly at about 8 or 10° at breakfast. I had been to the Cabo da Roca a few times before but never on a Sunday, and felt like checking the place out, it’s a very pretty area and the roads leading up to it from Lisbon are twisty with great surface, so it’s one of two places the hordes of bikers from Lisbon flock to, I made my way from Ericeira to check it out, with a plan to explore a couple of places out of the busy “biker’s road”. It’s only a short 45 minute ride from Ericeira but I decided to make it last longer, from the praia da Adraga I spotted a couple of look out points on google maps and the dirt roads were good enough to show up on maps so I went to check it out. A couple of photo stops for you guys: Quite the drop, with an almost straight rock face to the water, which looked amazing today: As always, rocks look like nothing and inclines look flat once you step off the bike and take a picture. in the distance, you can see the lighthouse building in Cabo da Roca: Getting off the cliffs, which I’m not sure was exactly legal, there’s a couple of kms of nice dirtroads up to the cape: Quiet road but if you look up to where the tarmac road passes you’ll see plenty of bikes: The actual road on the cape is a very pretty place, and an amazing place to gather if you’re into crowds: Parked right next to the lighthouse since lighthouses are for some reason my favourite buildings, and walked down to the crowd of bikes: Now I’ll show you a few pictures of portuguese motorcycling, quite diverse and something for anyone, away from the common GS of which there were only a couple: A lightweight Silverdream for the lightweight freaks: Oldschool YZF is such a pretty sportsbike: NC30, classy: Easy rider himself, styling it up with his eight ball helmet: One of Portugal’s more liked current bikes, Honda is a cult brand here and the old 750 Africa Twins were loved, as soon as they released the 1000 it was an instant hit: Oldschool Speed Triple near some italian bling: Some spots it felt like going back 20 years: For @Buckster, complete with rolled up picnic blanket for complete cowboy styles, pretty bike though: For @Catteeclan: Young girl arriving in a clean pink DT50LC, oldschool cool: was going to take a picture of the class act that is a red 1200GS when someone rode past in a new Norden: Always some twat that insists on squeezing past rows of bikes in a car, there’s a car park 50 meters behind there, who still insists on taking a van? Uploads are now failing, and I’m doing this on my phone so will post just a couple more pics in a bit

Going to Lisbon’s busiest biker meeting point today, to check it out as I’m not a local. But taking less busy, and more challenging roads:

Sofia’s Moroccan preserved lemon and mint chicken and potatoes and spiced drumsticks: Portuguese sliced beef by the sea Sofia’s marmelade and tangerine cake, I love it Squid linguini, took these last two pictures thinking of you @boboneleg

I want ABS on a road bike that is touring oriented, and heated grips. Those are mandatory as far as I’m concerned, stuff like injection is not even a choice, it’s like an electrical start by now. Electrical plugs are also needed and I don’t even think they’re adding complication. Electronic options like engine management modes or traction control don’t really complicate anything other than adding a button, all the hardware for them to work is already there and just missing the coding. I don’t value tft screens and riding modes, and bought my bike with non electronic suspension to keep it simpler. Wouldn’t want a tft screen per se, but wouldn’t not buy a bike just for having them.

Liver issues

They’re cut different but are indeed cooked like chips. I like them like that.

Entree, soft sheep’s milk and cured black pig Vegetarian cannelloni, using mushrooms and aubergine as filling: Sofia’s pee rice and grilled back pig Vegetarian lasagna Squid lunch at a biker’s cafe on a short ride around

Glad to see you riding again, Bob!

My car has racing seats, the fiberglass type with a little padding inside. Those one of yours are pretty comfy if they’re still firm on the sides.

Might have mine done tonight …

What’s your opinion on the 950 Multistrada?

Oh, and it’s pokey enough, judging from how she blasted away from stoplights, you should only miss the higher hp if carrying a passenger.

It’s a more basic version, basically. No center stand, no heated grips, no cruise control, no handguards, etc, and 10 less hp than the 900. She liked it enough on bumpy roads and bad surfaces but doesn’t feel special like her speed triple does. Was pretty happy cruising at 140/150kmh, too. I don’t know how tall you are, but it’s very low with the seat on lower position. I would go for a 900 with the higher suspension and spoked wheels, as a bike has to at least look right.

Agreed, will also roast your right leg in summer 10 times better than anything else

Obviously a lot more pleasant over the rough roads I like riding, and a revelation on town cobblestone streets, but she likes the scrambler 1200 she tried last year way more. It’s a process

Not too warm, but Sofia went out testriding a Tiger 850 to see what all the traillie fuss was about and we rode some of my favourite back roads to a café for lunch, and ending in Lisbon

How did you feel going through it? Sometimes big vehicles do the same and although it is close you don’t feel scared because you see it coming.

No dessert? Did you go hungry, Bob? Looks great!