Portuguese roads

I though it was high time in gave you a report on the Portuguese road network. Here are the findings.

1. Tolls: this is a real anomaly of the Portuguese road network. I have no objections to the principals of a toll system. The deployment of it is however an issue. When we left the East of Portugal and aimed for the west, we happened upon a motorway, an Autovia. This was good as it upped the speed and decreased the mpg. We merrily plied onwards, but then all of a sudden, were signs which we didn't understand and then an immediate gantry to read our number plate. Taken aback by the lack of information about this system, we grumbled for a few minutes then carried on. This then was repeated 5 or 6 times before we came off. So dutifully I enquired about this the next day and purchase a holiday makers €20 travel credit which would then work once activated via an SMS message. This was all done with success. However, my grumble is that since we have travelled south, all the tolls we have hit have been pay booths where our credit voucher doesn't work. Grrrrr

2. Toll part 2: they don't successfully take the credit card. Grrrr

3.  Tolls part 3: the tolls marked on our 2014 road maps don't tally at all with what you are presented with!!!!! Grrrrrr

4. Roads that aren't tolls: in essence, the toll roads are empty. The equivalent A roads are the busier ones with people avoiding the tolls. They are however, maintained in a slap dash manner. I think it is all a ruse to get you on the toll roads. Our bones were severly shaken today on a stretch where if you veered too far to the right, the tree roots under the road would have caused you to jump, fall off the road or for a wheel to be knocked off. The quality of the surface is akin to driving over a scale road made of Lego! 

5. Speed bumps: less than France and less than Spain, but still lurking in unsuspecting places ready to knobble you at any moment.

6. Cobbles: I think there is a link between the Portuguese government and tyre manufacturers and shock absorber manufacturers. Not only do their non toll roads shake your bones, but the town centres of all the places we have been to have been comprehensively cobbled for mile on end. Therefore, you feel that poor old Hugo has had something of a suspension massage over the past week or so. The bus journey into Lisbon showed how to drive on these cobbles. Our driver 'Lewis Hamilton' did not care one bit, so much so, the bus had unnerving squeaks, rattles and clunks! 

Apart from this though, the roads are well signed and a joy!!!! There is a certain 'devil may care' attitude to overtaking, and the etiquette seems to be that when you are overtaking, you don't pull back into the lane until you have scared the nearest oncoming driver half to death and made him take avoiding action. 

What is lovely though, is that each country has had it's own unique brand of motoring nuances.  I wonder what that will feel like when back in Britain.

Ed