On the next day, early morning, after installing my new Autocom Pro-7-Sport system in the black FJR 1300 that Yamaha Motor Portugal kindly lent me on behalf of its local agent in the Azores – Horácio da Silva Garcia – we took the road to the Algarve, in Portugal’s South coast, for a week holidays.

But unfortunately the holidays didn’t start the best way. Induced by the quality of the A2, the new highway between Lisbon and the Algarve, and because of the great safety and pleasure I always feel when riding a FJR, I was caught by the police radars exceeding the allowed speed limits. After the usual identification formalities and being fined € 120, we proceeded on our journey to "Praia da Rocha", in the Algarve, where we arrived at 10:30 AM, in time for a first great day in the beach.

But this incident wasn’t enough to spoil our great holidays in Algarve. The weather was very good during the whole week, so we could go and swim in several beaches and make some great tours too. In one of them we passed by “Monchique Serra” where we were chocked by the devastation made by the large fires that destroyed many Portuguese forests this year. I still remember making the same tour in a rented BMW F650GS, three years ago, when this beautiful mountain road was surrounded by an exuberant forest everywhere.

We returned to Lisbon on the afternoon of September 26th , passing the A2 highway once again. This time I was careful enough not to be surprised by the police radars again.

On the morning of September 28th , at 09:30 AM, together with my son André and his wife Cristina, in their Honda Transalp, we went to the concentration point of Portugal’s FJR1300 Owners Club second meeting, in the A8, near by Lisbon, where we arrived on time.

We were very pleased to meet again with the FJR owners friends we already knew from the 1st FJR1300PT meeting held last July, and were able to meet other FJR owners and their friends. During the first meeting we only managed to gather 6 FJR’s but, this time, we were 11 FJR’s along with another 10 bikes. Altogether we were 31 persons.

As planned, at 10:20 AM we took the A8 highway towards "Torres Vedras" and "Óbidos", taking afterwards a national road in direction of "Lagoa de Óbidos", a beautiful place with great villas around a nice golf course, nearby the sea. The first stop was at "Baleal" village, where we met another 3 bikers. After another good time together, refreshed with some cold beers, we were back to "Torres Vedras" again for lunch, passing now by the N8 road through "Bombarral", which has great bends - an authentic race track - where the bravest took the opportunity to exercise their motorcycle riding skills.

We arrived at Adega do Miguel restaurant, near by "Torres Vedras", at 01:30 PM for lunch. Here we had another great time together and appreciated the delicious Portuguese gastronomy. Of course the main topic of conversation was about bikes, some speaking about theirs skills and motorcycle adventures and others about their trips in Europe. Because this day was too short for the acquaintances we wished to make with the newcomers, we started planning the third FJR1300PT meeting already, that will last for 2 days and shall be held in the north of Portugal, on June 2004.

At 04:30 PM it was time to say goodbye and to return back home after a great journey of 200 kms and a lot of fun.

In this same day we boarded Sata’s plane again to go back to "São Miguel" island, in the Azores, where we arrived at 08:45 PM local time. It was the end of another great "two wheels" holiday of which we enjoyed every minute.

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