Dinner

Went down for dinner at 8pm. Told it was half past. Waited until 8:40. Menu all in Spanish. Found a special Sunday menu. Translated and chose what we'd have. Guy says no, not today, despite it saying Domingo 30th.  Away he goes and brings noches menu, so we gather other was lunch. 

Sanch had cod again, me chicken escalope. Sliced into mine to discover if wasn't cooked properly, so back it went.

Pudding was from a different menu again. Cheesecake for Sanch, cheesecake with honey for me. Waitress came back. Can't have cheesecake but bizarrely, can have it with honey!

Barely any English spoken here, so does make it difficult. Oh for a babel fish! 

(“The Babel fish is small, yellow and leech-like, and probably the oddest thing in the Universe. It feeds on brainwave energy received not from its own carrier but from those around it.)

We head further north tomorrow. We'll still be basking in scorching sunshine by the looks of it.  Long may it continue. 

Dozy Bollix x 50,000

Sanch had calculated that he would hit 50k miles on his Shadslow today, so wanted to stop and take a picture for posterity. No problem.

Well it shouldn't have been. I thought he would just pull over when it happened and take the snap. Oh no.

As we passed through a village, he toots to indicate he going to turn round. As we have just seen some wall art, of which he is partial, I assume it is for that.

Rather than turn in the road, I take a turning where I can see a roundabout a few metres away, Sanch is turning back up the road.

I make it back to the road and head to the wall art. No sign of him. I ride a bit further. Still no sign. By now I'm thinking he's taken his photo and gone ahead of me. I don't catch him up, so then think he must be behind. I stop at a fuel station off the motorway and msg him. Just as I finish, I hear his exhaust note go by, so I give chase and we are re-united for the remaining miles to the hotel.

On reaching the hotel, the question was, how did we get separated? Turns out, the dozy bollix saw he was close to the 50k, so decided to turn around and cover the last mile or two on the wide road we were on and where he could pull over, rather than wait for it to just click over! Irish logic!

Bin art

Two trees

Another hot but interesting riding day.  We have ridden north today, to the top of the world almost, or so it seemed. After a quick blast east to Almunecar, we got on a sweeping road, which as we got higher, got twistier and twistier. It was a hard enough ride for us, let alone the many cyclists we saw pushing hard up the inclines. 

In Olivar we had to stop whilst a large group of runners crossed the road. A policeman told me, whilst we waited, it was a race. Rather them than me in 30 degrees. 

At the top of the mountain, the views were just incredible. There are no places to stop to take it in though and the next bend keeps you focused on tarmac, rather than the vistas. I did stop once though. As I rounded a bend, there on the road in front of me, was a brown snake, about 80cm long I estimate. As I stopped, it slithered off, at great speed, into the verge. 

It seems that for most of today's ride we have been riding through olive groves.  We must have passed millions of them and we are still surrounded by them. Just like the quintas in Portugal or the Spanish wine houses, there are olive estates. I've never seen anything like it before.

Plenty of olive trees but the trees (threes) in the title, were, firstly, a Uk plated Triumph Rocket III and secondly, the three minutes I waited for Sanch near the bottom of the mountain. 

Once I get in a rhythm and am focused on the job in hand, I may as well be on my own. Sanch has his own pace through the twisty stuff and enjoys it just as much, it's just slower than mine. Fair play though, the Shadslow isn't really suited to those sorts of roads, so he does ok.

In fact he does more than ok, as he clocked up 50,000 miles on today's trip, though that carries it's own back story.

End of Day 19

Walked down to the seafront, about 15 minutes, in 34 degrees. Mad! Found a bar for an Alhambra beer, then checked on google for best places to eat near us. Happened to be a German place 2 doors down. Staff were German and most of the clientele were German too. Turns out, they were there to watch the German ladies v Sweden in World Cup quater final. Unfortunately, Sweden won. Incidentally, I sussed what our hosts 'team meeting' was about. Holland v Italy in another ladies quarter final. Really!

2 more beers, to wash down gyros for me and pork schnitzel for Sanch. Sanch not keen on uphill walk back to the hotel, so search was on for a taxi rank. Non found. Sanch was buying tobacco for his daughter and asked the shopkeeper where we could get a taxi. The guy took out his phone and called one for us. Gent.  3 minutes later we were in the cab and a few more later at the hotel, €7.50 lighter for the 1.5km experience.

It is now 21:30 and Sanch is already in bed and snoring away. Creature of habit. It's not like we've had a long riding day.

Tomorrow we start the trek back up through Spain. We have about 205km to go, to La Carchel, which appears to be just a hotel and fuel station in the middle of nowhere.

We passed the half way point in mileage, 2145 miles for me, a few days back now and we'll be two thirds through the length of the tour tomorrow evening too. Seems to be flying by.

I checked Ginny's oil level again today. Still OK, so not sure where 1 ltr every 800 miles came from.

Till tomorrow.

Arrived in Torrox Costa

Fuelled up, pay first place (I hate them) then had a short ride to our hotel. Run by a Dutch couple, so suitably laid back. They wanted to know what time we were arriving, as apparently they were having a staff meeting. Huh? Seems to be only the two of them, Saskia & Vince. Maybe it was just their time for sexsh!

We're in the garden, under a huge rubber plant/tree, chilling out with some beer and snacks from the self service bar. It's all got a bit too much for the old fella though.

Poor old soul

Later we'll take a stroll down the seafront in search of dinner. My 24 hour fast ended at brekkie, so I'm monitoring how I'm feeling in case the reflux issue resurfaces.

Ayrton Cepsa

Left Ronda with less fuss than our arrival and were soon on some nice sweeping roads, at our usual steady 80kph. That's plenty fast enough to be economical and allow time to  see what is around us. It does frustrate the locals though.

Now, Sanch can be pretty slow at times (I've seen grannies on mobility scooters quicker) but I doubt even he was expecting some would be racing driver, to overtake him in a petrol tanker! Not content with the Shadslow, he thought he'd take Ginny as well. Slight problem, there was a coach approaching from the opposite direction. Discretion being the better part of valour, I rolled off the throttle to give Ayrton the space to get back in. A bit of a crazy move to say the least. 

Our first stop is at Fuente de los 100 caños. A huge concrete fountain basically, with 100 outlet pipes (not counted) fed by spring water. We nearly ended up in someone's garden, as tomtom told us to turn right into their driveway but we were soon on track again. What looked like being another off road adventure though turned out ok, as the road, surprisingly, turned from gravel to concrete, albeit with some steep sections. Whilst we are here, a couple of guys have arrived in vans loaded with 5 litre bottles and are filling them, despite signs saying water quality can't be guaranteed. I guess they know though. I've topped up the hyperkewl. 

We have a fuel stop before we reach our digs in Torrox Costa. Should be a short riding day.

Fuente de los 100 caños

Ronda

Arrived here in Ronda. Another good ride until we hit the usual road closure tomtom shenanigans. Managed to suss alternative though, after 2 circuits of housing estate. 

Almost had an incident by the hotel though, rode up onto the pedestrian area, to see 'road' hotel is located on, full of dining tables. Stopped, put foot down onto slippery bloody marble! Could have been interesting. 

Back to the cobbled street we just stopped on the roundabout and I went to hotel, where manager directed me to the garage. It's another pay to park but honestly have no idea where we'd leave them otherwise. Inside, the manager has an immaculate Seat 600L. And it's very secure, as he needs to unlock the lift to go down to the garage.

Off out to do some sightseeing and get Sanch a beer. I'm off beer and food for today at least.

Fantastico

What a brilliant ride that was, from Ubrique to Zahara. Twisty as hell with huge mountain climbs and descents. Some billiard table smooth (as a high percentage of Spain's roads are), some bumpy as f*ck. The bonus though, these incredible vistas. Around almost every corner, you want to stop and take a photo but there isn't space to stop, nor in a lot of cases, anything to stop you going over the edge!

Note the road waiting for us

At the end of the CA9104 is a beautiful little village, Zahara, perched on a hill and overlooking the most gorgeous turquoise lake. It's a view to die for.

We've nabbed a parking space, after negotiating the tiny cobble streets (cobbles?, nae problem pal) and are now at a cafe in the square. 

Next stop is Ronda. That will have to go some to be Zahara.

Note: if some pics look strangely squashed, you'll need to click on them to get their full magnificence. 

Day 18

Not a good night. Suffered for stuffing myself on buffet, more indigestion/reflux. No brekkie.

Tomtom started our day by taking us along the coast road, over the narrowest cobbled bridge and through the massive oil/petrol storage tanks! Then, however, it took us up some glorious fast sweeping roads and then on into the mountains, where we we treated to some superb vistas.

Stopped for fuel and drink in a village called Ubrique. Got another stop before we get to Ronda. Hotting up nicely, high 20s. Just like home 😀

Brits

Popped up the road to take some better snaps of the rock and get a couple of beers in. What a deflating experience. Bar full of east enders, brummies, etc. Barely heard any english speakers for two weeks.  Come to the costas and we may as well have been in Chatham. Can't wait to move up country. 

Back at the hotel we indulged in the buffet dinner, as the bar didn't have any fish for fish 'n' chips! Luckily for Sanch the buffet had fish. It was like groundhog day watching Sanch, as the second plate he had, looked exactly the same as the first, piles of fish with chips.

When we left the restaurant we split. I went to the room, Sanch to get some water. A bit later I'm checking the phone and I see a message, "let me in". Bearing in mind the old sod has his own keycard, I remind him of our room number (323) and that he has a key. After a few minutes, he enters the room. He says he's been banging on the door for me to let him in, as the key didn't work..... of room 223!  Now if I hada € for every time he's called me dozy bollix this trip, the dozy bollix!

Now time for bed. Sanch already snoring, seconds after his head hit the pillow . Disco booming out downstairs but I'm feeling tired, so don't expect it'll take long for me to go off.

Tomorrow we head into the hills, to Ronda. 

Found in hotel 'library'

The Rock

Checked in the hotel. As before, furthest room from the lifts but it is a suite, not just a room and has a double aspect and balcony.

Bikes are safely tucked away in the basement car park. It costs but better than leaving on the street.

Getting here from Tarifa was yet another adventure. Unfortunately for us, tomtom doesn't understand some of  these roundabouts. Turn left on the roundabout she says, ok, except it is more a junction where you have to turn right and loop across the main carriageway.  We got there in the end but then ended up on an excursion into the hills. I thought we were done with twisty roads for now. It definitely wasn't the route I was expecting, so I assume tomtom settings took over. The highlight though, the storks nesting on all the electricity pylons. They really are quite funny.

It's a tad cooler here than it was up coast, 24 degrees. Very pleasant. The middle of country is seeing 40 degrees. We'll be heading that way in a few days.

This morning's yoghurt 😁

 

Tarifa

So, we've arrived at the southern most point in mainland Europe. The cloud has gone and the temperature is rising. The beach is filling up nicely too. 

Sitting by the harbour having a bit to eat and drink. This is the life. 

Morocco across the water

Back at the seaside

Arrived at the Costa al Mar and Cape Trafalgar. Lovely sandy beach. Cloudy at the moment, so not many people on it.

Walk up to the lighthouse spoilt by piles of dog shit!

Took a photo of Sanch & Dudley by 1805 memorial. 

Day 17

Today we are  heading further south, in  fact to tbe furthest south it is possible to get on mainland Europe, though there is some dispute on this apparently.  Before that though we shall take time out to visit Cape Trafalgar, famous for, as I'm sure you are all aware, Nelson's victory over Napoleon's navy in 1805. Three cheers for Horatio, hip hip!

We shall finish the day, all being well, in sight of the rock of Gibraltar. I'm not sure we'll have the time or the inclination to cross the border back to the UK but we shall see.

Weather forecast is 26 in Gibraltar, feeling like 30. Hyperkewl at the ready.

Jerez

Arrived in Jerez after another fraught tomtom experience. Asking us to turn left where there is no left turn allowed. Sorted eventually and took to some back roads, leading us to Spain's motoring mecca. No chance of sneaking Ginny in for some scratching but got a photo instead.

It's less than 10 miles from the circuit to the city and our hotel. It has underground parking, a special motos bay but we do have to pay. Worth it though to know it is secure.

Temperature has been 30+ all afternoon. Off out for a beverage shortly.

Sanch in the bathroom freshening up when there is a knock at the door. I open it and am handed a card, a bottle of water and jar of sweets. The card reads, Dear Mr Ahern, Tryp hotel wishes you a happy birthday. Nice touch.

It's a nice hotel but as seems to be the trend, our room is as far away as it is possible to get, from the lift. Have lost count of how many that has happened in now.

Day 16

Back in the saddle. Had to perform a bit of maintenance before we set off. Sanch's dipped beam had blown, so he had to fit a new bulb. Meanwhile, I checked tyre pressures again and the oil. Both ok.

The ride down to Sevilla was very pleasant and not too hot. I had broken out my hyperkewl jacket in any case, so was nicely cool. I also had my fingerless gloves on. The road was smooth, open and sweeping, plus it was practically empty.  Maybe because it runs alongside the motorway. 

Sevilla was hectic but not too bad. We went wrong once but eventually parked up by the Golden Tower.

Currently having some tapas for lunch. Be rude not to. Next up is a brief stop/ride by at the Jerez racing circuit. Wonder if I can get a lap in? 🤔

What a salad

Back up the bar we had couple of cruzcampos and then had some food. Sanch had a huge plate of Iberian meat selection. I chose a salad with some additions, cheese and chorizo. A massive salad duly arrived. 

Portions are generous here. I gave it my best shot but had to leave several forks full of lettuce. It was very nice though.

Back at the hotel we are stuffed.

Tomorrow we head for Jerez, via Sevilla.

Siesta time

Heat does tire you out, not to mention the beer.  Went back to hotel and had a nap. Abuse from Sanch but notice he also had a kip. 

Did a bit of admin, who has paid for what, fuel stats and emails, then it was time to head back to the bar for dinner. 34 degrees at 8pm. Phew.

Merida rocks

The teatro and ampiteatro complex is superb. I've seen others, maybe in a better state of repair but these, particularly the  ampiteatro, have areas I've not seen before. All very impressive. 

The Ampiteatro

An all sites ticket costs €15 or €7.50 if you are an old git. We went to 4 of the pay sites. Individually they would have cost double what we paid. Great value.

We've now made our way to the Marilyn bar, so Sanch can have a birthday beer or three. I'm ready for siesta. It's currently 30 degrees.

Happy Birthday To Ya

Day 15, the first of 2 rest days on the tour. It also happens to be Sanch's birthday. It's hard to believe he was born way back in 1862, he looks so much older. 🤣

Fair play to the old fella though, he did turn off the bugle and allow me a lie in or was that just that we jumped an hour forward yesterday? 🤔

First on our sightseeing agenda was the Casa Mitreo y Columbarios, a huge and incredibly well preserved villa. It has some lovely frescoes and other interesting features I'd not seen before. There is also a burial ground nearby, with some large private burial chambers. 

A walk into town leads to the alcazaba and Roman bridge. The bridge is 753m wide. I walked it's entire length and back.

The alcazaba is an arab fort. Mainly just the walls but it does have an interesting building that houses a water cistern down some long sloping stone steps. There are goldfish in the crystal clear water.

The day is warming up nicely. As we sit in the shade, having a drink, it is 27 degrees. It could touch 34 by 5pm.

Next up we shall head for the main attraction, the teatro and anfiteatro.

FFS!

Next stop after Evora was a coffee stop at Evoramonte. Besides coffee Sanch bought backy for his sister I think, as it is about 40% of the cost it is in Ireland.

Our next official stop was our fuel stop after which we were bowling along nicely when tomtom took us onto the motorway. One of the perils of not putting in waypoints is that tomtom will take the device settings, in this case, fastest route and take you off at a tangent. I amended the route to take us off motorway at the next junction. That was when the fun, read pain, began.

We were riding the last few miles of Portugal and glad to be so but she had one last twist for us. In a town called Elvas, we ended up riding around the industrial park, trying to get out of the bloody place. Twice we rode up past the station, being told to turn left, only to find left would take us though a barrier into the a rail yard! Reprogramming tomtom seemed to make no difference, as each time she brought us to the same point. A couple were having a drink outside a cafe and must have wondered what was going on as we rode past 4 times. Eventually we set tomtom for fastest route and she took us back to the motorway. What a waste of feckin time! So frustrating. Not sure if it is tomtom or to do with local OS mapping but it really put the seal on our time in Portugal.

On the motorway, within a few miles of the Spanish border, Ginny and I clocked up 2000 miles for the tour. 30 miles on the motorway was pretty boring but I just wanted to get to Merida by that point. It was noticeable too, that the grey clouds and intermittent rain we had had all morning, disappeared once in Spain and the temperature crept up to 30 degrees. Good riddance Portugal!

On arrival in Merida, we immediately started our sightseeing, starting with the very impressive aquaduct, currently populated by nesting storks, the baths and the totally amazing Circus, where they once raced chariots.

From the latter, we made our way to the hotel. Checked in, we freshened up and went in search of beer. We came across Bar Marilyn, where we spent what was left of the evening, drinking Cruzcampo Especial at €1.70 a glass and eating free tapas, plus an omelete sandwich. One of the local 'ladies' caught Sanch's eye but when she left it was moi, she was blowing kisses to for some reason! Ha, ha!

As we are here for two nights, tomorrow being our rest day, I shall be having a lay in, though I expect the feckin bugle will still go off at 6 and 7:30. I have to cut the old bastard some slack though, coz it's his birthday! The rest of the day will be spent seeing the Roman sights this town has to offer. Brilliant.

Till tomorrow.  

Ossuary

Both creepy and marvellous at the same time. Looks to be a pattern to the work. You can tell monks had time on their hands.

From the ossuary we rode around some more tiny cobbled streets (we bloody love cobbles now) to a Roman temple. Another photo opportunity. 

Now time to hit the road again.

Evora Ossuary

Arrived in Evora about 12:15. Has been threatening to pee down most of the journey. Going to take a look at the ossuary.

Day 14

2 weeks since Sanch left home.

Have stopped at McDs for brekkie. We were never going to pay for the hotel brekkie, so got on the road, hoping to stay ahead of the rain.

Leaving the city on a Monday is more fraught than arriving on Sunday, for sure. Problem lies in us sticking with the speed limits. What silly buggers we are. As mentioned before, none of the Portuguese do. I think the issue here is that there is no enforcement. No cameras, no patrols, nowt! No wonder then they speed with impunity. 

Can't wait to get back into Spain to be honest.

Wanna buy something to smoke?

The journey to Lisbon and ride into the city was very easy. Apart from the odd knob cutting me up, all went well.

The hotel has free underground parking.  A guy has to lower a thin chain to let us in, then says something I don't understand. Inevitably I go wrong. He shouts some more and points. I'm sure he says something about dois (two) but don't know what. He could have meant level -2 or 2 bikes in 1 bay. We went to -2 and stuck the bikes in separate bays. Bollox to him. I did mention this to the girl at check in  but she seemed unconcerned.

With a quick turn around we went to see the sights. First a museum that houses a roman theatre. Strange. You can view a lot for free but they charge €3 for another part.  We were too late for that. Not sure what we missed. 

The Roman Theatre 

From the museum we went to check out a tower, Elevador de Santa Justa. It's a metal tower with a lift and a huge queue waiting to go up it. We take pics.  Incredibly, in this area, I get asked 3 times by some shady characters, if I want something to smoke and am shown balls of weed. I tell them I don't smoke. 

The Elevador

Down by the river Tejo we take photos of a big arch and a big statue, before making our way back for something to eat. We choose a 'healthy pizza' washed down with a craft beer. Both were very nice. Then it's back to the hotel. In the square some asian guys are playing cricket! They have only one set of stumps, 2 water bottles but do have a proper looking bat and tennis ball. They are having fun and there is quite a crowd.

Crafty

This is our last night in Portugal. Given the  issues with tomtom we've had and the adverse road / weather conditions we've encountered, I can't say I'm too bothered. Tomorrow we shall end the day in Merida, where we have a 2 night stay.

More Shenanigans

The plan was to go Sintra, a hilltop village. As we climbed another tight twisty road into the mist, we come to a No Entry sign, blocking our way just 900m short of our target. Thanks Tomtom. Why?

An alternative is selected. "In eighty metres bear left".  In 5 metres after bearing left, I see a barrier up ahead. Reverse. Decided, enough was enough, so choose to skip the Sintra visit and head for fuel stop. Even then, Tomtom is trying to send us right where roads don't exist. Sanch blames Portugese ordinance survey for having out of date mapping. 

By hook or crook, we reach the fuel stop. I take this opportunity to adjust the tyre pressures once more. The rain and the muddy track have covered the bikes in crap, so much more so than the adventure bikes we saw at the Cabo ( again, who needs a GS?), so we use the water hose to wash them down. 

Ginny, covered in muck

German GS, clean as they come!

It's a fairly short ride from the fuel stop to Lisbon, so should be there in good time to do some sight seeing. 

Day 13

Unlucky for anyone riding in Portugal. The Wild Hogs very own Michael Fish, predicted wall to wall sunshine for the next 7 days, so we wake up to rain.

On our way to Cabo da Roca; mainland Europe's most westerly point, we have once again had an off road adventure, courtesy of tomtom.

Cobbles we can handle but when you are on a wet gravel track and 4 adventure land rovers come by, you know things are gonna get tricky. 

One stops, no, not to laugh but to advise he is the last one on the track.  As I start to ascend, gingerly, ont the muddy surface, hugging the left hand bank, I am suddenly confronted by a local Skoda driving cabbie, who is clearly not expecting anyone else to be on the road, given his speed, nor to find them on his side of the road! No harm done. And at least it prepared him for Sanch. A few metres later we joined a perfectly flat piece of tarmac, that tomtom probably turned us off a few kms earlier.

The Cabo is teaming with all nationalities. We had to queue to get a photo with the plaque.  We got a few snaps and one with Dudley. 

It is so wet and misty though, there's precious little else to see.

Misty Cabo Monument 

Sanch is fuelled up on coffee and cake again, so we're off to Sintra.

!"£$%^& Mosquitos

Who would have thought that mossies would live thousands of feet up. Discovered after we'd woken up from a night in our mountain retreat that the room was shared with at least half  dozen mossies. Still no ill effects, until that was, 24 hours later. I woke up scrathing my hand and saw 2 red bumps. Luckily I brought me repellant and sting ease sprays. It did the trick. However, it soon became apparent that they had also got at Sanch and as he tends to sleep with more flesh outside the covers than me, they'd made a banquet of him.

More lumps have appeared on me today, about 5 on my hands and a couple on my face but Sanch has them on his arms, face but worst of all, on the back of his head. His bonce looks like a join the dots puzzle. Th bastard things usually feast on me and I come up in huge lumps but looks like I got off fairly lightly compared to the old fella.

Someone please tell me why these feckin things exist. They do no good that I'm ware of, carrying disease, etc, so why the eff do we have them?

Kill on sight has always been my policy. If I'd known we had them in the room, I'd not have slept until every last bastard thing was squished.

Time for bed said Zebedee

A very nice dinner washed down with a couple of pints of Sangres. Long since lost track of what I've had.

Tomorrow we head to the most westerly point on mainland Europe.  If I said that about Cap Finistere, then that was bollox. I obviously  meant Spain.

We'll end the day in Lisbon. More sun beckons. 

Obidos Castle 

1 wedding and a funeral

Up the town there was a wedding at the church. Add that to the funeral earlier in the day, then that is definitely a first.

The happy couple 

Now sitting upstairs in a restaurant that has a bridge connecting two seperated sets of tables. Cute.

In Obidos

A relatively easy, (i.e. no mountain twisties) ride to our hotel at Obidos. There's a stunning view of it on the hillside as you come in on the motorway.

A very friendly welcome to the hotel, including a snifter of the local brew, a cherry liqueur @ 20% alcohol. Very tasty.  Receptionist is Brazilian, who has lived in UK for 5 years.  Her English is very good as a result. Never heard a foreigner say dodgy before!

View from the room

Stopped briefly to stick some air in the tyres. A bit difficult when they are hot but I'll check them cold tomorrow and make adjustments again on the road.

There's a pool here so might try and get a swim before we go up town. 

One Honda for another

Think Sanch is getting fed up with the low rider. Not sure this will be any better though.

Think I have it sussed

I reckon I've worked out why Sanch and I are the only ones sticking to speed limits. I think the Portuguese think that is a minimum.  They do have a minimum on some 2 lane stretches going up hill, i.e. a minimum of  60 in the overtaking lane but I think they think that applies everywhere because they all speed and get most frustrated when stuck behind us. 😄

Day 12

A grey start but soon warmed up, currently 24 degrees.

Bit of a false start this morning. Got to the end of the hotel driveway and realised headset was not talking to tomtom, Sherrie and Serena must have had a tiff. Couldn't pair them up again, so had to go online to check headset manual. After about 10 minutes pissing about, the two were talking again and we were heading up into the mountains once more. I had no idea Portugal was so hilly. 

Stopped in a place called Zezere for coffee. 2 coffees and a big cake for Sanch came to €2. Portugal is cheap.

Around about 70 miles to go to our hotel. On these roads though that's over 2 hours I imagine.

You never know what's round the next corner

Yesterday I came round a bend to be confronted by 3 peacocks, today by a small fox. Have yet to see any deer, though there have been plenty of signs for them. Roadkill amounts to 2 badgers. Birds of prey abound, for the birders amongst you.

Flickr

If you are having trouble seeing photos on flickr, I can only apologise.

Try this link.

https://www.flickr.com/gp/23200539@N08/K5243s

Day 11

The day started pretty much as the previous had finished, in cloud, though you'll see from the pic, we were above it first thing. It was strange to see it creeping up from the valley to meet us. 

First stop today was Aveiro back on the west coast. Main attraction, as far as I'm aware are the canals and the boat rides. We spent a short time there, took a few snaps and had a coffee. Very sunny.

Next up, Coimbra and a visit to the  Roman cryptoportico. Unbelievably we were able to park right outside the museum. The cryptoportico is a very impressive bit of Roman building work. Those boys knew how to build.

Leaving Coimbra we encountered another of the dreaded tiny cobbled streets with 2 very tight and steep turns. Sanch was not a happy bunny and was happy to voice that when we made a stop at Conimbriga Roman settlement. "No more feckin cobbles" 

Conimbriga, which we decided would be too hot to walk round in bike gear dates from 2nd century BC.

Sanch decided the last leg, to our hotel would definitely not involve unpaved roads. What a pussy. Only problem was, with both tomtoms set up the same, the routes differed. Not for the first time. So, I said Sanch could lead. Reluctantly, after I said I wouldn't swap tomtoms, he agreed.

The route was also supposed to  avoid toll roads. So, where the feck does he take us, yep, onto the bloody toll motorway! As it is all done by cameras, I'm hoping to avoid having to pay the 45c charge. He'll get the bill if I do 🤣

Tomorrow we are off to a place called Obidos, a walled town, and we'll be staying there but outside the walls.

Smells

No, not the bad ones. Heaven forbid!

As we're riding around, we have been catching a number of different smells, including the eucalyptus I spoke of earlier, pine and most striking, honeysuckle. The latter is very strong, mainly I suspect down to the size of the plants.

Who knew that honeysuckle aren't small bushes but in the right climate, grow into huge trees. Fascinating. 

Day 10

A grey day to start with, started with the throbbing of cruise ship engine (not before the bugle alarm though). We hadn't realised that this part of the river was still navigable by these massive ships, so was a bit of a surprise. Our room was overlooking the river and the hillside beyond, a brilliant setting.

Brekkied up, we hit the twisties once, stopping high up on the hillside to take a photo of the river and our hotel below. By now the sun was shining but it wasn't too long before we climbed up into some clouds. Visibility dropped dramtically and it got a bit chilly but what goes up, must come down, so we were soon on the other side of the hill/mountain and coming back down to the sun.

The going was really good and the views just incredible. Out of the mountains briefly, we had a 40km blast along a dual carriageway, before getting back into the twisty stuff. With a fuel stop, we had about 60 miles to go to get to our hotel. Would we make it without incident? Would we eck!

High up in the hills (can't make up my mind, hills or mountains) we once again came to an unpaved section, only this time it wasn't cobbles, just a dirt and gravel track. This hadn't been flagged by Tomtom, else we'd have tried to avoid it. We soldiered on keeping to the left, as to the right, was an unguarded drop of several hundred feet. A couple of kms later, we were back on tarmac and my inner Marquez was able to exploit Ginny's superb tractability once more. She will take almost all but the very tightest bends in 4th gear, pulling from 1500 revs, to power to the next one, which isn't usually more than a few metres away. She just loves these roads.

On we rode towards the final mountain and the next 'adventure'. Never a dull moment on a DeVall tour. As we climbed once more, again we rode into the cloud, only this was very thick, to the point where we were travelling at little over running pace, visor open, as the drop in temp misted even our pinlock visors. I saw a sign that said we were at 1300m but the next one I have no idea what it said, because I was just concentrating on watching the white and yellow lines and staying between them. Visibility by this point couldn't have been more than about 20 feet. Suddenly, Tomtom pipes up, "in 200 metres, go left on the roundabout, 2nd exit" What feckin roundabout. I kid you not, I couldn't see it until I was right on top of the stop sign! I went left, not knowing if anything was coming, it wasn't but then picked out some red and hazard lights in front. I held station with that as best I could until we started to descend once more. Soon we were out of the cloud and I could make my way to the hotel with clear sight.

Relieved once more to have made it to our digs unscathed, we exchanged stories of the last few miles. Sanch had been a minute or two behind me, still, we said the same thing. What feckin roundabout!

The hotel is still high above the valley floor, so the weather isn't great, which is a shame, as the view from the room would make a great photo, were it sunny. A shame also, that the hotel cook is on holiday, so no dinner! Luckily there is a shop selling animal furs/skins, all sorts of leather/fur goods and also cheeses and hams., the latter being available in their little cafe, so we're fed. They also sell beer too. Cushty!

Tomorrow we are heading west again and back to the seaside at Aviero. From there we'll head south to our hotel at Lousa.

Don't forget to check out the photos on flickr.  

You couldn't write it

You will though, said Catherine. Too right.

When we finally arrived at the Foz Tua hotel, gone 7:30pm, the guy on the desk tells me the room isn't ready. What? He procedes to explain and shows me some paperwork. Unbelievably, another guy called Neil turned up on the same day. They say, are you Neill, he says yes and they give him the room. But that's not the whole story, for this other Neil had booked for 19th May, so was a month late! Bit of a knobhead if you ask me. Never got to meet him to tell him though.

We waited about 10 minutes for the room to be readied, during which time we had a beer. We needed a drink after the ride we'd just had. We had a quick turn around a walked the 50 metres to the restaurant up the road. It's a posh looking place, somewhat spoilt by having a tv on the wall. Not really in keeping.

Sanch had a venison stew, I veal. The veal, was not quite what I was expecting. Not a white steak, such as we'd have at home but a red steak and not just one but three! Yes, I kid you not. Three blooming steaks, a single person's portion. With fries, salad and some greens it came with, this was a massive portion of food. Needless to say, it didn't all get eaten but I had a good go at it. As red meat usually has it's revenge on me, I'm waiting for the repercussions.

Stuffed and with a couple of beers sloshing around too, we made our way back to the hotel and bed.

Hell on wheels

This could have been titled several things, WTF?, Marquez to Lampkin, Who needs a GS. What I chose is probably most appropriate though, just ask Sanch.

Pinhao to Tua by the shortest route indicated unpaved road. No problemo, as we've already discovered, that means a village has cobbles and we can do cobbles.

Sure enough we got to a village with cobbles. As I 'went straight on'  I found myself cresting onto a steep downhill uneven cobbled hill, barely more than a path. I was past the point of no return but just had time to glance in my mirror and see Sanch pull to the side. He was also past the point but just hadn't reslised yet!

I carried on for about 50 metres and waited.  Eventually, Sanch appeared bouncing over the cobbles.

What came next was simply 7 miles of cobbled hell. This was hardly a road, more a track through the vines, with the tighest steepest  switchbacks you will ever encounter. Add too that rock/dirt strewn sections with a huge drop on one side, with only vines to stop Ginny and I ending up in the river about 500 feet below and you have a pretty good picture of this torturous last few miles to the hotel. Oh, yes, we took a wrong turn too, so had to turn around.

We made it through though, both unscathed, if a little frazzled by the experience.  What impressed us most though (besides us not having to change underwear), was that two fully loaded bikes, a tourer and a cruiser had made it through something more suited to an adventure bike. I'd quite like to see some of these GS posers take that on, let alone on a 350+kg tourer.

Porto to Pinhao

What a glorious ride. Sun beating down all the way and once again some superb twisty roads. 

I hadn't imagined we'd be hundreds of feet above the river, giving us such stunning views. As we moved further up river, the quintas began to populate the landscape, along with terrace upon terrace of vines. They stretched hundreds of feet above and below us. 

Finally, we arrived in Pinhao, a beautiful and very popular village on a bend in the river. We fuelled up.

The main attraction, is the train station, covered in lovely picture tiling.  I'm sure people just travel up to see that.

Next stop, our hotel in Tua, a few miles up stream.

Sunny Porto

We rode into Porto, then straight out again over the Dom Luis bridge to Gaia. It is gloriously sunny. 😁

Parked up and promptly got a visit from plod, who said it was not ok to park in road, so could we please park on the pavement instead. Imagine that in the UK. 

Sanch is refuelling, another burger.  I've been struggling a bit with reflux, so trying to cut down on intake.

For most of the ride in we were on the Rota do Romanico, which involves riding through a lot of towns and villages with cobbled streets. Gives the old fillings a shake, even at about 18mph. Mind you, you'd think it was billiard table smooth the way the 'clowns' drive over them.

There is a word, not used in the prescence of ladies, that aptly describes some of these drivers. They really are that bad. We've seen loads of learners but I wonder what they teach them, as no fucker bothers indicating! 😠

Heading east again after lunch, into the Douro valley. Hoping the weather holds.

Doubting Thomas

Sanch was right. Our first stop, another routing cock up, a fuel stop we don't need and it is blazing sun. We have ridden in some cloud and on more blinking cobbles but even so, the ride has been pretty good fun. 

I must have been a good km in front of Sanch at one point.  Not only does his Shadow have less ground clearance than a Dachsund but he also seems to lack confidence when the road is wet/damp. Once I get in Marquez mode, I'm away. Ginny's new boots are superb. Not had a twitch out of them, even with manhole covers that are placed right in the middle of the lane! 

Next stop, Porto.

Day 9

Losing track of what day it is now. Forecast was right, raining. My own personal weather man reckons we are riding towards the sun. Sceptical, me? This is the man who said no need for waterproofs when we were in France, just before a heavy shower!

Onwards to Porto.

Forecast

Looks like we could get wet again tomorrow. That will be a great shame, as we are heading into Porto, then back out along the Douro valley.

Long day

Today has been a long and tiring day. From Chaves we had a four hour ride to Vila Real, all on twisty roads and some on 'unpaved', which means cobbles, most of it in the rain. The roads are challenging in the dry but a bit of rain spices them up a notch. I'd be lying if I said it has rained all day but it has more than not.

One of our stops, just up the road was at the Mateus wine house. I never intended to go in the house, as I knew we'd be late, so just intended to take a photo of the front of the house. Asked the guy in the ticket office if we could just take a photo. Yes, if we paid, he replied! Tosser. We walked away.

From there we made our 2nd fuel stop of the day. My first in two days came whilst we were separated. Ginny had covered 238 miles!

There are some Brit Harleys staying at the hotel. They too have be rained on.

Making do with a Burger King dinner, as the hotel isn't serving.  It's the nearest place, especially as it is still raining.

Another stupid picture

Daft Bollix!

An interesting ride un the rain this one, including riding up the steepest hill I've ever ridden up ( TF it wasn't the unpaved section) and then across wet cobbles in a village up with the gods, where Sanch and I became separated.

Sanch is cautious in the wet but after waiting a couple of minutes for him to catch up I guessed our  Tomtoms had got misaligned, either that or he'd fallen off! I carried on, knowing that if he wasn't lying in a ditch, we'd meet at our destination. 

Thankfully he hadn't fallen off and was in his way to Chaves, where we now sit. My thoughts were correct, tomtoms weren't aligned. That was because I  (dozy bollix) had the wrong route in mine!

My route took me up into the clouds and I do mean clouds, where  visability was very poor. Fog lights were required. Not to help vision but to make sure the Portugese clowns saw me coming. It has been noticeable the difference in driving standards from Spain to here. Portugese seem to have difficulty staying on their side of the road, mainly because they ignore speed limits and drive too fast around each twisty bend. As I said, clowns.

Re-united we gave taken some snaps of Emporer Trajan's Bridge and had a coffee. Sanch also had a hot dog or puppy as google translate said. Now off to the castle. 

Sanch was right

Sanch can talk a load of complete bollocks at times but as Day 8 dawns, I have to say he and his trusty(?) windy.com app are spot on and it is pissing down.

I'm listening to what sounds like someone playing table tennis really fast but it is in fact dripping water! 😣

Pop back later to see if we survive.

Full up

Went for a little walk up the road in the sunshine. Got back to find Sanch on his first beer, as expected. Joined him in a few. Only €1 a bottle.

Had dinner. My starter, spicy sausage turned out to be a whole bloody chorizo style, 100% meat I reckon. For mains we shared a chicken and meat platter. For fecks sake, it was huge. About 6 large pieces, with chips and spinach! No surprise we couldn't finish it all.

Meal cost came to about two thirds of the room cost!

Away from the meal, whilst beer is cheap, petrol isn't. About 22 cents per litre more than Spain. 

Tomorrow we head east before looping south and then west to Vila Real. Should be some interesting riding, especially as Tomtom says some is unpaved and Sanch reckons it is going to "feckin piss down".

More photos uploaded to flickr.

Till tomorrow.

Geres

Arrived at our hotel, up in the Portugese mountains.

We stopped in Braga en route to take some snaps of the old cathedral. We did well to find bike size parking spots, either side of a zebra crossing. 

Ride from Braga was twisty and surprising. Surprising in so much as, we came around a bend to be confronted with a superb vista of a lake down in the valley. Very nice. Our hotel is slightly up the other side.

The hotel has a decent view from the front, shame then that our room looks out on the building next door.

The view from the room

I'm not sure the hotel had our booking. The girl on reception speaks no English and seemed unable to find me in the book. I showed her the booking.com confirmation (printed in Portugese) and that seemed to do the trick. It is costing us €32.50 for the night, including brekkie. What a bargain. We even have covered parking for the bikes. 

Time to suss out the area/bar. 😉

We gained an hour

Went to take photos of La Pinta replica.  Bloke chased us along the jetty to get money off us! 😃 We only wanted a snap, not to go on board. In the end we got both.

Back on the road, think I have made a cockup on the planning front, as we ended up on a pay motorway to fuel up at services. Well Sanch did. I can go to where it is bound to be a lot cheaper! 😊

Whilst here Sanch is refuelling himself, coffee and baquette. 

We crossed into Portugal at 13:15 Spanish time and instantly time travelled back one hour. Now on UK time for the next week.

Destination today is Geres. It's turned grey but not cold. Hoping weather holds. Tomorrow not looking promising. 

And so to Day 7

Thus morning we have ridden about 50 miles, to a place called Baiona. It's by the seaside. It has a massive castle, where you can walk the walls but is like a wood inside. Free to enter.  I popped up for a quick look.

This would appear to be the place where in 1493 Spaniards landed, having discovered the Americas the previous year.  That's the gist from google translate I believe. 

In the harbour there is an old galleon (replica) which I'm guessing is the ship bringing home the news.

Weather, is fine, sunnyish. Ride over took us through a very large town, whose name I forget, the biggest since we arrived I'd say.

Checked Ginny's oil here. Seems to be OK but not at all obvious. 

That's all for now. 

The csstle wall

Dinner

We decided on dinner across the river and arrived just as a riverside table was being cleared.  They were definitely at a premium. We went for the menu del dia which turned out to be a very reasonable €13 for 3 courses and a large beer. 

This is our last day in Spain for a while. Tomorrow evening we will be in Geres, Portugal.

Not checked the forecast but hoping for more of the same we had today, even if my head does look like a tomato. 

Friendly Fraulein

I may have 3 chins ( thanks Jen), no hair and two bellies but I've still got it. Once the fraulein saw that hunk of beef powering up and down the pool, she couldn't help but come in and chat to me 🤣

I did 10 lengths in the lovely warm water, which was pretty good, as I think it is probably a couple of years since I last swam. Hot spring water is pumped into the pool constantly, so you're not jumping into a freezing pool from 22 degrees.

Afore mentioned fraulein is walking the Porto to Santiago camino. I was almost embarrassed to admit I'm on the bike. We've seen quite a lot of solo walkers and maybe more females than males.

The town is teaming with them, walkers, that is. It would seem to be a very popular pastime.

We've had a walk around town and are now enjoying a beer in the hotel gardens alongside the river. This is the life.
 

Time for a swim

Arrived at our hotel in the spa town of Caldas de Reis. We've had a shorter ride today. Gives us a bit more time to relax, i.e. Sanch to have more beer and me to have a swim. The pool has spa water in it, so probably quite warm and good for you at the same time.

Had someone's bag in our room. A guy doing the camino walk who had had it sent on. Should have gone next door. Sorted.

Weather is everything we could hope for and the riding, on super smooth roads, has been excellent again.

Now, time to don the speedos!

Grain stores

I'm fascinated by these grain stores. Not only have they changed shape but also construction. At this part of the country, they are now stone built. Lots of properties have them but I doubt many hold grain now.

We've stopped for a drink, after riding a really nice coast road, littered with golden sandy beaches. Sun is beating down. Might be time to apply factor 30 to my face. 

Day 6

Beautiful morning, if a tad chilly. Even in Spain clear skies overnight mean low temperatures. 

Set off for the end of the world, Fisterre. I guess it seemed that way once, as next stop west is the Americas.

Been passing loads more eucalyptus trees. Yet to see a koala! Maybe someone will enlighten me, there must be an industry in them.

This is coming to you from the end of the world, where it is now scorchio! My jumper has come off for the first time. 

From here we head south, as west is out of the question.  It promises to be a glorious day  Ye haw!

Looking south towards Portugal.

Santiago

Had a walk around the city, including going into the Cathedral. A lot of work going on inside but beautiful outside. 

Looking for something to eat, there were a couple of tempting places I stopped at, with live lobsters and the promise of some fresh pulpo (octopus). Turned around, Sanch had carried on walking. Ended up in the kebab restaurant at the end of the restaurant drag. It was quite nice and fairly cheap, so guess I can't complain too much. Besides, we did have Galician soup last night.

All Hail Lucas Augustus

After riding around Lugo's massive and totally impressive Roman wall, we sought out m/c parking places I had identified. What I hadn't bargained on though, was it being Roman festival weekend, so all spaces were taken. The town was swarming with people, the vast majority of whom were in Roman costume. Three circuits of the wall later, we dumped the bikes on a wide paved area, then made our way into the throng. Sanch was in his element, taking loads of pics of the crowd. We wandered round for quite some time and even went up onto the wall, coming down just in time to see some legionaires leading a drum band. Very entertaining.

We eventually found our way back to the bikes and started the last leg of our journey, to Santiago de Compostela. It seemed like we were doing a pilgrimage, as we always seemed to be riding the Camino de Santiago, even when we were on some bumpy twisty stuff amongst the farms. There were a lot of walkers along the way. It almost makes me want to come back and do it myself. I think it helps if you have some religious leaning though.

We had a quick stop for a coffee about an hour out of SdC and arrived on the outskirts to find another festival in progress. Too far to walk later. Arriving at our hotel, we were greeted by the receptionist, who directed us  into our parking spaces. Armed with a map, we'll soon be going for a wander.

I've really enjoyed today. The weather has been decent enough, some of the roads excellent and the environment interesting, from the quaint grain stores, which have changed shape as we've ridden west ( large squares to small rectangular ), to the eucalyptus trees growing in  their hundreds. They do smell nice but not when mixed with the smell of cow dung!

Tomorrow we are heading as far west as is possible to go on mainland Europe. Stay tuned.

Rock on

Nice sunny day and some nice riding. Have travelled along a fair bit of the Camino de Santiago today, passing lots of walkers and cyclists on the way. 

If you choose one road to ride in this part of Spain, then  make it the N640 from the coast to Lugo.  Superb sweeping 80kph bends on a billiard table like surface. Mega smile factor.  😁

We've stopped for fuel and brunch just outside Lugo, a Roman walled town. We'll ride around the wall, then take a look inside.

Bloody Tomtom

Left at 9:15. Tomtom playing silly buggers. Despite being set up as TT routes, to avoid motorways it had us on them. Had to change on device.  All sorted.

Day 5

The day began at 6am with the  bugle alarm! Now I've never been in the army but I can see how being woken early doors by a bugle and bellowing SM would insight men to go out and kill people. 

After last night's heavy dinner, we are skipping brekkie and hoping to be on the road around 9am.

Weather looks ok at the moment. 

Morning routine

Let me give you an insight into life on the road with Sanch.

Usually before the bugle alarm at 6am, Sanch wakes. On goes the light so he can see his way to the bathroom, which has had the light on all night, for the first of an unnatural number of sit down visits. 

On return I am greated (there is usually no or one curt response) and the curtains are thrown back. This is shortly followed by Gold radio on his phone. He then procedes to get dressed and start packing his bags, clattering and banging away. Finally and before I have even swung a leg out, he will have taken a bag to the bike.

And I've signed up to 30 days of this torture, this time round!

Turned out nice again

As we headed towards Cadavedo, for the first time in hours, the cloud started to clear. It surprising how the mood changes with the weather. Early I thought I'd had enough of twisty roads, now as the sun shone, I was back in the groove. It was a lovely finish to a difficult and long day.

Whilst Sanch freshened up, I donned my shorts and walked the short distance to the cliffs, overlooking the beach and took some photos. It's a lovely beach and coastline.

Back at the hotel we had a beer before having dinner. The menu was not extensive, starters mixed salad or a meat & potato soup/stew, mains, pork or fish. We opted for the soup, a massive tureen and the pork, 2 big chops and a huge stack of chips. With bread and beer, I'm not kidding in saying I could hardly move afterwards.

Tomorrow we are off to Santiago de Compostella. Forecast suggests waterproofs will be required at some point.