I was not in a hurry today as I only had 68km to Estremoz. I was on the road about 9. There was blue sky when I when for coffee but when I left it had reverted back to the threatening clouds. It felt like it wanted to rain a few times but it never did.
Just out of town I rejoined N251 which is a pretty quiet road and most of the way west of Couco there was a 2 foot wide shoulder which is a lot better than none. The scenery began to get a little more interesting. I took the town route through Mora. The towns are getting more interesting too.
I considered stopping in Pavia and all the old men at the cafe watch me as I drank water and decided to press on to Vimeriro. I picked a cafe in Vimeriro and left the bike out front and when in for two cafe con leche, some pie thing and some flan. The flan was really good and will be what I look for while in Portugal.
Continuing I switched to N4, one of the main routes to Spain and the traffic was a little heavier and much faster but I had a smooth 3m wide shoulder so it was pretty good riding. The sun even came out.
My bike is making a noise. It's the same noise that started in France and I have determined that it is my spokes rubbing at the cross points. It makes you a bit crazy. I wanted to get the wheel re-spoked before I left but the mechanic didn't do it for some reason. Probably thought he was doing me a favor by not doing the work. In any case, creak-creak-creak ...
I got in sight of Estremoz and was glad I planned a short day. It was a hard day for a short day. Naturally, the town was on top of a hill. Stupid old towns making you work to get to them. In America we build in the flat part, preferably where water can wash everything awak every few years. The climb got unrideable when I got in the castle walls. All the street are cobblestone and there were many big gaps and some of the stones were worn slick. Add a 10% grade and I walked up to the hotel/castle.
I enjoyed the view for a bit to cool down and made a friend. He thought I tasted salty. Since it was nearly 2pm I thought I'd try to check in. No problem. The nice thing about the fancy hotels is they let you do whatever you want and they smile about it. Park your bike in courtyard and I won't mention that you look salty. This place is quite fancy. Much nicer than what I am used to. The great thing is it is the same price as the Holiday Inn Express in Vacaville.
I took a quick shower and walked down the hill into town to a restaurant. I asked for something local and good. Lamb? I'll try the lamb. I actually ended up with basically the same dish I had yesterday only in lamb instead of chicken. It was good and the place was very nice. I got there just before lunch closing so I was the only customer.
I walked around town a bit and the reason I stayed here was Laurie and I stayed here on our honeymoon some 33 years ago. We remember visiting a bone chappel here but I can't find any mention of it now. Maybe as we suspected at the time they weren't volunteers and it became less cool to exhibit them. It was pretty cool, though.
Back at the hotel room I passed out and got abducted by aliens. One minute I was looking at my tablet and the next I was cold and regaining consciousnesses. Aliens, or waking up at 2am. I recovered and moved down to the bar to write this. This place is way too fancy.
Dinner at 8.
So full.
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