Yeah! ... Slept until 4:30am. I only had to play Harry Potter Puzzles and Spells (which I worked on) for 2 hours. Breakfast was quite nice. The spread had everything thing and it was all great. Portuguese bread is sooo good. I chatted with a Canadian couple from the Vancouver area who where ebiking around Portugal.
Because breakfast was so good I didn't get on the road until 9:45. After 25lm when I reached down for my water bottle I realized I left it on the ground outside of the hotel. I wasn't going back for it so as I rode through a town I stopped at a store run by a woman who had to be 100. The store had water and some vegetables. It was an experience.
I planned today to take me off the main road and I passed through some really pretty interesting towns. One had a huge pile of stone which I eventually figured out was marble. Your counter top may have come from here. One town had quite a few big old buildings and statues. I had to ride more than a few kilometers on cobblestones. Glad I got off the main road.
After studying the riding maps and Google Maps and suggested routes I had found a dirt road shortcut. It was only a few kilometers on the dirt road and it saved 25. The turn off had a low chain and private property signs but I saw some bike tracks and figured it would be ok. Turns out the tracks went in and out just like mine. The road quickly turned from a rough road to a really rough road to a dead end. The cows were laughing at me.
Back on the main road the map said I had to go all the way to Elvas - Oh, baby - before coming back at a cost of 25km. Going a little further I saw another dirt road and Google Maps said go that way. I looked at the satellite photos and it looked ok so I turned. It looked as promised until I arrived at a farmhouse that looked like a dead end. But Google told me to. The farmer who was just driving out said no does not go through. Back tracking a little he got out of his car to close a gate. Stupid Google.
I was resigned to going all the way to Elvas. Just before Elvas I stopped at a restaurant and got some grilled pork ribs. I needed food at that point.
From there to Spain was mostly downhill. I crossed a bridge saw a Spain sign and the road got better. Most of the roads in Spain have the 1m shoulder which is ok. When you expect to ride 100km, 125km is psychologically damaging. On my map it looked like I had big climbs ahead but the scale was misleading and most ofit wasn't at all steep. I just kept grinding it out. I was concerned I was going to run out of daylight but there was a time change coming into Spain.
I got to hotel at 7pm Spanish time and the sun was still up.
The hotel is an old monastery and is build for short little 15th century monks. Fancy place but a little odd in places. Getting up to my room is pretty crazy. Through the dining room, past the wine tasting area which I can look down on outside my door. Up a flight of stairs; down a long low, narrow arched hallway; though a room to another flight of stairs; down another hallway; look down at the wine tasting area and there's my room.
Dinner was pretty good. I had jambon and cheese croquet and the oxtail stew. Very good.
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