Over a week on the road...

~ Monday ~

~ So high... So hot ~

After waking up, preparing the bicycle then eating my breakfast, I was all ready to go, guess what stopped me... Locked gates! "You're joking me!" I thought as I double checked every exit!  Yep locked, all locked!" I had to wait an hour before the main guy woke up. It did give me time to book my return ticket which will take me from Castelo Branco to London on the 19th August... Still got loads of time :)

As I started out I was very happy I'd  chosen a 25km route, as most of the journey was uphill, without shade, the road seemed to wind around the mountain top, to top it off the bags had tilted to one side for most of the journey, meaning I also had to stop in the heat to re-adjust... It felt like it took a good half hour! At times I a break in the small square patch of shade created by a sign...oh how grateful I was to get out of the heat. 

Pulling up at the next destination was a great moment, situated in a forest of pine trees, with streams and singing birds all around, not forgetting the shade... ah the shade! 

Feeling inspired by my surroundings, I got the sewing kit out and finished off the crossbar bag, although a little tatty, it's a really handy bag. 

I then took a wild walk and sat down by the stream for a session of meditation. 

25 km on bicycle 

~ Tuesday ~

~ Getting lost ~

7am start for what was planned to be an epic off road route taking me halfway to the next destination. Unfortunately it didn't turn out that way. As I started out on the route, it seemed more like a Trekkers path, I was not put off as the maps all checked out ok so I pushed the bike over some rocky mounds until I came to the sandy track... Relief set in, "I'm on my way" until I came to a fence, straight through my path, not a gate, a fence! Had I been trekking I would have climbed over it, but as you know I had a bicycle and approx 20kilos of luggage... There was next to me a paved road, I checked the map, it was not on there... I thought it must join to somewhere else and I wasn't going back. So I started walking up the road it got steeper and steeper :( 

I should mention that for the whole of the trip I have cycled from sunrise until midday ish and sun is ALWAYS behind me. 

As I continued up the hill the sun was directly in my eyes! Early morning low sun, I couldn't see where the end of the hill was and so I continued. Every so often I checked my gps which showed I was getting closer to a main road but also getting closer to my starting point!

After 2 hours I finally got back on track, I was just 4km closer to my destination. I felt it was the perfect time to take a break so I took a deep breath, sat down and had some food. It didn't really matter any more that I hadn't gone so far, as I was now sitting on a mountain side surrounded by beautiful tweeting birds and the sight of the countryside in the early light.

Feeling better about the bad start to the morning, I set off again after a few minutes "wheeeeee" downhill LOVE! I rolled all the way to the next town where I found a fresh fruit van at the side of the road "yes,thank you, please!" Or should I say "si, gracias, por favor!" 

Then continued on downhill, literally 30 out of 35km downhill, the easiest ride so far. I was loving the cold wind in my face :D and even arrived an hour early at my destination, I guess it was good I'd got lost. 

I had a little snack and a chill before meeting my host for the night... couch surfing LOVE!

Such a beautiful day, swimming in a natural pool, driving through the mountains and learning about the Spanish Tapas culture. I thought it was a dish like spaghetti or a roast dinner, but apparently not, for those of you who don't know Tapas is like aperitif In Italy it's like a pre dinner snack with a beer or a glass of wine (typically) I had mine with Tea and orange with lemonade, we has about 4 each mmmmm. We then took a walk around El Barco de. Avila, which is a lovely little town and finished the day Stargazing a great day with great company. 

35 km on bicycle

~ Wednesday ~

~ Goodbye mountains ~

It wasn't easy to leave in the morning, there was so much more to the mountain village which could have been explored, but the show must go on. I was informed that the route to my next destination was all downhill, so I decided to skip the centre stop and head straight for Plascencia, wow the first half was 

down down down down down... Through windy roads with sharp turns and little traffic. The last stretch of the mountain valley came into view with an opening of the valley into flatter land. "These mountains have tested me, I will miss them" I thought.

It was a relaxing afternoon with a dip and a stretch, then a trip to the supermarket. "VEGETABLES! Mmmmm... So many vegetables!"... 

"Maybe I bought too many vegetables?!" That was me!

Alas I cooked a feast and soon felt stuffed, food for days! 

Soon it was off to tent for another night in the bag. 

70 km on bicycle

~ Thursday ~

~ Is that even legal?! ~

I woke several times in the night, I think the cheesy processed pasta from a bag was fighting it's way through my system. This morning I woke still sleeping and finally got on the road at 8am.

As I set of I was pleased to see signs for Portugal, "nearly there!" After a load of roundabout kilometre after kilometre... I think I was 7 in total "madness!" I got onto the A-66 which I didn't realise until I was on it that it's also known as the E305 which I think is a motorway... Oops.  I only wobbled from the fast moving lorries a few times and recieved a dozen beeps. But I arrived at my turn off before anything serious could happen.

Arrival at the campsite commenced with an ice cream and conversation with a confused bar man. I said "uno tienda, por favor" he showed me a map pointing to various locations counting uno, dos, tres. "Am I being turned away from the inn" I thought, then I realised a tienda is a shop, tendas is a tent! He though I was headed for the road to Santiago trek... Language skills = Funny!

After setting up tent, having some lunch and catching up on the washing, I took a walk into the village. 

I then spent the afternoon lounging by the pool, I can say it was a pretty good day! 

45 km on the bicycle