Today we reset the compasses and headed south toward Portugal. It was a mixed bag of roads from busy N roads during rush hour to tiny tracks barely wide enough for one person. Compounded with the sun timing its appearance during the assents, it was not as pleasant as first imagined during our planning phase yesterday. We are also now headed on the Camino Portuguese path so we have the pilgrims head on as they walk from Portugal to Spain, which did tend to make the way a tad easier as most saw us coming. The ride was 76km and 899m of climbing. Well, it was on my Garmin, Karen’s is always lower for some reason.

We passed lots of small vineyards today. One thing I noted is those stone posts. Yes, they are stone, not concrete. The structure was always made with stone columns with a wide variety of beams running between them. Sometimes concrete, as in this pic, then bamboo took favour and when closer to the railway line, yes railway lines (see second pic), sometimes odd scraps of wood. But always these stone columns.

Baby grapes.

We stopped off the busy N road when we got very hot and had a rest. Found this chap picking his feet.

A nice track.

Obstacle time. I would have helped but wanted to capture the moment.

A very nice track.

We crossed some wetlands.

This lady was driving her rotorvator at flank speed along the track, snails were passing her with ease.

Garmin guided us through towns when we took notice of it!

During a stop off, Karen took a few photos for this collage.

Crop protection frog, Spider Man was also there.

A rare picture of the chef preparing our lunch.

Water bottles topped off with fresh spring water, we hope.

Typical ‘wide’ track through the villages.

Came across this railway. Road sign that you can see the back of showed two cars, red and black, signing no overtaking!! Track was just wide enough for two bikes!

View from digs