Wednesday September 17, 2014

Before going to bed last night we had agreed that if it is raining when we get up we will stay an extra night.  The forecast is for rain and thunderstorms for the rest of the week.  At some stage this week we are going to get wet.

It was drizzling when we got up but the sun kept coming out.  The rain wasn’t heavy so we made the decision to push on towards Porto.  If it is going to rain all week, we might as well cycle in showers and not heavy rain.

We found the N15 easily and started to climb and climb and climb up to an elevation of 1,024 metres up into the hills and into the rain.

We put our yellow jackets on as it was quite humid and we figured we would get wet from the inside out, rather than from the outside in, if we wore our heavier rain jackets.  By the time we had summitted the mountain range it was raining heavily and the temperature had dropped by 6 degrees.  Coming down the other side we were cold and very wet.  At about 20 kms we spotted a hotel, we pulled in and noticed the Michelin Guide stickers on the door – this could be expensive.  The guy behind the reception desk peered at us as we came in and I asked him how much for one night E85.00.  Both of us were really cold so Ralf said yes lets check in.  We began to push our bikes through the door, and the guy said no bikes.  I asked him where we could put them, he indicated outside.  I thanked him for his hospitality and we carried on in the cold wet rain. We put on our heavier rain jackets.  It was absolutely throwing it down and we were getting colder as we were coming down the other side of the Serra du Marao.

We came through two small villages with no café and then stopped in Candemil where there was a small restaurant with a Residencial sign on it.  This indicates that they have rooms.  It also had a For Sale sign on the building, we were keeping our frozen fingers crossed that it would have a room.  We were fortunate, the elderly proprietor came out and showed me the room – it was very basic and could do with a clean, but we were so cold we needed to warm up.  As we were unpacking the bikes and bringing our gear to the room, the sun came out and it began to warm up.  I was tempted to change my mind and carry on, but we had secured the bikes in the garage and some of the bags were in the room.  We both had hot showers and put clean warm clothes on. Then we heard the thunder reverberating around the valley and more rain.  It was a good decision to stop when we did.

We went down to the small restaurant and met the proprietor again, we ordered soup – and it was a lovely thick vegetable soup with good buns and butter.  We really needed something thick and hearty and it definitely fit the bill.  We are going to eat dinner in the restaurant as well.  We have already decided on a typical Portuguese dish – bacalhau, salt cod.  Hope we like it.

We have our wet cycling clothes hanging in the bathroom.  I don’t think they will be dry by the morning as it is cool and damp in this quiet hillside village.

Like so many towns and villages in Portugal and Spain the motorway has cut-off these villages.  No cars come through this way on a regular basis, the hotels, restaurants etc have no business and are closing down.  This was the view from our bedroom window.

They are currently building a second motorway, through the mountain.  The bridges are in place and we passed an area where the tunneling is in progress.

The scenery today was absolutely stunning, if it hadn’t been raining so hard, it would have been an awesome ride.

Our dinner consisted of more thick hearty soup, poached salt cod and potatoes, beans and carrots and half a litre of local wine.  It was a basic home cooked meal but tasted really good.  The portion seemed huge at first glance, but we polished of the whole lot.  Need energy for tomorrow.

The proprietor went through everything that was on the plate in Portuguese and I repeated each item, she then asked for the English translation and she repeated it – Portuguese and English lessons were free. The room, lunch, dinner, wine and breakfast cost E80.00.  A little over budget, but hopefully we can get a cheap room in Porto.  We are going to stay their 3 nights, as we want to experience the city and Ralf can enjoy some Port.