To Zebreira, Portugal

June 26, 2023

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I discovered that I have one bar of service in the upstairs bathroom while I was editing photos. Now you know my darkest secret! Isn’t the bathroom where you do your photo editing? I have two bars if I hold the phone to the window. I am desperate!

I had requested an early depart because of the forecasted high temperature of over 100. We had asked two different cafe workers what time food was served. We specified tortillas. Both said food was served when they opened at 7. You know my reality? In the end I was able to get a tortilla francesa (plain omelet). We sat outside where it was cool. The outside tables were very busy with single men, having their coffee on the way to work. There was one group of three construction looking workings, in safety clothes, all drinking tiny little cups of coffee with their prepackaged joyas.

We agreed that the heat must have gotten to Jacinto yesterday. I’m thinking that he’s getting old enough that his body is no longer accepting the abuse. I didn’t say that. Jacinto had no appetite all day yesterday, and his coffee wasn’t tasty this morning and he had a headache. The coffee part is very worrying.

Gatorade or similar is not available here. Isn’t that odd? I wonder what local athletes do for electrolytes? I brought one bag of Tailwind with me, thinking I would supplement with what I could find when it runs out.

Jacinto mentioned what he really wanted was something salty. Pickle juice would hit the spot. We agreed to look for pickles at the grocery.

Our room last night technically had AC. If you stood right under it, the air was vaguely cool. It was a long, horrible night. I just wanted to get out of there! I was satisfied with the ride itself, I performed well. I felt physically good in the morning, other than not feeling properly rested from the heat.

We agreed to ride together. Jacinto’s GPS gave him a different way out of town then mine. We started following my route, but holding my phone and watching the streets and traffic are difficult. We switched to Jacinto’s route, which took a backroad that added four miles to our day and dumped us back on the main road anyway. The main roads haven’t been busy so far, I don’t mind taking them. I would regret that four miles later.

Today was mostly rolling countryside with cows and sheep. We were approaching Portugal. Today is the first day I’ve seen more than 1-2 semi trucks. These were mostly of short length and not real often, but notable because there haven’t been any. Over the whole trip I’ve seen 8-10 RV’s, all of the smallest size possible.

Even though we are in ranch country, there just aren’t pick up trucks. There are vans pulling small trailers with equipment, hay, etc. Even the road crew we saw drove vans pulling trailers. I’ve seen one Ford Ranger truck and just a handful of similar sized trucks.

Today I had a vehicle pull out in front of my to pass a semi. Here we go, just like home. I find it unnerving to have two vehicles barreling towards me at once. No. The passing vehicle pulled back in when it saw me! My other vehicle story is following a tractor pulling a trailer down the road. We were going the same speed. On a downhill, I went to pass, as it’s a shame to use brakes on the downhill. I could have made it, but a car was coming. Darn. I ended up pulling over and switching water bottles and getting my apple. Speaking of apples, I don’t think those are the chosen fruit here. They’ve been pretty wrinkly. Jacinto says the nectarines are excellent, but they don’t travel well.

Last night I made a discovery that dropped my jaw. When planning a long tour, I’m always afraid of making a big error. Usually it’s around lodging. Or too much climbing in one day. Very early in our planning, Jim Fitch mentioned we were going very close to the Alacantra Roman bridge and we should see it. That is bridge was extra special. I planned accordingly. Getting lodging in Zebreira was difficult, but I wanted to enter Portugal there, so we could see the bridge.

Jacinto discovered that we were going over a Roman bridge, the Segura bridge! But Alacantra was 6.8 miles one way, out of the way. I spent my entire evening chastising myself for the error. How could I have possibly mixed the two up? Jacinto said we could make an out and back. I didn’t dare do that. It would be too hot. So, there’s my story. We dipped down here only to see the Alacantra bridge, and didn’t see it. More, when we got to that point of the ride, that river is in a ravine. We would have had to climb away from that both directions. As it was, it was a 600 foot, three mile granny gear climb in the heat of the day. I handled it better than I expected, but was thankful most of the end of the ride felt flat to downhill.

When we got to the border at Segura, we took photos of the bridge (!) and the border sign. Segura was built on the side of the mountain. I was happy we didn’t have to climb up there. We were just into town and Jacinto’s GPS took him on a side road. The main road was fine to me and I thought probably had a lesser grade. I followed Jacinto anyway, to a very steep cobblestone climb. Nope! I’m not walking when there is a good paved road two blocks away. Jacinto wanted the challenge. We agreed to meet where the two routes intersect.

We were both out of water as we approached town. I did have one baby size disposable bottle in a pannier, but we wanted cold water from the gas station. The only place I could find here was through VRBO. We were having trouble communicating with the owner. She said to call Pedro when we get to town and he would let us in. We couldn’t find the address. This is another town on the side of the mountain with cobblestones and steep streets. It sounds charming, but isn’t. The town looks less cared for. A lot more trash and cigarette butts. Many houses are not painted. There’s no big church or water tower. Those seem to have disappeared in the past few days. Which is a disappointment.

We wandered around and I got really overheated. I was in survival mode. We had stopped at the gas station for a juice and a water. The attendant there told Jacinto how to find our street. What he had on the GPS was not correct. Finally we found it. Pedro was sitting on the roof. The house is very nice, cutely decorated. It has a washer, which we were happy to use. The TV had a station with good American movies. We watched three. Yes that’s how our evening went.

No internet and no AC. That last one was a real problem. There were two fans downstairs and two upstairs. The upstairs was blistering hot. How would we ever sleep up there? It turns out one of those fans was a portable AC, which was really good for nothing, but it did have temperature, which said 33C. 92 degrees F! Hell.

But, I found a way. I took a cold shower, did not towel off, and also got a towel wet. I laid down on the bed with the wet towel over my body. I was comfortable! Jacinto did not take my suggestion, but he was closest to the fans. We had also opened both balcony doors, which helped with air movement. I feel I slept reasonably well, but I’m still ready to get out of town!

last night we stopped by the grocery for breakfast fixings and went to the gas station to eat. All they were serving was pork sandwiches. Meat and bread with Mayo. No veggies. I had a juice, Jacinto drank a beer. It was 7E total. Our groceries were 13E. Prices are sure cheap here. I bought a bag of muesli, it looks reasonably good.

I woke up at 4:30 AM and decided to give texting this post a try. I sure hope it goes. It’s taken me a long time to write. Now I’m going to go back upstairs to the bathroom and hopefully send this. I wonder if I can get Jacinto to start earlier? He is not a morning person. He says the ride wasn’t bad until we were wandering around trying to find our house. Tonight we are at a hotel, there should be no trouble finding it. I hope the AC is to American standards.

Oh, last night walking back from the grocery, we got lost and I asked a woman for help. There are two Casa Belos (which I knew), she took us to the wrong one first, but was then nice enough to walk us back to the other one. Living in this area would keep you in good shape into old age if you walked regularly. These streets are steep! I asked the woman in Spanish for help, she understood, but replied in Portuguese. It is not at all like Spanish. There’s no guessing what she said. At the grocery, the woman there didn’t understand Spanish at all, but did get across to us if we wanted a bag, it was ten cents. She held up a dime from the cash drawer. It’s like charades! At the gas station, the woman there understood Spanish with much wrinkling of her brow. Jacinto was the one talking there, so it wasn’t my accent.

OK, I’m going to go try and send this.

Jacinto’s bike fit in the elevator to go back downstairs.

Today I saw several herds of sheep that were freshly shorn. Winter must last longer here. At home they sheer sheep in March, to be ready for lambing.

A plaza de toros! Jacinto wanted to see a bull fight. I was openly happy that were were never in the right town at the right time.

The largest plants grow from the smallest planters.

My phone says I was in Tajo International Park when I took this photo. I don’t remember the name of the town.

It’s a shame the border sign was graffitied up.

We hard barely crossed into Portugal when Jacinto had a cobblestone climbing challenge. He said it was so steep he could feel his front tire lift up. I turned around and took the main road!

In Zebreira, there were many trees and benches on the main drag covered with crocheted items.

Jacinto is trying to contact our host. This is our first tile wall sighting.

Today's ride: 43 miles (69 km)
Total: 423 miles (681 km)

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Comment on this entry	Comment	6

Scott AndersonThis post makes me worried for you two. It looks like your weather is going to be like this for the next two weeks straight. Be careful!
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10 months ago

Rachael AndersonWhat an awful day! I hope tomorrow is better!
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10 months ago

Kelly IniguezTo Scott AndersonBy the time we got to Elvas, the weather is only in the high 90's. I can do heat if we get going early. Tomorrow is the climb to Marvao. I'm going to skip the provided breakfast (a shame), and get out early. I think Jacinto has been having some sun issues also, which is very unusual for him. He grew up in Mexico and I've always called him a lizard - the hotter it gets, the better he likes it. But, maybe age is catching up to him. I'm not sure he will start with me, but we are eating breakfast early.
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10 months ago

Kelly IniguezTo Rachael AndersonWe have been spoiled with such a good first ten days of the trip. They can't all be perfect. Some days end up being character builders!
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10 months ago

Rachael AndersonYou have a great attitude! Good luck!
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10 months ago

Rachael AndersonYou got some great photos!
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10 months ago