nbjtours

Evora

88 miles  4312 ft climbing

The title of today’s blog has much to do with the key ingredients of what we had to deal with in the day. 

As above we have got used to Portuguese cobbles in the towns and villages but in addition to this had a full section of road between towns to deal with.  Not only that, but around the town of Vila Vicosa the whole countryside had been dug up to provide marble for the kitchens and facades of Europe 

The many coloured marble had been extracted by cranes and lifts leaving  spoil heaps that looked like massive rubbish tips surrounding the rather beautiful town of Vila Vicosa

We left our very well run Dutch campsite near Castelo de Vide a little late as Chris had a puncture, falling off his bike in the process  without injury.

The early morning birdsong here was magnificent even if mixed in with a bit of Cuckoo.

The first section of the day through the Alentejo region was very sparsely populated and we enjoyed traffic free roads and plenty of wildlife. 

These storks attracted our attention as they clapped their beaks together and we thought that something was wrong with our bikes making us look around to see what’s happening.

Other things that we saw were butterflies, this fantastic Swallowtail stayed still long enough for its photo. Note that it has settled in the wild oats which are a the most often attractive roadside accompaniment. The fields and meadows were full of yellow, pink or mauve making everything so vibrant. Another amazing site was a huge flock of sparrows whose chattering was so intense it was hard to hear ourselves speak.

The roads were of varying quality but in general were often very straight and at times a bit gutty to cycle along. The countryside changed further to grass,  cork oaks and the occasional vineyard

The small villages we passed through showed signs of occupation unlike many of the Spanish ones two years ago. These above show the entrance into San Aleixo.

Having split the day into four in order to be able to fit breakfast, lunch and tea into the days cycling we were able to fit in a quick visit to Vila Vicosa which was the palace of the dukes of Braganza,  the ruling royal family of Portugal until the early 20 century  Even with this fantastic facade it was possible to park free in the square,  looking at this impressive marble frontage. We all know if something like this was in the U.K. or France it would be teeming with tourists and expensive. 

After Vila  Vicosa we had 36 Miles of rolling road to go which in reality was not the most exciting cycling we have ever done. We did however see this amazing double halo around the sun 

The final highlight of the ride was going through the UNESCO World heritage city of Evora which has been the first place we have visited that had more than three tourists.

Chris,  Nick and I were treated like true celebrities with all the Chinese,  Japanese and North Americans taking photos of us as we stopped at the Roman Temple of Diana and then our route took us through the pedestrianised streets 

Seeing a big town square full of cafes we decided to stop and take a quick beer before the final mile to the campsite. Here we were approached by a number of North American cyclists who were keen to know what we had done and where we were going and were more than happy to share our experiences.

The final mile achieved, Nigel and Monica had as usual got all the camping arrangements sorted and with a healthy salmon, salad and potatoes, a happy but tired cycling trio settled for bed without the sound of a Cuckoo for the first time in a week.