Wednesday, May 7th, 2014
Route Map and Garmin Ride Statistics
Departure for the day was typical of most others - hotel, Bike Adventures van parked out the front, "teams" waiting for the rest of their members to arrive before they set off etc. The weather was also similar to most days - overcast, slightly cool, but not threatening to rain. One of the group, John Major (no, not THE John Major), had a problem with his gear shifter and so there was still a lot of activity in the basement car park aimed at getting him on the road with the rest of his team
One on the road, there were some slow climbs which got us up into the pine and other timber forests that seem to exist for the paper industry.
Somewhere in there we stopped at a cafe for (weak) coffee, and pressed on. Tony W bought a couple of Mars Bars, and that at least compensated for the quality of the coffee.
Then we came to an intersection where the left branch went to Chaos:
And the right branch went to Fatima - did we make the right choice?!
You will soon find out!
Our lunch stop in Tomar was as good as we have had so far. The town has a lovely river, which appears to support a mill of some kind:
And because we arrived just before midday, the staff were still eating before serving lunch to customers. With a seat and a view we weren't complaining.
If we bothered to look left, we even had a view of the local castle.
We really didn't eat much, but the green bean soup, fresh bread rolls,, and Coca Cola, certainly hit the spot.
Not too far up the road we crossed a large dam which we didn't realise at the time would feature again in the day's ride. At this point, Derek and I lost the Tonys - one because he was riding with one of the slower riders, and the other because he stopped on the other side of the dam to take photos.
Derek and I continued on for a while, but as we were approaching our destination we decided to stop and wait for the Tonys, and their possible companion. What better place than the shade of a bus stop (the sun now at its strongest during the day)?!
After about 10 minutes waiting, Rob from Bike Adventures passed in the van, and we decided to press on for the final 5 km into Abrantes.
When we arrived at the hotel at the top of a hill, in the town at the top of a hill, Rob had just discovered that the hotel had gone bankrupt and had closed four weeks earlier!
While he went to the Tourist Office to arrange alternative accommodation (apparently like "organising a piss up in a brewery"), we went to the nearby "Pizza Train" for a few drinks. Having arrived at 2:30pm, it wasn't until 5:30pm that we eventually got to another hotel, and even that was done by shuttling cyclists and their bikes 5 at a time.
While waiting for out "turn", I went for a walk and came across a hot pink Vespa:
And then the Municipal pool right near the hotel. If you need evidence of an economy in decline, here is some.
An hour later we were all on our balconies with the sun shining and a view to die for. Here's David (of David and Helen) above, and Helen, of Helen and Nick, below. Everyone gets a balcony (probably because the season hasn't really started yet, and we're a significant number of customers.
The rest of Team Tony were immediately below me, also with a (shared) balcony.
And all to myself, a lovely room with the sun shining in, the washing drying on the balcony and a cooling breeze coming through the doors.
This was followed by drinks on the terrace and a delicious buffet dinner washed down with some very nice Portuguese wine.
And so to bed...
Vale Ken Kell, my partner Prue's father, passed away May 7th, 2014, aged 91. It was also the first birthday of Alexandra Jean (AJ), my grand daughter, as well as Tony W's. One passes, and another is born.
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