April 29: Day 2, Castro Verde-Cortegana

Today’s trip has to be a long one. While preparing the route I struggled to find accommodation in this section: Cortegana was the first stop which had a reliable place to stay, so I couldn’t have a short day. Komoot thinks it’s 9 hours, which is a step up from yesterday, but not too bad.

I got on the road at 8: there’s some long days ahead so I’d like to get in the habit of starting early. The breakfast buffet had cereal, milk, yogurt and fruit (my preferred breakfast!) but the milk was hot so it forced a few changes.

The route started really well, it was an old road running parallel to the highway. The sun was behind clouds, so the temperature was low; there were no steep hills; it was great. When plotting it out last night Komoot thought a section of it was impassable, and refused to plot a route there: the satellite map looked fine so I set the route through there anyway. (At 7am I had doubts and plotted out the alternative, just in case.)

From left to right: pastel de nata at the breakfast buffet; a clear sign that we are among sophisticated people. The bike: could do with a clean. A passing lady offered to take a photo; note the purloined banana in the pannier. The parallel road I was talking about.

The nice roadway came to an end, as nice things do, and the route turned away from the highway. I checked out the tour last night, and it looked like there was a way to continue: but it involved crossing a hundred meters of fields. A bit risky, especially if there were fences. When it got near I decided to play it safe, and took the long way through the backroads. Safer but not safe enough, there was a very big gate blocking one path, with a lot of cattle on the other side. (No photo.) The route onwards was on a two lane asphalt road, which I had been trying to avoid; but happily there were so few cars it was basically a bike path! It took me through various farmlands and stereotypical Spanish landscapes of brown grass and stubby trees. A really good smooth surface; I was making good time and feeling very pleased with the route.

From left to right: basically a bikepath. Another random town; they’re all neat and tidy like this. Snacks; this is where I keep the food. Somewhat dry farmland. A massive and lush farm; check out the size of the irrigation equipment. A nice high view, unfortunately the road is about to go back down…

Shortly after that last photo, it took a hard turnoff onto a very rough gravel road. Rocks and sand. You can’t safely drive more than about 30km/h on them- you know the sort.

Well, they’re also bad news on a bike. There was some smooth sand at the edges, but it was treacherous stuff, too soft to ride on. The rocks are unavoidable, I think I could only go at jogging pace. Going faster knocked the bike about, I did not want anything falling off or breaking so I had to keep my speed down. Not a fun time. But eventually it led to a road over a very elegant bridge, which was twice as wide as it needed to be, with very wide shoulders- and despite being in the middle of nowhere, it had a sidewalk! I cycled over grandly, with a basically a whole lane to myself.

I was planning to get lunch in Serpa. Lunches so far have taken most of an hour: I was hoping to pick up sandwiches and get going in ten minutes. I’m starting to think that fast lunches are not a thing in these parts… so I gave in to the inevitable and had a slightly odd lunch with a very nice lemonade. Total cost: 12.50euro. Maybe I shouldn’t try to beat the system here!

From left to right: rough roads; it doesn’t look too bad here, but it was bad. Elegant bridge, twice as wide as required, the extra space is definitely intended for cyclists. Serpa is a walled city - and the walls are spectacular. They also mean narrow roads and regular traffic jams. The route out: a looong downhill with no cars; it was very welcome!

From left to right: random landscape. Random house. Random view. The border with Spain - note the road signs blocking the “Espana” sign. Proof I was there!

At about 5pm I was 9km from Cortegana. Komoot says: 1h45 to the destination. It didn’t mean much to me at the time. But in future, I will know better…

Because there was a monster hill remaining. I started off thinking optimistically that it’d peak halfway and I would freewheel the rest of the way: no. Then it peaked… But it wasn’t the real peak, there was more. Grind. I wasn’t going very fast; was that tiredness or steepness? Grind. Grind. Stopped and ate some nuts. Grind. Grind. An old compact car goes post in low gear putting out very black smoke. Grind. Grind. Grind. Stop and refill water. Or stretch. Any excuse will do. Grind. Grind. Grind.

You get the picture- just know this actually took nearly two hours…

I took a picture when Cortegana came into view - it was hard earned. I was hoping there would be a plaque or something so I could get a photo with it- but no, this hill isn’t that special. Expect more, I guess.

Here’s the elevation profile. Note the climb from a bit over 200m to 600m at the end. It wasn’t fun but it wasn’t a disaster. There’s a few more coming up, before we get out of Spain…

There were also some shenanigans finding the hotel, Google maps took me to one place and the reservation email another- and neither had the right name out front.

From left to right: the first view of Cortegana, after what may have been two hours of climbing. My room, for 21 euros. The view walking back after dinner.

This was quite a long day: I started at 8 and got in at 7, 11 hours on the road. Komoot estimated 9 hours, and I didn’t think lunches and random stops added two whole hours! And they didn’t: the difference was due to the timezone change between Portugal and Spain. I actually took 10 so it was only an hour of stoppage like normal.

Komoot thinks I did it in 7h30 when it discounts time stopped; that’s a very gratifying statistic but what I really have to plan for is the total time.

Nevertheless, I’m going to try to arrange a short day tomorrow, to rest a bit after this one.

And hopefully stay in a better place tomorrow night: the shower temperature here ranges from “cold” to “chilly”. Got a 4-star hotel booked for tomorrow: for 50 euros. I am dubious that the 4 stars are measured correctly, I look forward to it with interest!

What I’m listening to: Cello Fan, by Yo-Yo Ma: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53tp2voXeF4

This is part of the drearily named album “Suite for Cello & Jazz Piano Trio” by Claude Bolling. Yo-Yo Ma is known for classical music, but this sounds like bebop cello to me, and it’s good.