If yesterday was about altitude…today was about distance!
By the end….John is now confident he can handle everything! Haha!
But not as enjoyable a ride. The hills have largely flattened out here…so the roads are straighter (& faster)…with the landscape not really changing from one 20km stint to the next!
So we were surprised to see the climbing we HAD done…all really on 2% or less gradients which you barely notice!
John’s battery did however! And a little battery stress crept in after his first battery gave out after just 50km with 90km to go!
An extended breakfast stop gave us the opportunity to recharge…and with most of those ‘hills’ behind us…we managed to finish with no more stress! John’s first double-ton day!
We crossed fingers of this enormous lake a number of times….formed after the construction of the Alqueva Dam, this is the largest artificial lake in Western Europe. 250 square kms…with a shoreline of around 1200kms!
And so to Monsaraz. And a real score of a house for our two night stay here. This is the view from the terrace!
Front door – right next to the castle – straight off the main street…large hallway to store bikes….aircon already blasting everywhere….washing machine (with capsules etc…most places we stay have washing machines, but very few provide anything to actually wash your clothes!), coffee machine (WITH pods! Ditto comment), gift of wine and biscuits and cheese, huge place…perfect!
Time to explore a little more tomorrow (Liz and I have been here before!! I had no memory of the name….but the lake and village are memorable!)..
You can see the lake in the distance…from our dinner terrace!!
