Over a few beers…John and I hatched a plan. To take a short cut!
In between Monsanto and where we are going is Portugal’s highest mountain. Torre (tower…not bull!) in the Serra da Estrela range, which stands at 1,993 metres (6,538 feet)…in the middle of of the national park.
We could of course cycle round it. Or we could just go straight over the top!!
Mad bikers however rarely take the sensible option…so over the top it was!!
A record ascent…for me!
First however…we had to get to Covilha….where the climbing really starts…involving 64kms and around 1,000 metres of ascent!
So a recharge was going to be inevitable!
A nice ride there……
…..and then a long lazy breakfast….to prepare us for the 1,400m climb…up that! (John contemplating….!)
And we of course started the climb at midday….in the sunshine!
The first ten kms or so were a slog. 10%+ gradient. And our 1.5 hours of battery recharge was exhausted after just 7km!
Thankfully it did get easier…..with more manageable gradients.
Lovely ride….
…..altitude signs! Not sure they were a good thing (like, really that high?!…) or a bad thing (still so far to go?)…
as we neared the top….the views etc were spectacular…..(note the snow!)
…so plenty of photos!
Which was a good thing…for just before we reached the top…the clouds came down!
So the views were not great!!
This is us at the top…in the cloud!
Amazingly, John’s battery ran out….right at the top!!! My gripe with Shimano batteries continues…as my Bosch battery still had over 50% left!! Shimano’s are just so inferior…..!!
Thankfully….the 18kms to our overnight stop was all down hill.
Well…so we thought! But there were a couple of small climbs on the way down….into the wind…..so John had to walk!! Hard work!
And the clouds stayed down…so no more photos! My glasses fogged up….and my fingers froze! Literally!! It was SO COLD….especially at downhill pace! So different from the sweatboxes we were…..climbing on the sunny side!!
And so we were shivering as we reached Sabugueiro….a small town in the mountains…sitting at around 1,100 metres…so plenty of downhill to go tomorrow!!
Cool here too…! Indeed…it is freezing!!
A funny little place…
…..but we found a delightful wee Cantinho about 100 metres away (plenty!) from our house.
Lots of beers…and a two course meal for less than 15 Euros each! (..and yes…that is the opening game of the Euros…the hopes of a nation – Scotland – quashed in just 20 minutes!)
And…after John’s euchre win yesterday…taking the score to 3-2…he was hoping for a levelling win today. But…alas…beginner’s luck prevailed. 4-2!
We have enough nights to take it to 13 games…so first to seven! (Hopefully I will not need that long…much to John’s irritation! Haha!)
Oh…and on our way down in the cloud…we missed this…and lots other delights! Thankfully our hosts chose to put this pic on their bedroom wallpaper! Note the light switch…hahaha!
Just binge-watched your trip from Day 0! Another epic journey!!