We started the day with a steep downhill ride from Marvao, which was fun, although my hand was getting sore holding the brake for so long.

We then rode along quiet, narrow roads with farmers tending their livestock. I will always remember these two sounds in Portugal, the lovely ringing of bells around the necks of the livestock, and the constant barking of dogs, day and night. We have ridden by lots of dogs, that I am sure would have loved to eaten our legs for a snack, if it wasn't for the fences and chains that confined them.

We then road into the Natural Park of S Mamede Hills, with very pleasant views and the big dam of Pavoa. The terrain was mostly rollers, with one short one of 15%. Thankfully, it was short. We then had another fairly long, steep climb of 10-12%, up to Senhora da Penha, a small chapel on top of a hill, where we climbed some stairs to a marvellous view. We could see the castle, where we were yesterday, from here.

From here we rode down towards Carreiras, with wonderful views over the Natural Park. We stopped at the ruins of the Roman city of Ammaia, and had a very interesting tour. After a few more of the required daily hills, we arrived at our destination for the day, Castelo de Vide, a medieval small town.

The extremely slow, or non existent WiFi is most of our lodgings, is making it very difficult, and next to impossible to upload photos. I hope to be able to do a photo page soon.