September 28, 1997
To Guarda
The ride to the Portuguese border was easy, tending gradually downhill on a main highway that was nearly traffic-free. The countryside was austere, rocky and depopulated. All of this changed dramatically at the border, becoming greener and uphill. We stopped for a coffee break at the first town in Portugal, Vilar Formoso, memorable chiefly for its very small cups of coffee. The most notable feature of the town was an elderly lady walking her three cows down the middle of main street.
Immediately out of town we proceeded to get lost, adding 12 km to our route as we missed our turn and headed north. All of the side roads we passed were surfaced with wretched rough gravel, and until we understood what had gone wrong we briefly feared that we would be facing miles of absolutely unbikable roads. It was with real relief that we realized we were just off route again and retraced our tracks.
Also along this stretch we had several different dog confrontations, leading us to fear (groundlessly as it turned out) an unending string of canine incidents in Portugal in the days ahead. The most memorable encounter was ata snack break next to a water hole, when one of three dogs lazing in the sun ambled over to my bike, sniffed the rear bag, lifted his leg and welcomed us to Portugal.
The climb up to Guarda, advertised as the highest town in the country, was quite difficult. We encountered cobblestones starting at the outskirts of the city and labored on them up several miles of steep, heavily trafficked road until finally reaching the summit. We found a nice hotel at the top, a few blocks from the fortress-like Se (cathedral). Securing a room was easier than we had anticipated - the staff spoke some English (as we were to discover throughout Portugal - language proved to pose few problems for us here). From the small balcony of our room we had a fine view to the east toward Spain.
Perhaps our most enduring memory of Guarda will be of a high quality tandem touring bike spotted outside of a gift shop. It sported a bottle of beer and another of wine in its bike racks, but other than that it gave no clues to the nationality of its riders. We waited in its vicinity for some time, curious to see who would come to claim it, before eventually giving up and moving on for a tour of the Se.
Today's ride: 56 miles (90 km)
Total: 1,107 miles (1,782 km)
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