April 4, 2019 - Sines to Melides
Tiny little village in rolling hills
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Casa dos Rosas, Melides, Portugal - 30€, no breakfast
Would it surprise anyone that I was awake before 7 am and raring to go? Breakfast was scheduled for 8:30am so I had a while to wait. Unable to stop myself, I went down a half hour early. There I was able to chat with a lady from Brazil who was volunteering there in exchange for a room. She had breakfast ready a bit early so told me to go ahead. I did just that.
I made a sandwich, had a muffin, an orange and a few glasses of juice. While there, along came the three owners of the gravel bikes I had seen last night when I got back. They were three young German fellows doing a route opposite to mine - Lisboa to Faro. They were thinking to go about 110 km south today but I told them they would miss so many of the beautiful coves and beaches. I'm not sure but I think they may have been re-considering their plans. For their sake, I hope so.
I loaded up the bike and started on my route that went back over some of the streets I had walked last night. The funny thing is, in these old centres, many of the roads have been made one-way so the gps track had me running all over the place on a route I could have walked more quickly. I'm certainly not complaining, though. It was really nice to see.
I gradually made it to the newer part of town and followed it out to the motorway. As the German cyclists had warned me, the gps route would seemingly take me onto the motorway. But, it didn't. It took me to a tiny paved road that ran parallel to the motorway but had zero traffic. That being said, the motorway was pretty quiet, too.
At one interchange from the freeway, my gps seemed to be routing me perpendicular away from the road along a roughly paved road which then became sandy, and hurray, soft at times. There were no exits from this country road so I didn't bother to confirm my route. Until I was about three or four km out. When I realized that the route only skirted the roundabout and continued parallel to the motorway, I shook my head, turned around and went back that three or four km on the rough road. Hopefully a lesson learned!
Back on my route, it actually did deteriorate into sand at times but soft only rarely. Then it returned me to tarmac and roads for the rest of the day.
The terrain was beautiful for the last ten to fifteen km. Undulating hills passed through forests or fields of pine, eucalyptus, cork, olive and orange trees. Again, the orange blossoms were really fragrant. All the while the wind was quite brisk and it was somewhat cool out, maybe 12 C, which is better than Cochrane, ON (home), but I needed my coat on. With rain in the forecast this evening, I expected to see clouds rolling in, but the sky was almost cloudless and a nice bright blue.
Due to the wind, when I approached Melides, I was getting pretty tired and relieved when I saw the sign. There was a bit of a climb but there was the old centro of the tiny village with its old church and white/blue buildings. The GPS led me on a winding route to my lodging, and thankfully I had printed out the online information for the place since there was no indication of it other than the house number above the door, 11.
I knocked. No answer. Hmmm. This was a place that advertised as two nights only so I had had to contact them online to ask if one day would be permitted. Yes, they said, see you then. That's all. No true online reservation. I found a woman walking in the street who asked me to follow her to her work at the nearby restaurant. They called the number I had and within a few moments along came the owner. I followed her car back to the address, she opened up, then I carried my bike up the very steep and very narrow staircase to put it in the kitchen area. She still had to clean the room, but at least I was free of the bike and was able to return to the restaurant for carne de porc Portugues. Similar to Alentejana, but no clams. That and a glass of wine came to €7. Plus, of the several restaurants I saw, this one was packed with locals while others were quiet. Another win.
I just wandered around the village for a while, enjoying the orange blossom fragrance. Then I parked myself on a park bench down below my room and enjoyed the view til 2 pm, when my room was to be ready.
Sure enough, it was. I chatted with the owner for a while. She and her husband run this rental place, and have just started a construction business and build wooden holiday homes on the beach 6 km from here. Fun stuff.
Joy of all joys, the place has a bath tub. So I just soaked for the longest time. What better after a longish day of cycling, before the longest day of the trip tomorrow in what appears will be pouring rain? Enjoy it while I can!
Today's ride: 38 km (24 miles)
Total: 285 km (177 miles)
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