Had a long ride yesterday, wasn't going to post but @boboneleg posting a drive report kind of shamed me out of being lazy. Even making a map and everything. By long ride, I meant by my standards, @Earache would have finished before lunch time
I wanted to come home for a few days but felt like taking a trip, so decided to turn what could have been a 2,5 hour motorway ride into a day and a half of riding with a stop overnight. Left Espinho at around 9 and a bit, rode on the motorway for a bit as getting out of that area on small roads is shit and takes forever, then exited and made my way to Serra do Buçaco, the Serra is a protected forrest, it's very lush and dense, a cool place to hang out. There's a convent there, Convento de Santa Cruz, built in 1628 and used by Wellington after the Battle do Bussaco, against the french in 1810, dude was probably tired and in need of a nap.
The convent is the smaller more austere building on the left, the palace to the right has been converted to a hotel.
It was 10:30 by then, and I had all the time in the world having not yet decided on where to sleep. Weather was great all over Portugal so no worries there, decided on sticking around and visiting the convent, as I'm waiting for the group in front to buy their entrance tickets a few of the ones that had already gone in start to shout amongst themselves and creating quite the commotion, lady at the entrance couldn't really understand english very well and as they were louder and louder she called the police, the tourists ran inside and I decided to just have my morning expresso outside and leave the visit for another day.
I quite like the monk sculpture there:
Quite a place to have breakfast like a king, that table inside:
Abandoned cool restaurant or small guesthouse right next to the protected Serra, with a nice view from the balcony behind it
Climbed to the tallest point of the Serra and had a look around while doing a couple of phone calls
This obelisk was put here as on the Bussaco Battle grounds in memory of the Luso-British army for the importance of the Bussaco Battle in Portugal's independence, it states:
To the Luso-British army
Campaigns of the Peninsular War, 1808 to 1814
6 blockades
12 defenses
14 encirclements
18 assaults
215 combats
15 battles
I don't really know the difference between a combat and a battle, though, will look into it.
Surrounding it, there's 8 half buried cannons by a steel chain, it's quite cool. It boils my piss that a plaque was put there because a Politician visited it in 2010, fucking politician just had to put his name on something that didn't concern him, and the twat was a President so should really know better ... As a curiosity, the monument was once destroyed by lightning strike and replaced a while ago.
Up there, the air was cool and crisp, pleasant, ideal weather for riding with a non ventilated jacket and a not very warm midlayer over a t-shirt. This made me decided to go to the Serra da Estrela, both times I was there before with this bike the weather was shit, wet or foggy and not really able to enjoy the views, so I started to make my way there via small roads.
No hurry though, so slight detour to gain an apetite. There's a river to the right, you can barely see it in the picture, it was just one of those cool places that doesn't quite come across on a picture
A few miles ahead, on one of the region's best known motorcycling roads, I stop for a snack. I love these local countryside non touristy places, a ham and cheese roll, a can of orange soda, and an expresso totaled 2,35€
If you look on the map I posted on the beginning, this next part is on the loop starting and ending on the same place with "Torre da Serra da Estrela".
Arriving at Serra da Estrela national park, as far as tarmac roads go, you can do worse than come here:
Being daft, I decided to get out of that great smooth road and climb a gravel wind farm service road, it looked like it would offer a good view from up there and end up on the other side of the hill, where I was heading to. The road turned out to be steeper than I thought and the surface WAY looser than I thought, so the heavy GS was wheelspinning in second and third gear all the way up, and weaving quite a bit too, I didn't feel like turning back as continuing was easier, so just went for it waiting on a smoother descent on the other side.
Obviously, the picture makes it look quite flat, but you can see the road all the way to where I left the tarmac.
I stopped on the last windmill, where it was smoother, to enjoy the view and see if there was a way down after what looked like the end of the road. It was a dead end so I turned back down the way I came.
10000km TKC70, not the best choice for traction on loose surfaces:
Quick stop downhill to show how steep it is, and nope, still looks flat...
This picture below shows why motorcyclists love this area, and also why it's better on weekdays. I only passed by 3 bikes the entire time on this mountain. Road porn?
Brief stop for a scenic piss at 1900 meters.
And a stop to call a client, could do worse as far as work location goes
Made my way to the Tower which at 1990 is mainland Portugal's tallest place, but didn't stop as it's not so scenic and there were too many cars there. So just carried on and headed south to start the climb down. I sort of had a hard time deciding if to sleep here in the mountain or not, but it was too early to stop.
Climbing down the south side of the mountain there's a road that is not paved for 2 or 3km, I love it and hope they never pave it. You can see it in the distance by the change of color in this picture
And looking back to where I took the previous picture, on that wall up near the top
Back on tarmac:
Stop for another coffee and a small sugary snack
From here on out, I took almost no pictures, I decided on sleeping in the Alentejo and to make it there before dark I didn't stop. My helmet has the dark screen on and I didn't really feel like riding small country roads at dark in it, more so there where there are so many livestock grazing around.
Quick stop by the Tejo as the sun was starting to go down behind the hills. It was quite the nice end of day:
Made it to the hotel half an hour after dark and riding quite slowly by then, a nice shower and out for dinner. It was a perfect evening with no moisture, no mosquitos, just perfect to eat outside. I was starving
Which shows by the clean plate
A few people on the other tables, and turns out a couple of them from near where I grew up, then the ladies from the kitchen came out to eat so we just started talking and spent a nice couple of hours there, felt nice after all this crap of not talking to anyone else during the pandemic.
Castle shot from my chair
And a short walk to bed
There are no pictures from today, rode through places previously shown a few times, spent a while on the phone and email in the morning and only left by 11am, made it home by 2:30pm including a brief stop for a snack. The bike's a mess of dust, dirt and mosquitoes.
Well, I could start taking pictures of the ugly buildings too, but the ride reports wouldn't look as nice...
