Sofia

10 hours ago, busabeast said:

Be good to see if they'd make it all that way or I spose they could be crated over and ridden the few miles from the airport

Motorbike rental is part of the tour for those that prefer it. More flexible option. 

1 hour ago, yen_powell said:

You're joking, when you leave you not only have to tidy up  and be inspected, but they have an inventory of what was there when you moved in and you pay for anything missing. I think there was some discrepancy over a floor scrubbing brush that got deducted from my Dad's wages.

So true that!! In one of the houses we lived I decided to doodle the wall one afternoon.... when my Dad came home he was not best pleased!! I have never scrubbed a wall as fast or as hard as that one!! 

2 hours ago, yen_powell said:

I know that when he isn't coughing his spuds up Pete likes an abandoned building.

This is a house in Tedder Avenue in Germany where I lived as a small child. Despite leaving it when I was 5, I remember the rough layout, the attic and definitely the basement. My baby brother used to dangle down in one of those boingey baby harnesses from the front room/hall door frame, I called it his Scottish dancing.

My Mum used to tell me that once when she had a row with my Dad she locked the door of the cellar whilst he was down there. When she calmed down and reopened it a few hours later she found him sitting in a comfy arm chair, drinking a bottle of beer and reading a book, bothered was he not!

 

Was any of your parents Armed Forces then?

6 hours ago, boboneleg said:

Thank you for that ride report Sofia, your beautifully crafted words made me feel like i was there.  Some of those places look like a joy to stay in if you like a bit of good food and wine.

Well Bob, lets organize a Louigi Moto bike trip to the South of Portugal then! What do you think!?  Would be cool to see the red machines in Alentejo! 

5 minutes ago, yen_powell said:

My Mum told me she had to push someone's prolapse back up inside them on an old peoples ward once. She seemed to delight in such talk before making my dinner, with me shouting that I wasn't eating anything unless I saw her wash her hands again in front of me.

Don't have a meal with a group of farm vets... talking about  uterus prolapse to helping a horse perform his male duties, always wearing a helmet in the name of safety, anything, literally anything is possible!!! 

2 hours ago, yen_powell said:

Somewhere in Portugal there is a giraffe with a guilty secret.

 

Maybe! Or its a very "artistic" taxidermy artist!!

 

game  trophies are not my thing, but they have a natural reserve at the Estate, with African antelope and there is a possibility it is not a deer but another cleft hoof animal...

it was dark and I had a lot of wine, can't be certain!! Now that you mention it, it's a very long neck!! I never notice... 

4 minutes ago, yen_powell said:

I have to know, what is that sticking out of the wall above the fire place? It looks like a hunter's trophy head type thing, but the length of neck is confusing me.

2 minutes ago, yen_powell said:

I have to know, what is that sticking out of the wall above the fire place? It looks like a hunter's trophy head type thing, but the length of neck is confusing me.

Its a deer. Big one.

On 17/01/2023 at 22:20, Pedro said:

Can’t kill it 

im in love!! not for europe then?

 

 This is the story of two events that came together, in a happy, match on the first days of January 2023: I turned 50 and did my first Moto tour!

 

 The idea to combine the 2 started a couple of months ago, when my friend Barbara said she would love to come over from the UK for my birthday, I immediately thought it would be great to do a test run of my  Motor tours and organise the very first one!  She was up for being a guinea-pig and it was  decided to start in Lisbon and end in Faro, to be even more special and try to find the better weather! 

 

 As it happens, December was full of work and stress and by the time I picked her up from Lisbon Airport on a dark and gloomy evening of January, my head was in bits and I felt like I had been run over by a train!! 

3 days before “launch” and I  hadn’t organised a thing, not even dog seating so we could actually go away without the dogs! I motivated myself somehow and called the Bike rental company the day Barbara landed and secured a bike from this lovely guy that laughed at how short the short notice was! Hey-ho, someone with a good sense of humour is always a blessing!! He was amazing, bringing the bike to us and collecting it from us in Algarve, offering for us to use it more days free of charge if we wanted saying January is slow for his business, make the most of it, he said! The company is MOTORENTOUR - Motorcycle Rental & Tours and I highly recommend it. We will work together in my business endeavour @Turtle_Mototours, a great partner to have.

 

So we had a bike, check,  I then booked the Hotel, check,  and after that got a dog sitter, with even shorter notice, to look after the pooches, everything checked!!

NOTE: Thank you @trustedhousesitters for being the best thing ever when it comes to pet sitting while we go on holiday. 

 

And on the 7th of January, we were ready to go but not before I had to see a doggie with an inflamed eye on a last minute call... because I cannot say no and because I am a one woman band and have to work on all fronts. 

The weather had been great the days leading up to our trip, only somehow it turned spectacularly on a downward spiral and we set off under all sorts of warnings, of all colours and descriptions and we sure got it!! Fully kitted up in several layers of water proofs, we used up all my extensive gear resources between us, and being made of stern stuff, we faced the big storm, with its heavy winds and lashes of sideways rain,  the rivers of water on the motorway and the sliding drains across it, Barbara on the rented Benelli TRX 500 with its 45 HP and me on the solid Speed Triple with Michelin 2CT Sports tyres. The tyres were the least of my worries, Michelin does rain like no other, even Cup tyres stick somehow (!), my issue was the darkness, seeing I totally forgot to put the clear visor on..., not only IT IS clear, dahhh, but  also has a pin lock, very useful in damp conditions and it was damp! 

 

Anyway, after 1 hour and a half of rain pounding our spirits, undeterred as they were, we were in need of refreshments and something nice in our bellies. The service station toilets had Dyson hand dryers and we took great advantage of those magical machines as much as possible, warming up our hands and drying the gloves insides. 

This is me next to the Dyson feeling delight to be out on the bike with my best friend!! I really was!! 

 

 

We hung our jackets on the chairs and by the end of lunch I am sure some ducklings could have swam in the puddle under the chair!!! 

We got a break in the weather after refuelling our stomachs, the rest of the afternoon, dark as it was ( although it could have been my visor!!), the weather relented a little and we reached the winery estate safe and sound and with just the odd spot of rain.

 

 Its a place I absolutely love, those of you that follow mine and @pedros reports, have seen  it before, a few years back I made a video there for your annoyance/entertainment! Its called Herdade do Sobroso, a very nice hotel, in a traditional Alentejo farm house and the wine they make there is absolutely divine. The food is off the scale delicious!

 

 The room had underfloor heating, so we spread our gear on the floor, taking advantage of some serious hot spots and the next day there was no water in sight!! 

 

The Dinner was great!! Nothing like overcoming difficult conditions to make us feel superhuman and chuffed with ourselves! Plus a bottle of gorgeous wine also helps! 

They brought us the starters, just little things they said… in reality that could have been the meal already! Wonderful scramble eggs with wild asparagus, grilled cheese in a coquette, mini chicken pies and tempura prawns were “the little things” before the main meal. For me came a soup made from a fish that is a “cousin” of the shark, delish, and for Barbara pork cheeks, something her grandmother used to cook, but somehow those survivors of WW II rationing didn’t pass-on the knowledge of using and cooking every scrap of food and modern Britain as no idea what a pork cheek is or how it tastes, unless its in a sausage! Barbara, being a lady from Cheshire and farming background, loved it!!! #noveganshere

 

 

Dessert were 2  deceivingly small cakes, specialities developed in Convents where bored Nuns converted their lust into the sweetest of sweets using kilos of sugar, eggs and almonds. Not for the faint hearted ( or diabetic!), on a normal day not ideal after such a meal, but in that setting, with that wine and after the giddiness of the day, another 1000 calories was not going to harm anyone! OK, maybe the liver got slightly harmed…

 

That house is, for me, the perfect kind of home. The one story building, with high ceilings, showing the inside of the roof and its wooden beams, the enormous fireplace, made that way to smoke the chouricos and salamis in the olden days, now burning the most lovely fire and giving us a hug of warmth and comfort that only a real log fire on a stormy night can give. The staff did a great job of keeping us topped up while we melted into the sofas and I felt like my Grandmother was going to pop round the corner at any given moment, that's how much I felt at home! 

 

 

Dolce far niente…

We woke up on the day of my birthday and, unlike what is normal on my birthday, it was very gloomy and actually raining! It never rains on my birthday!! 

On arrival the day before, we had encountered the owner of the Estate  and on knowing of my special birthday, he requested us to stay fora birthday lunch and kindly offered me a bottle of bubbly, so we were already half way to staying... Again this place wraps itself around me like a snake and enchants me to stay!!  

We looked at the sky, not looking good… 

 

We then headed to the breakfast table and it didn't take us long ( not even 5 minutes!) to decide we would have the lunch, the bubbles, the afternoon tea and also the diner!! We were definitely  staying another night and celebrate my birthday in style by doing nothing!

Not something that comes natural to me, but it was exactly what was needed and I accept, there is something very nice in the Dolce far niente way of life, must practise it more. 

Breakfast was delicious and very well presented! 

 

After breakfast we had a leisurely stroll around the house, not straying to far, not wanting to exhaust ourselves!!

 

 

Lunch was wild boar roast with vegetables and migas, a unique speciality of this region that I will refrain myself from explain, it needs a post of its own!! 

 

What followed next was  the loveliest of surprises, organised in secrecy by the two best people in my life, Barbara and @Pedro.

They colluded together to organise a birthday cake, with candles (!!) and the staff made a chorus of 2 singing the happy birthday song! I was beyond embarrassed and also very grateful for all the thought and care they had put into the whole thing. As birthdays go, it is very hard to have a better one. 

We proceed to eat the cake and drink the sparkling wine all afternoon, next to the fire, dragging ourselves for a little walk before dinner to say hello to the bikes and laugh at everything, funny or not so funny, in a way that only a whole bottle of bubbles can do! Especially considering Barbara actually paid a lot of money to rent the bike and we did around 250 kms in total so far! We laughed at this realisation and our motorcycling achievement, the best thing for it really! 

They had promised us a light meal for dinner, after 24 hours of solid eating and drinking, and one might say it was… lighter…fair enough! Delicious yet again and followed by fruit, not the infamous Catholic cakes intended to make celibacy a little more bearable!  

 

Morning came with heavy rain but the Weather App was adamant that it would clear after 10am, so we  took our time with the great breakfast, ordering scrambled eggs and bacon and filling ourselves with bread with tomato jam, very traditional in the South of Portugal, and more orange cake, my absolute favourite. 

We somehow managed to get into our trousers, a difficult endeavour I have to say… packed, loaded the bikes and, as forecasted, blue sky forced its way between the dark clouds and we set off totally and utterly like new people, feeling relaxed and years younger, , which in my case,  was a great way to start a new year, a new decade even!!!

 

 

 

 

We were going direction South, to Algarve, searching for its famous Winter warmth, soft light and general pleasantness all round. There is a reason Brits have been moving there since the 60s, following Cliff Richard, the very first to buy a Villa and spend Winter enjoying the delights of this stretch of land, many times more akin with the other side of the Water in its mannerisms, architecture and personality then with the Continent it is solidly attached to. You can feel Northern Africa there, the sand is different, the houses have flat roofs, the people are darker and even after almost 8 centuries of Christianity, you can easily confuse the typical Algarve chimney with a minaret from a mosque. 

Algarve comes from Al Garbe, meaning Occidental, because it was the Westerly part of the Al Andalus, the moor Kingdom in the South of the Iberia peninsula.

It has a geographic border with the rest of Portugal, 2 ridges of mountainous terrain that made it hard to capture  from the moors and give it a distinct ambience, so marked that until Portugal become a Republic in 1910, it was always referred to as “The Kingdom of Algarve”, so the Portuguese Kings were titled as “King of Portugal and the Algarve”. Never had a King of its own, but throughout the centuries it always enjoyed a deference no other part of Portugal had, not even Lisbon!   

Algarve is also defined geographically by water, in the East the River Guadiana that separates it from Spain, in the South and West the Atlantic Ocean in all its force and glory.  While the East side of Algarve is mellow and romantic like the River Guadiana, a strong favourite of the Arab Poets that populated Al Andalus before it was destroyed by the Christian Conquest, the West is Wild, windy, salty and unforgiving. Sagres, where the land ends and the Sea begins, the most Westerly point in Europe, could not be more fierce and violent when the Gods of the Sea so decide, a magical place with the always enchanting and alluring energy of all “finis terra”  locations.

Algarve is by no means my favourite part of the small  country that is “Portucale”,  but it's aloof nature and the influence of a culture I like to study and understand, fascinates me. Unfortunately it's become a one trick pony to the majority of visitors that only do the beach, the bars and the hangover, overlooking its amazing history, visible in its castles and roman ruins and in the writing of erudite moors that studied the stars from their Sheikh Palaces, where they also wrote beautiful poetry. 

In fairness, the beaches are the best and we enjoyed good walks on them on our last day! 

 

@Pedro has a specific point on the road entering Algarve via the mountains where he feels like Africa is calling and the wind feels warmer and everything gets better! For us it was a little like that too, we travelled down avoiding the majority of the rain, going between downpours and drying out pretty fast and once over the ridge, indeed the temperature went up and the rain stopped, letting us enjoy the views and taste the Sea in our mouth even if we could not  see it yet! 

The lovely people at the Wine Estate made us a “pack lunch” each and we stopped at the entrance to Algarve to eat and relax a little before heading to Triumph Algarve to look for some gloves for Barbara. Unfortunately when we got there it was closed, so we proceeded to meet a friend of mine that has moved to Algarve and kindly invited us to stay at her house. For those of you that do Golf, we stayed right next to ( inside even…) one of the most famous Golf Courts in the World! Famous why, you may ask?! Because it's on the cliff and one can Golf right to the edge and if one misses the putt, the ball either lands on the beach 30 metres below or it actually goes in the Sea! I find that particularly funny!! 

 

As nice as it is to enjoy a day in a super luxurious place, with the greenest of greens around you wherever you look, it's very “resortie”, not very genuine and hard to walk a dog when they keep knicking the golfers balls from the Ts or jumping in the Golf Course manicured ponds and lakes!! Funny, but not for long, those golfing guys get very angry ( look at Trump!)  and they have weapons in the Golf bags and buggies to chase us!!! 

The last thing we did together was to visit the beach in Faro, where I had been previously with Pedro and once at the famous motorcycle meet that happens every year around June/July time.

Barbara also became a little in love with Algarve and must have really missed it, flying home from Faro to a very cold and snowy Manchester!! 

The 2 of us have been friends for 21 years, we have shared so many amazing motorcycle trips together and also not so amazing life events, we can talk non stop for hours and now that we travel with intercoms, the chat can continue on our travels, amusing on the onlookers when 2 women go past gesticulating while riding a motorcycle!! 

We said goodbye at the airport and 1 hour later her rented bike was collected and thus ended my 1st moto tour!!

It was a test run of the bike rental, the hotel booking and the invoice making, and it all went really well, so I am a lot more confident Turtle Mototours will kick off in 2023 and will be successful! 

 

I stayed in Algarve for another night and the next day set off relatively early with the intention of reaching Estremoz!!

I have a lot of roots in this town, but more than that, I have  a 2nd family as well. Before moving to the UK it was where I settled working in farm practice with a great vet that was already 76 years old when I started working with him! He retired at 92 and now, carrying 98 years on his shoulders, he is still as mentally sharp as ever and a joy to be with. I visit as much as I can, every minute counts when the journey has been that long…

In 1999, when I started my life there, I just fitted in like a jigsaw piece that was missing and in spite of wandering off to the lands of Northern Europe and the years that have passed, it's still the same and so I just turn up unannounced and there is always a seat at the table and a bed ready to sleep in. Life is good to me!!! 

Had to fill up before starting the day and the Hipster in me actually asked the owner of this beauty if wanted to swap!! Luckily he decline saying his drivers licence is only up to 50cc!! 

 

To reach Estremoz  was a full day's riding, all little roads over the mountains in Algarve first and they are stunning at the moment!! 

 

Again there were some serious showers that gave me a good soaking because I had no waterproofs determined as I was  my optimism would beat the rain and it did!!! After 2pm no more rain, my non waterproof clothing dried out and I was happy! And hungry!!

 Decided to do a Pedro and go into a little village looking for some food and BUM! Found a cool, mega traditional restaurant.

 

I went in and there was that moment of a Cowboy movie when the stranger walks in the Saloon and everyone goes quiet and stares at the unknown character standing at the bar!! In my case the staring is more intense given I am a woman, alone, ON A MOTORCYCLE!! This stuff doesn't happen in these parts, where men are men and women are, mainly, in the kitchen!! It's the interior and south, a very small village and like anywhere, a smile goes a long way, so I smile and it's all good.  

Turns out the owner also has a Triumph and, inevitably, bikes brought us together and we discussed motorcycling and motorcycles for a while. The food was simple, but gorgeously home made!

 

This is a land I know well and I absolutely love! I even start talking with their accent without realising it, which used to  leave Pedro, and others,  a bit baffled, but, my roots are in Alentejo, it's like I go back in time!. So after smiling and asking for my food, I sat down next to 2 old men and we talked about sheep and cows and crops, because deep inside I am a countryside lass!! After, 2 doggies came, an 18 year old, must be tough as old boots to survive so long in a place no one will ever take her to a vet (!) and after that, a 1 year old gorgeous Collie, with whom I shared some food and that for sure had fleas… Made me think next time I will take a vet kit with me! 

 

That was one of the most beautiful afternoons riding I have ever had. The fields are so, so beautiful… Thanks to the miraculous amount of water that has blessed this land of constant drought, the fields are green with grass and peppered with yellow, purple and white from little flowers blooming, a little early in fairness, making the whole thing look like Turner painted it himself!! No one does countryside like Turner, fact!

The funny moment of the afternoon, stupidly I did not stop to photograph, was finding  a game of Cricket in the middle of a small village buried in the Portuguese deep South! I almost fell off the motorcycle in amazement!! And laughing! 

Good or bad, not sure yet, we now have in Portugal a lot of intensive production of vegetables in greenhouses. In the South some towns, previously empty and abandoned, have found a new life with this industry and the manual labourers it hires. Well, I hope they hire and pay them, not enslave like in other parts of the Iberian Peninsula, mainly in Spain!!

 They come and they settle and they play cricket, which is so extraordinary and nice!! These are people from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, South East Asia and I have nothing but respect for them and for the, mainly very old, locals that were sitting around the ex-football field watching this impromptu game of an incomprehensible sport for anyone in the World other than British or Countries where  Britain  left a flag! 

 

 At this point I was racing the Sun, trying to arrive before it set, because after that my visor is woefully inadequate and it goes bloody cold!!

For that reason there are no pictures to show you and no amount of words  will ever transmit the beauty of a January evening and its soft light illuminating the mountain I had to cross, bringing cork trees alive in oranges and greys  and kissing the earth goodnight till the following day.  I do have some photos of the next morning on my way home for your enjoyment! 

Sometimes all we need is a friend;

Sometimes all we need is a change of scenery and a challenge;

Sometimes all we need is to do nothing for a day; 

Sometimes all we need is love and kindness;

Sometimes all we need is a great day-ride alone;

And sometimes life gives you all of the above in 5 days!!!   

Thank you for reading. 

 

 

  

 

I thought it was very unfair to elect him Twat of the Year....

13 hours ago, Pedro said:

Sofia’s asian glaze spare ribs

 

Pork and half caramelised onions, heavy on the garlic marinade, northern Portuguese style

Very delish it was to!! 

On 31/12/2022 at 20:28, Pedro said:

@Sofia’s meatballs and mashed potatoes with spicy garlicky baby spinach. The meatballs had my moroccan spice mix, and love, which made them delicious.

It was amazing, and I’m typing this with a happy belly as I finish the second portion. 

 

The red wine is a Castelares Reserva, which is currently my favourite red wine, bought for special occasions 

The whole meal was very delightful.  

I am for sure going to the UK in September 2023!! 

Miss the Green and Pleasant Lands!!

30 minutes ago, Buckster said:

@Sofia, if you shake a bag of spice mix is it true that @Pedro cries?

No, he smiles!

6 hours ago, zzzak said:

I see your pie and raise you with a cottage pie with meat in it.

A shepherds pie has lamb or hogget in it otherwise it's a vege pie.

 

Nice!! Good looking pie!!

 

Yes, I don't appreciate meat products/dishes being appropriated by the veg worriers, find it quite annoying actually and totally agree with the French that banned names like "vegetarian sausage roll". Hence its "a combination of ... " , specifically the tagine+pie combo , because a tagine ' jamais' has mashed potato on top! 

 semantics do matter, as you correctly point out.

3 minutes ago, Pedro said:

It was, she used a mix of spices I brought from Morocco. It was delicious!

I have to say I might have put this together,  but today @Pedro saved  the day in several ocasions! The spice mix is amazing and he also saved a chocolate icing I made a booboo with, hero of the kitchen yet again!! 

Diner today was a vegetarian tagine sheppards pie combination, for vegetarian friends. Was nice! 

6 minutes ago, Marcel said:

Don't fall for that Sofia... He's trying to recruit you in his Faith. 

I have fond memories of them from my school!! 

I nominate @Buckster because he is tall and never knowingly boring!!! 

13 hours ago, Pedro said:

I had went to bed early, and did set an alarm clock for the first time in weeks, to 06:30. That gave me time to enjoy waking up lazily in bed, procrastinating getting up while enjoying my own company. Breakfast was the only poor one I had this trip, that went nicely with the theme of this visit to Fes, croissants were stale and worthy of one single bite, orange juice hadn't seen an orange since an industrial factory somewhere once processed them, and coffee tasted like Nescafe. In Morocco there's no excuse for non fresh orange juice and shit coffee, but it made sense as that hotel didn't even offer a breakfast free stay, they had to push people to eat it 

I was ready to go a little after 7, but as I looked around the streets seemed really wet and it was going to be dark for a while after leaving, so grudgingly put my plastic rain pants and jacket on.

By 07:25, I was ready to go:

 

Put navigation on heading to Ain Dorij, and rode off, google maps took me out via tiny streets that seemed more complicated than needed, but the low traffic showed me a less seen side of Fes. It was interesting. 

Getting out of town and rain starts to steadily fall, at 08:15 I had had my only really challenging moment on the road and stopped to enjoy the sunrise a little, on a particularly muddy and poorly surfaced bit of road tilting to the right, I was forced to brake a little and basically slid off the road, I spotted the gravel bit outside the tarmac and simply pointed to that and rode it for a while. I am most impressed at the Mitas E07 + Dakar, they're sound tires even if the manufacturer warns that they have poor performance in rain and cold.

08:15:

 

Rain properly starts to fall shortly later, my phone is now safe in my jacket and I stop for a moment's rest after spotting shelter. Someone takes my picture as for whatever reason I was enjoying it quite a bit.

The above was at 08:55, I then put the phone back in my jacket pocket safe from the weather, and rode all the way to Tangier with no need for it. Navigation was easy and although I was riding on less than main roads I knew I had to go pass Ouezzane and then Chefchaouen, it proved easy. Rain didn't stop for the rest of the morning, averaging from hard to very hard and very windy at the same time. I got stopped at a checkpoint and after the initial small talk the officer told me I had been spotted at 95kmh on a 60, I got off the bike with the helmet open, got my right glove off and introduced myself, told him I would be more respectful from now on, but that I was intended on catching the Ferry and wanted to not miss it, all while putting my biggest possible good guy big smile attitude. Then he asked me for my papers while looking at the back of the bike, and asked where I was from as clearly I didn't have a French or German plate, upon the answer of "Portugaise" he enthusiastically shook my hand and after becoming friends sent me on my way with a big smile and a "ride safe" farewell. Portugal is a good nationality to be in Morocco, our national football team shares the same colours, and we both like beating the French and Spaniards. 

From there it was very smooth to Tangier, if plenty of wet. The last miles before Tangier were dry and windy, which allowed the overalls to dry on the outside. I had money with me so stopped to top up the bike at a Shell station, rode into Tangier feeling like a road worn adventurer, and quickly got lost in lunchtime traffic 

Stopped at a cafe with outside tables on a common street and ordered a sandwich. While it took forever to arrive I took the overalls off and made myself comfortable. Turns out my overall pants aren't really waterproof anymore, my jeans were wet on the outside all over the waterproof stitches, and my chest and upper back was fully wet too. Good stuff!

The bike looked proper and had just proven to be a trusty friend, a true work beast or a war horse:

 

It was good to ride to the port without the blasted rain suit, hang around for a little getting in line for the bike to be x-rayed, it all went easily as if hipotetically crossing between any European countries. The crossing was a little choppy, the storms seemed to have angered the Mediterranean and the boat rocked heavily the whole trip. At first it was funny like so, look at the water level in the horizon:

 

But after a while people started to get a little tired of it, I felt like having a piss but sat firmly in my seat at the risk of falling over when walking or throwing up if standing, two guys started praying to Allah, and a few people had hands on their faces like trying to prevent eyes from popping out. 

We made it ok though, lack of paperwork on the boat was a bonus, I don't envy people crossing the other way and having to write stuff down, I would succumb to that for sure!

Got out of the boat in my due time, and pushed the bike along with all the line of cars that got off the boat before I did. Tarifa looked stormy, so I put the rain stuff back on, the time at Tangier and on the boat had dried my clothes so I felt comfy and fresh.

 

It was past 16:00 by the time I rode out of Tarifa, I had looked at hotels around there and also the weather forecasts, it was rain for the next few days, so feeling fresh after the ride from Fes I decided to go home for the night, Waze sent me via Badajoz which wouldn't have been my preferred route, but as it was raining through Sevilla (or was it Huelva already? I don't know...) I was lazy and followed it's guidance. Storms were littered all around, with orange warnings for heavy rain so I figured there must be a reason for the longer route. 

Right before entering Portugal I stopped for a snack after riding all the way from Tarifa in heavy rains. 20km into the trip a water barrier descended upon me with such violence that water pushed into my overalls with ease through my neck and wrists. This stop made sense, and the tiny jamon con queso bocadillho provided me with a little comfort from the belly outwards. The beer is 0% alcohol, too.

 

The snack and fuel stop was at 20:09, I made it home at 22:54 and the bike looked pretty much like I did except prettier, just as wet.

 

That was an epic day riding, around 300/320km in Morocco's backroads and around 700km in Europe with port crossing and a choppy ride in the middle of it, I felt like it was a proper day to end a proper trip, and was comforted by a hot shower in my own house, that I grew to love from Maria. Heated up some of Sofia's shepherds pie and opened a bottle of red wine.

I was feeling energized when arriving home, despite the long day, but as soon as food and wine hit my stomach and I settled from the excitement of riding through rain storms, I started feeling tired. That night I fell asleep moments after laying down, and the rain lashed the outside of my bedroom walls through the night.

On this trip I travelled with Maria and Sofia, and have to thank you all for providing an audience, the taking pictures everywhere provided with a distraction to some of the very intense feelings I had. I got through it and the extreme darkness I feared didn't appear, only sorrow and the memory of loving times did. I hardly ever felt alone on this trip.

It was a nice one, there will be more.

Thank you for all the nice comments.

  thank you for sharing it with us. 

On 11/12/2022 at 19:13, yen_powell said:

I seem to see faces everywhere, probably some sort of illness. Or watching to much HR Pufanstuff as a child.

 

I saw it too!

On 10/12/2022 at 23:05, boboneleg said:

What you say @Sofia ?

He said it himself!

The cutest puppy ive had in the practice, followed by the cutest kitten!

Today I made the cakes ( yes, 2 different ones) more drunk, and being a vet I have the right tools to get the booze right in the middle!!