A ride to Alentejo

[Sofia]

I was summoned to take the bike for an inspection to finalize the importation from Germany. A mere 200 kms from home, in the Summer heat! It was the perfect excuse for 2 days ridding through my roots once again!!

 Alentejo in the Summer is a scorched land, very yellow, burned by the intense heat that on the day reached 42C. Went to all my favourite places and tried my best to cool the bike by almost taking it for a swim!! 

Always enjoyed ridding by myself, following my intuition or my belly, depending who is louder!! There is such peace in solitude, specially when seating next to water. All those Zen Masters are always seating by a lake or next to a water fall for a reason!!  But I wasn't totally alone, Estrelinha was there bringing up the rear nicely!

 

A traditional Alentejo house, called Monte da Morcega, one of the many places I can call home around the World!! The first Vet I worked with spends the Summer months in this farm house because, although it does not have AC, you will not find a cooler place to be. Built around 200 years ago, with traditional technics and very thick walls, its a great place to be on the hottest days of the year. 

 

The whole family is into motorcycles, and the next generation is already on it!! It was very hard to convince little Carlota to get off, she was not budging! I explained to her its at the front  she should be, with the odd pillion ride with someone that is worthy of taking her! "Never under estimate the power of a seed"! To be fair I was her age when I become fascinated with motorbikes, so there is hope!! 

 

The Vet, my favourite Vet,  at 97 still fresh and funny and wise as he always was. So much respect and so much love for this absolute Gentleman of a man!!

The beginning of my Professional life was with him, he was already 76 years young, and I was privileged to learn so much while doing the job I loved the most, farm practice, going out to the countryside every day, always unpredictable and fun. I was the first woman to work there as a farm vet, he believed in me and supported me even when some farm hands did not want a woman treating their beef cattle. I never turned back, did my job and got lucky a few times, transforming me from the young girl fresh from vet school into the doctor they requested to fix their animal problems. My Vet was proud of me as much as I looked up to him and it was with great  sadness I left this life behind to emigrate to the UK. He also supported me on that decision, he knew I have a gypsy soul and I needed to see the World!! I go back time and time again, always welcomed like one of the family and that surely is one of the most amazing blessings anyone can have, 

One of our favourite things was always to seat and enjoy an afternoon snack and we kept our tradition!

And seeing I was there, went to see some cows!! 

 

The heat was quite something so the best place to go was the big lake, Alqueva. Rode pass a busy village with its artificial beach and turned of to a sign that said Cemetery! Turned out to be a magical place, very peaceful and quiet, with some shade and a ramp that tempted me to wet the Supercorsas while avoiding disaster! 

 

 

My belly dictated it was time to go, so headed to a favourite place of mine and @Pedro for a toastie and typical portuguese soft drink. It was delicious as always and with the bike well parked under the shade, enjoyed a couple of hours of my own company, thinking of nothing and just being. One  of the best days of my life!! 

 

BONUS! The bike passed its inspection!! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[XTreme]

Great report Sofia......and what a fantastic old guy! He looks well for 97.

[Sofia]

48 minutes ago, XTreme said:

Great report Sofia......and what a fantastic old guy! He looks well for 97.

He does and his mind is super sharp! Like David Attenborough and the Queen, there was something in the air around 1924!!! 

[Pedro]

An over 40º ride through the Alentejo is always a nice adventure.