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November 19 Saturday Bicycle touring Portugal from some farmer's orchard to a side road on the way Lisbon Portugal Ground fog is everywhere this morning. We are up at 6:30 AM, but we wait on the side of the road clutching out touring bicycles, waiting for the fog to clear. At 8 AM it is not much better. We had stuck out our thumbs as a couple of trucks came by, but no one showed any interest in picking us up. We ride to Funduo. We hit a bank machine and it spits out Escudos at 115 per dollar. Sharon goes to a farmer's market and gets a bit of fruit for ten bucks. When she shows up with the small bag and miniscule amount of fruit, I tell her she got ripped off -- which supremely annoys her, of course. She mumbles something about that's the last time she's going shopping. Me and my big mouth. I should have said: "You got all that for ten bucks!? Wow! That's great honey!" Naw. I think the same conclusion would have resulted. Sometimes you can't win. At 9:30 AM, we're cycling on our way. A spectacular climb on our bicycles out of the valley presents us with a magnificent view of cloud cover in the valley far below. An entire lower hillside is one mass of fluffy cloud cover. Looks very cool. There is a village sticking out of the cottony mass. No wonder we couldn't see anything. Now that we have ridden our bicycles above the clouds, the sun is shining brightly. We cycle up and down all day. At the end of our cycling day we have ridden our fully loaded touring bicycles 188 km and climbed over 4000 feet. We ride into the night, cycling strong until our paved shoulder dissolves. We turn around and cycle back to a side road we had recently passed. We unbungee our cycle touring tent and wearily tumble into our sleeping bags with nary a thought of removing our sweaty clothes. I ask Sharon if she would like an orange. She mumbles yes. I peel two for her and set them by her head. In the morning when I awake I find them exactly where I had left them the previous night. |
