Day 13 Figueira de Castelo Rodrigo to Lagoaco

Day 13 Figueira de Castelo Rodrigo to Lagoaco. 70.61 kms cycled. 4.57 hours cycling. 47.49km/h max speed. 14.22km/h average speed. Weather – cold and overcast in the morning. Wet and miserable in the afternoon.

There is no doubt that I have been blown away by the beautiful scenery in Portugal, but the area I travelled through today was by far the most stunning.

  Particularly in the morning before the rain set in, I found myself stopping at just about every turn to either take a photograph or just marvel at the magnificent scenery.

  In particular the area from Figueira de Castelo Rodrigo, where I spent the night, to Freixo de Espado a Cinto is just stunning. The majority of the area is a national park that has the Duoro River – the boundary between Portugal and Spain – as the focal point.

  As you descend from the plateau down to the river after leaving Figueira de Castelo Rodrigo, the views of the river and the valley are just breathtaking.

 Despite having a dream downhill run, I stopping a number of times and couldn’t help but wonder at the tenacity of local farmers who still tend olive groves on the incredibly steep slopes.

  After reaching the bottom of the valley, the road follows the river for about 20 kilometres and once again the scenery is amazing. Unfortunately it was a grey and overcast morning, so I was not seeing the area at its best, but second best was still very impressive!!

  After leaving the river behind the road climbed and climbed until I finally reached Freixo de Espada a Cinto where I explored the old town before tucking into a huge meal of, your guessed it, pork!!

  All the mum and pop restaurants in the smaller towns have a lunch special and you can just about be certain that the one and only choice is pork. Fortunately this one was a bit better than some others I have been served and it was huge, which was certainly what I was looking for.

  When you cycle over such tough terrain for 4 and 5 hours per day it’s amazing how much food you go through. And the trade-off? I have gone down a notch in my belt after 2 weeks cycling.

  Anyway, as I left the restaurant after a very enjoyable lunch complete with a jug of the local wine, down came the rain. After contemplating what to do I decided to press on to Miranda Do Douro, a solid 88 kms – and too far to travel in one day tomorrow - and many big, big hills down the road.

  It probably proved to be the wrong decision as the rain just got heavier and heavier. While I had all my wet weather gear on, I was climbing very tough hills, so was sweating heavily, so was basically wet on the inside and out.

  In the end I pulled into a disbanded farmhouse to get into some dry clothes and to wait for the rain to subside. Fortunately it did after about one hour and I am writing this about 20klms further down the road in the tent ….. with the rain pouring down again.

  Hopefully the rain eases overnight and I can get to Miranda do Douro tomorrow without too many hassles.

captions. First 3 pics: the scenery coming down into the Duoro River valley was stunning. pIcs 4 & 5. The Duoro River Pic 6. The view from the top of an old castle tower in small town along the way

PS. I have just read this back and it is pretty long. If you don’t want me to write so much, just let me know. I guess on the other hand if you are enjoying my ramblings also let me know. I am certainly enjoying writing about the trip each day and hope everyone is enjoying reading it just as much.