Day 6 Evora to Avis

Day 6 Evora to Avis. 74.16 Klms. 4.53 hours cycling. 57km/h max speed. 15.16km/h average speed. Weather sunny but cool with strong side wind from the west. Camped at Albufeira do Maranhao camping Park just outside of Avis.

Isn’t it true that you never know what is just around the next corner. After nearly five hours of mostly uphill cycling from Evora, I decided to call it a day at Avis, a historical town high up on the central Portugal plateau.
After expertly asking at the local service station for directions to the local parque de campisimo (and they even understood what I was saying), I was given directions to the campground about 3 kilometres outside of town.
I had seen on the map that there was a large lake in the area, but I certainly wasn’t prepared for such a beautiful place.
The Albufeira do Maranhao campground is situated right on the edge of the lake, has a restaurant, great facilities (the best I have seen in Portugal so far), office staff that speak English (a big bonus) and once again free internet. Things just seem to be going from better to best!!
Anyway, after setting up camp overlooking the lake, I grabbed myself a spot outside the restaurant to write my blog and to enjoy a local beer or three.
The riding earlier in the day was once again through some stunning country … Portugal certainly is a beautiful place.
Except for the killer stretch of road I got stuck on outside of Beja a few days ago, the roads have been excellent for cycling. They are generally in much better condition than Australian country roads and fortunately the vast majority of drivers give me a wide berth in their cars.
Cars seem to be a status symbol with the Portuguese. Rarely do you see old cars and the few that you do see are driven by old-time farmers. In the main most cars are near new BMWs, Peugeots, Mercedes, etc etc and are kept in immaculate condition.
The decision to bypass Estromez was a good one, as there was very little traffic and it was generally a very enjoyable day’s cycling.
Tomorrow I will be heading for Alpalhao or maybe Nisa depending on how strong I am feeling (read how many steep hills there are).
Let’s hope the weather stays cooler as it was today as it makes cycling so much easier than day one and two when it would have been in the mid 30s.

captions. Top pic: the ancient aquaduct on the way out of Evora Pic 2:  A pretty village in the`distance Pic 3: The entrance to Pavia with theold fortress in the background Pic 4: I always do what the road signs say!! Pic 5: Another great campsite overlooking the lake Pic 6: All set up to write the blog with a great view.