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Bella Napoli

I woke up a little hungover, but quickly made progress, not wanting to waste the morning and with a big motorcycle day ahead. Finished my emails, had a nice shower, and enjoyed breakfast, the work then called me back and turns out it was about 09:30 by the time I was leaving. It was a coldish morning, temperatures were maybe around 7 or 8ºC until about 10AM, maybe later, but it felt way colder than that. Felt like even when stopped the wind was freezing cold. The roads were perfect, and I followed the border Lots of trees in bloom, the camera on my phone doesn't do them justice. I didn't even stop in Miranda do Douro, although it is a charming town ideal for a stroll around and a coffee it had quite a few cars and I didn't feel like putting up with a crowd. Even saw a few british plated bikes, clearly making the best of the beautiful day. I rode south, back south and heading all the way to Ericeira to meet up with Sofia, which is very far away and feels world's apart. Stopped in one of the coolest Douro viewpoints for a few minutes, before lunch: I thought my head was hurting from the previous day's excess drinking, but it was getting worse regardless of water drinking, and then I started getting this painful feeling in my sinus, it finally hit me that it was all the trees in bloom causing my hay fever to go wild. Quick stop by the pharmacy in Freixo de Espada à Cinta, got a few pills for that specifically as my nasal spray wasn't cutting it, and after a lunch sandwich I took a couple. Rode up to spend a while enjoying the views at Penedo Durão, so got there, took a few pictures and sat down for a while. The clean air and pills made their magic and I was already feeling a lot better. The vultures and griffons are amazing to watch, in person you can really see how big they are. Time to go, and head down to the river, but first via possibly the dirt road with the best view in Portugal that I know off: Last time I was here this road was more like a wide trail, seems like someone brough a proper machine and widened and flattened it. I hope they don't tarmac it, it would be a shame. It leads to this: Further south and after a few kms of a really nice twisty part of the N221, I take my final stop before pointing the GS south and jump on a motorway. Got to love my country where you're on a nice small tarmac road, follow a detour along a dirt road indicating "national monument" and end up riding down this. As always, it feels flat on a picture: The national monument was an old stone bridge with the ruins of a water mill next to it. It's an idilic location It was now 15:15, and the GS made it to Ericeira, a 4,5 hour trip according to google maps, by 19:00, including a small detour to buy the dogs a toy. Google maps indicates 470km between Freixo de Espada à Cinta (where I fueled up), and Ericeira, I took a little detour to go see the views, the dirt road, etc, and still made it to Ericeira without the fuel reserve light lighting, I love this bike.

These dam polls are getting out of hand....how about starting one about getting ridd of are current mods...I know lot's of you are affaid to speak up but those two Morons are useless...

If you look at a map of Portugal and look at the north border with Spain, and follow the half of it most inland, that's where this ride will take place. I had a short meeting in a bank in Vila Nova de Gaia, and only ended up leaving well after 9:30, got on the motorway north to Braga and from there got on the small roads, took the N103 firstly heading northeast to go past the edge of the Gerês natural park with it's charming old villages, it's landscape so bucolic it feels like it's manicured by god. It's very pretty place but not one for today. This was still on monday but the start of the holly week, and Spaniards must not have saints in Spain as they all flock to Portugal, Braga being a very important catholic town is invaded by tourists so I wanted none of that. Stopped at a big shop to buy a charging cable for my phone right after Braga, and had some breakfast before setting off properly inland. A few kms after, and although the N103 is very nicely surfaced, constantly presenting series of bends that allow you to enjoy any motorcycle from the most modest to a proper fast sports bike, I got away from it and onto smaller, narrower, and twistier roads off over the hills. A brief stop near the small village of Xertelo presented me with a very typical Gerês landscape. I was surprised that I couldn't ride through the village and carry on the other side as they only allow local vehicles inside, being a protected landscape they obviously mean for you to enjoy the place with no cars driving around, so I took a short stroll around before returning the one or two kms back to the main secondary road : Back on and shortly after I needed a pee, so got 50 meters off the road and came upon this place: A brief phone conversation had me stop to check some stuff on my phone and call someone back, while I talk the cows arrived back at their field and maybe one car drove past, this is quiet living here: The weather wasn't warm, but it wasn't cold either, the sky was very much overcast which ruins some of the pictures as everything looks like it should when it has a blue sky above. Arrived at Montalegre (translated to HappyHill), and stopped by the castle for a visit, I had never been here before and it is worthy of a stop. This place also marks the end of the typical Minho landscape and suddenly it feels more Tras os Montes, it's a place of harsh weather, lots of cold and ice, high winds, stone houses and hard people with tough lives, it feels epic and ancient too, and VERY different to the south. Montalegre has a beautifully fixed up castle worthy of a stop. It's on the border of Portugal and obviously served an important purpose in defending territory back in 1273, when it was firstly built. The tower came later, and sadly it was closed on my visit so had to stick to climbing one of the walls. Some of the castles I've visited don't really mind safety and you climb up and down walls along narrow uneven stone steps with a drop to one side and a wall to the other, here and probably being visited by lots of spaniards they made it tourist friendly with proper steps and rails. I could do with a stop for a snack but most of the restaurants were closed, I didn't feel like properly sitting down in a restaurant and having a proper lunch and couldn't find a place with seating outside, so moved on. Exiting Montalegre, I like the mix of very well kept old stone houses and the modern underground recycling bins: Traffic jam in Montalegre At around 2PM, I stopped at a small village, and got into a cafe to ask for a sandwich. Took a picture while the kind sir thinly sliced some presunto (raw bacon to you all), and made me a deliciously simple small sandwich. The cafe owner was very surprised I didn't go for his recommendation of going to the local restaurant and "eating properly", a proper Trasmontano lunch would invalidate riding in the afternoon I ate outside while chatting to an older gentleman, no pictures as the camera would have ruined the moment. For @yen_powell, a church and a cemetery I rode on heading East always quite close to the border, and mostly away from main roads. Another stop for a call: I intended on not stopping for pictures except in places where I actually stopped for whatever reason, but this made me stop and get off the bike for a picture of the road ahead, just to have the location saved when looking for it in the future, the surface could maybe do with a refresh but it had character, and if you look at the picture below you'll surely see what I like about this Another stop for urination, on an amazing location: I intended to stay for a while to enjoy the place and the river sounds but started to get swarmed with mosquitoes so went away. Instead stopped in Vinhais to have an espresso and figure out where to sleep. It was past 16:30 when I stopped in Vinhais, while enjoying my coffee I looked on google maps and found a few locations close by, all that interested me were either booked or didn't rent for just one night stay. Doesn't matter, I decided to carry on small roads and stop later at Bragança. The roads though the Montesinho (little hill) Natural Park (https://goo.gl/maps/nDo8TfSDmuXbK8Lz7) are gorgeous. Most of it is old chestnut tree forests, and it feels amazingly old like you could expect to see a night riding though on horseback, it feels like 3 or 500 years ago, but I feel like pictures didn't make the place justice, you loose a lot of the naked trees with the grey sky we had. I'll have to come back in prettier light, and I'm sure it's a great place to visit when the leaves are changing and in chestnut season. Bragança is the capital city of Tras os Montes, it's got a castle, an historic center, but I got a little fed up with it. Rode up to a hotel with underground parking for the bike, and stood in a line after 3 or 4 spaniards in front, the guy at the check in desk didn't seem to get a move on, that clearly wasn't for me so I walked out, phoned a small rural place in a village about 15km ahead and quickly made it there. By 19:00 I was in my room and enjoying a shower, the place was a good deal, in a nice small village and the covered and secured parking for the bike on the entryway was a bonus. It was never going to be dangerous leaving the bike outside but it was getting proper cold and I didn't feel like having a dew covered bike in the morning. The converted farmhouse was a charming location too: I think it was about a mile walk to the local restaurant in the next village, so I got out and went for a walk using up the last minutes of daylight, and enjoyed the old village as the locals were coming back home. Quite a few of the houses had life in them, but most people were already quite old, the lady driving the tractor in one of the pictures was surely well past 80, and the man waiting for her at home looked way older. He was washing cabbages outside, while the evening was starting to get colder. Hard people with hard lives. This dirt "street" is the straighter way between both villages, I was surprised it had street lighting and manhole covers but no proper surface. Public clothing washing tanks is still a think in a lot of rural places in Portugal, more so where water is abundant, some are quite well kept like this one. Outside the restaurant where I was hoping to find warmth and good food on a cold night. I did find both, toped with the typical transmontana hospitality and was made to feel at home immediately. The house wine are perfect for the place, and the beef cut is a traditional one of the region. You won't see beef cut this way in the rest of Portugal and I don't really know why, it's delicious. Ate and drank very well and felt happy, and went back to the hotel while chatting to a family of four out on a little trip to the north all the way from near my place near Lisbon. We got to chatting and eventually stayed up late playing pool and cards, and having some more wine for good measure. I went back to my room to sort quite a few work emails needing done but fell asleep with the laptop next to me. Slept like a baby.

Snow sucks but at least the drive home this afternoon was purdy ...

Talking about potential rust on some less than premium brand bikes I thought I would show you a project I abandoned very early on. A mate of mine gave me a Lexmoto Valencia twist and go scoot for my boy. We though it would get him on the road for a few hundred. The scoot belonged to his aunty who passed away and he just wanted it gone. So I went and got it and pushed it back home, he lives across the park from me. Like he said it was a bit rough but had only done 498 miles in his Aunts hands from new. I had a look over it when I got it back and was shocked by how much it had rusted. It did live outside under a cover but had seen no wet riding or road salt. First things first I wanted to hear it run before spending anything. There was a vacuum type pet cock that was locked shut and the carb was also locked up. I them connected a battery and got it running on brake cleaner. It sounded as sweet as a nut and wanted to run. All the electrical stuff worked. Anyway I thought get some air in the tyres, the tyre valve crumbled in my hand, I tried to get the wheel off and the axel was rusted solid. At this point it was obviously going to be a lost cause. Battery, Tyres, fuel system, brakes and god knows what else, just to get a functional rusty heap. So now it is garden art, I have been meaning to ask my mate if he wants it back but I reckon it will be going to the scrappy. The point I am getting to is these things need to be carefully looked after or they will dissolve before your eyes. Oh and the Dear Boy was on rat patrol.

Not a bad way to end the day

Maybe Buckster...much easier to take the piss out of a harley with a trailer and with it being full of bibles we'd have to make sure a match was at hand to burn it

It's Time to Rout the Bolshie Bastards. Whose with me ?

The usual bun fight in the airport, did I mention that I hate airports

After brexit fuel is only £1 a gallon here now.

I hate to break it to you buck but you're grandma looked like and ape...I know it's not the mental picture you had of Eve but this is the actual thruth.

I'm convinced zzzzak is one of Pete's trolls, the only reason the persona exists is to create traffic on the site by spouting mindless conspiracy bullshit that he knows will elecit a reaction from anybody capable of rational thought. nobody's seen him, hes can'tpost a pic of himself on a bike ( cos he doesn't really exist) and where does he purportedly live? Oh, what a surprise, somewhere where there's no other members near enough to go and verify his existance.... Coincidence? I think not.

Been working above what can only be described as a lorry full of yens used steaming underpants for the last 6 days, the smell certainly keeps your sinuses clear This is the part of Swansea Bay you don't see

This isn’t dagoville

The eternal fight against rodents. We have exactly the same around where I live.

This can't be accidental can it?

Plus you get Green Shield Stamps again now.

Holiday here tomorrow and most companies closed on monday too. Today I get a bonus quiet day as it is holiday in Spain. All’s quiet, being a vet assistant for a few days.

In all of the years that I've been long distance riding, I've never needed tools once. Probably around 400,000 miles without issues. I did have to buy tires in Oregon once, but that's it. Maybe I'm just lucky. But I've always had new-ish bikes and put on new tires before they're required - so that helps.

That's an average weeks mileage for me and i work 8 hours a day on top of that, some weeks are twice the miles, stop your moaning you great big pansy

Everyone in the world gets to benefit from the excellence of Harley Davidson.

Bacon.

just did

That’s a relief……..that means we can have a golf section instead.

Great quality beef is a staple of that region and its most famous food. It was very good.

How old is that plane........it looks like it should have propellers?

Didn't check, but usually it's a little place to put a lit candle on or the figure of a saint during special dates.

See that's the shocker I remember when the old lady in question bought the scoot new as she lived close to me and it was parked in the square where I live. I always thought it looked pretty nice when I saw her ride it or it had the cover off, obviously it got left when her health failed but apart from not being garaged it lead a charmed life. As I said I was shocked when I got it to bits and saw how bad it really was. I knew it needed a front master cylinder, battery and maybe tyres but thought a good clean and a polish would have it something like it, sadly mistaken. I sort of hope the newer stuff is better quality but I wouldn't bet on it.

Your bike looks like that underneath where you can’t see it. You need one of these.

I think I'll pee somewhere else then!

How many do you need for fresh pants? We may be able to crowd fund.

Maybe, but Pete never told her about this place.

Oy! fuck nuts I will have you know I am not even limping now

Other than pulling carbs on the DR in sandy conditions I only ever seem to use my tools on other peoples bikes. I did adjust my cruising pegs on my way down to Wales on Sunday but that was just for preference as I had originally set them using my other seat.

oh.. the Gayness of owning a Harley

Can we get a tractor section?

That would be once every ten years for Pete.

This. It's 75 miles to my shop - each way X 5 days / week = 750 miles each week. I probably do another 30-40% more in fucking around each day. edit: I checked Spain's fuel prices - equivalent of $6.75 USD per gallon. So that does kinda suck. It's about $3.30 per gallon here.

Bob, thats eight

Instead of a section for gender fluid motorcycles, how about a section for the conspiracies and truths and angry complaints about immigrants? You could put that in the bottom of the forum and it would be easy to ignore.