Pedro

I rode home today, but instead of taking the 2,5 hour motorway ride I did about 100km on the motorway and then diverted onto small roads. Getting off at Coimbra I made way inland and onto the real center of Portugal, riding through Coimbra I noticed a CRF300L on display at the local Honda dealership's window but decided not to take a picture because I was both on a non stop fast lane and also didn't want to be responsible for sending @Mawsley on a killing spree amongst british Honda dealerships The sky was very weirdly grey today and all my pictures look like crap, but still here they go: Castle of Lousã, I've never been through here before but have been close by. The previous night I went on a google maps search and noticed a bit of road that looked like my kind of thing, so went for it, this was my first stop, first looking from the castle onto a small chapel: And the small castle itself, here you can also see the difference that picture framing can make, here my bike is all alone by a castle: Here is the same parking spot 10 seconds later, showing that it was a saturday and people were out and about. You can also see that Portugal has a thing for trailies as the touring bike of choice: Moving away and onto the bit of road I was keen on checking out, a last view of the castle amongst a landscape that almost swallows all things, it's steep terrain: Here's a picture I stopped to take and try to illustrate why trails are so popular here, twisty roads but look at the surface: Couldn't help myself and followed a sign pointing out of the tarmac road onto a forrest track, pretty well maintained even though it had rained the day before, with a nice view spoiled by the ugly sky. Back on tarmac: A few kms later stopped to have a look around what we call a schist village, schist is the common rock around this region and used to be used to build houses, old derelict schist villages have been fixed up and over the last 20 years made up to be tourist atractions, here I stop by one with a small house for overnight rental right by a typical restaurant. Being a saturday it was a little busy but I looked it up on google maps and was most impressed. Took the pictures as a location stamp to help me plan an overnight visit, this is an area with harsh climate and showing up in the evening, to have a warm shower and a hearty meal and then sleep in a stone house seem appealing: Back on the road and over the hills I get away from quaint villages and onto harsher terrain. I take a small detour in the form of a wind farm gravel road access to find some privacy for a moment, nice location: After 13:30 I stop for fuel (50€ worth of fuel and not even on reserve!) on a nice inland town and ask the bored but very friendly fuel station guy where to go for something to eat and he recommends a small cafe 50 meters away. Café "Chicote", meaning "whip", where a very friendly older lady apologized that they had finished their lunch menu, but could maybe offer a pork sandwich, I gladly went for it: Back on the road, and riding through the heart of the Zener region, Portugal's third most important river and a location often gladly overlooked by car and bike enthusiasts: Went away from the deep river sculptured gorges and through small villages, using narrow and slow winding roads, my kind of roads: After that the sky started to turn menacing, I wanted to get home earlyish, so made way not stopping for pictures. Took this one from the bike, as the sun ws going lower and the landscape was changing onto farmland approaching home: Got home in time for a chat with a neighbor, and a few housekeeping chores before a snack and some wine for winding down after a nice day on the bike: Was in need of some comfort food so roasted some codfish with potatoes: Really enjoyed the alternative to a fast but uninteresting motorway ride, saved money on tolls and fuel, and got a lot more riding time in exchange, good stuff! Sorry for the shity pictures today, my iPhone doesn't care for light like today

Had a nice ride today, weather was really overcast and grey so pictures didn't turn out great. Codfish is in the oven now, I'm starving.

Properly laughing here!

Ditch her, when she goes to the ladies room on a service station somewhere in Germany ... Just turn the Citroen's go dial to 11 and blast off

Thank you, that's just hilarious! One of those laughing yellow guys on the bottom of the post wasn't enough, I loved that!

Even smarter, I've never met her and I'm not looking forward to it either She must be really hot though, surely there's something to her...

It's done 3000 kms and 4 oil changes ...

I see your work Pete, you evil genius

Sounds like he's the smart one ...

If there's no ride report, everyone will just assume you were stuck on a dry mud hole and did nothing else all day...

Watch out, you don’t want to mess wit him, he’s a really scary dude

Probably emissions in a couple of years time? Rear cylinder heat issues with the fairing/tank? I'm very curious.

That dude's hair! What the fuck?

Tomorrow I shall take Costa out for a little walk in the morning, and then getting on my bike and riding home. It's a 2,5 hour motorway ride but I've got a feeling it'll take way longer than that as I'll check out some smaller roads that look twisty on the map. Unless the weather is shitty. Ducati is currently touring Portuguese dealers with a couple of DesertX bikes for showing them off and they're close by today, but I'm resisting going to see them as the local dealership is so unfriendly. I am tempted to give one a proper look in a few months once they're out though, what you think of that engine @boboneleg?

Well I never thought I would see the day... Lovely place to ride around!

pus faced ballsacks?

Sounds like a perfect storm

they're probably in California, so can't blame them for that really

Can he still do that at will, write both ways? That is a cool skill!

However, there's a point to be made regarding public health about moving car pollution away from crowded places and into electricity production locations. I agree with what you're saying, though.

What about in the European side? No policies regarding brits? I ask because I find it funny that everyone I hear always talks about what the UK demands of people going back instead of what Europe demands of people coming over.

I read "this angel gave the owl a rag"

These testers treat every bike like a racebike, it's almost amusing.