Pedro

I tried to make the title of the ride report as Portuguese as possible so it doesn't make any sense to anyone and sounds more exotic After a long week I was in need of getting on the bike, after lunch I headed to the hills where I used to ride my Transalp many years ago. First a few kms of motorway to get out of my town and then another 20 or 30 minutes riding up the Douro. Weather today was not sunny per se, but very warm for the season so a lot of motorcycles on the road along the Douro. The N108 is where most of Porto's bikers go to ride 20 or 30km up to a cafe, stand around in a group and then head back, it's a pretty enough road but plagged with traffic, I always forget crowded on weekends, with everyone trying to show off and trying to prove something. That was done with when I turned south and to Arouca, there I climbed the Serra da Freita and finally about 1 or 1,5 hours after leaving home in up in the hills, or as you'd say in the UK, the mountains : Albergaria da Serra, in Serra da Freita, nearby where I used to have bbq's with friends a long time ago: Coelheira, where I once stopped with a poorly Transalp after I smashed it's water pump on a rock, and then proceeded to blast up the hill before it overheated, to then coast down the other side eventually stopping here to then figure out where I was and call for help. A lovely bucolic place, with the children's slide showing there is new life around, I was glad to see that as these villages are getting older and older, and lonelier and lonelier for the older people living there. Up here in the hills water is flowing everywhere, lovely crisp clean water in the picture above. It is called the route of rock and water for a reason. Going from Serra da Freita to Serra de São Macário, you don't need to descend but instead ride on top of each one, on the way I came across a small herd of Arouquesas, the local typical cattle that roams free to feed on the hills. Diverted from the road on a dirt road for a little, but then found it to be too rocky and heading in the wrong direction so headed back as the sun was starting to set and I wanted to see the sunset on the other side of the hill instead of being caught in darkness on a dusty trail. As I was stopping for a scenic pee a young couple in their 20s was riding down on an MT7, they were following their GPS and saw me going down that way so followed, now regretting their decision. After a short chat they headed back up, very slowly, not the ideal bike or tires for that. With that I peed in peace. A couple of kms after, with the rocky part dealt with I stopped for another view of the lovely evening light on the hills. I was now lost. I had decided to not use navigation as indeed I don't really know where the place I wanted to go through is on the map, but after the dirt road detour I go a little disorientated, an historical village sign caught my eye as the name sounded familiar from a tv program, so that's how I ended up visiting the historical Aldeia da Pena. It is located down a steep valley, the only road down and back is a delight and exactly my kind of road. Wide enough for 1,5 cars with a characterful surface and a few switchbacks with "interesting" surfaces for a road. Once there, I went for a walk along the Rua Principal (Main Street). The three open establishments there are two restaurants serving typical dished and one crafts shop selling small souvenirs made from the abundant chist. It was too late for lunch and too early for dinner, I just had a walk but will be back: Main Street: Sun was starting to set behind the hills, and temperatures dropping. iPhone struggling with the light facing the setting sun, but down below there's the village as I'm starting to head back home. I had just missed the sunset proper and never got a direct view to it from the top of the hills as it kept hiding behind the hill while I chased, but still the light was very pretty. After a stop for the customary espresso stop, as I pointed the GS for Vale de Cambra, 55km of very twisty road, from there it would be another 45 or so minutes to get home now via more boring roads. Usually this 55km stretch is a fun road to do fastish, a few sections of tight bends with no straight between them, but night descended quickly and conditions dictated some caution, still fun though. A brief stop to raise the headlight beam a little bit, and headed home. Turned out to be a nice afternoon on the bike.

That sounds weirdly specific. Are you addressing anyone in particular or is that just a random definition of what a lot of people consider rugged individualism to be?

can they?

Honda Civic hotrod is a cool idea!

Da fuck?! Dude!

Wait, there’s three of them?

It’s not nice that they announce the visit with that much time in advance, leaves you to fester on all the possibilities until then.

Stopping at a very nice supermarket before heading to a friend’s place for dinner. Dangerous place to shop, and my kind of shopping bag: cheese, prosciutto, bread, wine, whisky, and cigars

Can you see the bars when riding? I ask because whenever I take my windshield off the bike feels like it weighs half instantly and feels a lot more agile even just doing tight maneuvers exiting the house. I know it's just some kind of optical illusion but I swear I could do a better lap time on a gymkhana course with no windscreen than with it on, and it's a smaller than stock one.

So it's not replenishing itself of fuel just sitting there?

I can use that but it might have to be too shopped to fit the page and loose most of the house.

Maybe we should find a tiny space suit and put a leg of lamb in it, and try to cook that under infra red lamps for illustration purposes. That would make it easier.

Having a drink now, it’s been a tough week. Tomorrow afternoon I ‘ll be on the GS heading for the hills where I learned to ride the Transalp.

Your tomorrows are our yesterdays

There’s 5G older than that here!

No, they went to the effort to pretend to send a crane to the moon to avoid making fake tracks there. That’s commitment!

There are subways older than that here!

What’s exciting about this to me, is that there must be a Ducati racing rallies in a couple of years. That’s very cool as the Italians are already enthusiastic about the Dakar, they will fry their brains in excitement then!!!

I’ve often been, Pete. I survived and flourished the morning after as the winner, earlier and fitter to the next round than they were!