Meeting non humans on the countryside and getting salt on my bike

[Pedro]

At lunch time I left to pick up a replacement part for my brother's car, it was only a 80km ride on the main road to get there, on the way back I decided to ride through one of the nicest "serras" in this area, "Serra d'Aires e Candeeiros"

A brief stop at Porto de Mós, just for a picture of a pretty castle while not really going into the town:

 

 

This is an incredibly rocky area, the fields are divided using just rocks off the floor, it's amazing the number of small walls and fields. Took a little path out of the road and stopped to say hello to some very friendly cows

 

 

Carrying on, this is a true maze of small paths around the fields, made my way back to the road

 

I like simple flowers

 

 

Stopped to check where I was and this lonely dude came by for a nose rub

 

 

Got off the road again and stopped by this very pretty but weird and sad landscape. This area was all burned a little while ago, maybe last year, and the color of the moss growing really struck me, I don't think the camera made it justice.

 

 

 

Stopped for something specially for Pete, there are lots and lots of old falling apart windmills in this area, these were pretty

 

Even though this are tall hills, you can still see the ocean quite close by, I think this is a pretty cool area. Very cloudy today, the ocean is there though ...

 

 

Now, coming back home stopped by Rio Maior to get some salt straight from the salt mines. There is a underground stream that crosses a salt mine so the water comes to the surface with a very high concentration of it. The salt they get here is more powerful than usual sea salt is, and I like this salt flower on salads and overall cooking

 

It was a pretty nice afternoon.

[XTreme]

That's an absolutely stunning area Pedro......it's got everything.

And the quality of the pics is exceptional.

[boboneleg]

For a short ride you packed a fair bit in there Pedro, some lovely vistas.

These cows look like Jersey's to me..........

[Sofia]

Hope you bought extra salt

[Grasshopper]

Fun ride report!  The photos are lovely and the cows are awesome, love the cows.  

Such beautiful countryside to ride through. 

Remember those shots later, for the March BOTM! 

[Pedro]

9 minutes ago, Grasshopper's Ride said:

Fun ride report!  The photos are lovely and the cows are awesome, love the cows.  

Such beautiful countryside to ride through. 

Remember those shots later, for the March BOTM! 

I loved the cows too, that first one was such a sweetie. I ate no meat for dinner, can't eat meat after petting a cow. 

 

2 hours ago, Sofia said:

Hope you bought extra salt

I did, for you and my neighbours, they like their salt.

 

2 hours ago, boboneleg said:

For a short ride you packed a fair bit in there Pedro, some lovely vistas.

These cows look like Jersey's to me..........

@Sofia is the authority on cows as far as I'm concerned. I talk to them but they never talk back.

 

 

2 hours ago, XTreme said:

That's an absolutely stunning area Pedro......it's got everything.

And the quality of the pics is exceptional.

This area is like that, you ride one hour one way and on the way back you spend 3 hours to ride the way back if you take the scenic route and take pictures. Takes forever to do 200km.

[Sofia]

3 hours ago, boboneleg said:

For a short ride you packed a fair bit in there Pedro, some lovely vistas.

These cows look like Jersey's to me..........

Limousine cross with local breed. They look similar to Jerseys, thats true, but these are  beef cattle. 

[Sofia]

1 hour ago, Pedro said:

I loved the cows too, that first one was such a sweetie. I ate no meat for dinner, can't eat meat after petting a cow. 

 

I did, for you and my neighbours, they like their salt.

Good thing you have big luggage for so much salt!! Love that salt! 

1 hour ago, Pedro said:

 

@Sofia is the authority on cows as far as I'm concerned. I talk to them but they never talk back.

 

 

This area is like that, you ride one hour one way and on the way back you spend 3 hours to ride the way back if you take the scenic route and take pictures. Takes forever to do 200km.