April 26, 2013

Today was a messy day.

The route was messy because it kept changing between busy main roads to tiny, single-track lanes. As we kept turning off from one to the other we didn’t seem to be able to get into our stride.

The day got more messy when we managed to tarmac our tyres. We had just remarked that someone had made a good job of repairing a back road (they are normally full of potholes) when we turned a corner and there were the men doing it. They had just spread liquid tar right across the whole road. We had visions of tar spraying up on the undersides of the bikes, the panniers and us. So we decided the best way of getting through would be to dismount, walk along the narrow verge and push the bikes slowly along the edge of the road. We got to the other side, confident we had it all under control, got back on and rode about 200 metres before our bike tyres became so thick they started clattering against the mudguards. Grit off the road had stuck to tarmac on the tyres – we had created our own rolling road. We also discovered at this point that tarmac had stuck our feet to the pedals. It took a considerable amount of messing around with bits of stick at the side of the road to remove the worst of it – the rest will have to wear off on its own.

The third messy event of the day occurred when I went to answer a call of nature at the side of the road behind a bush and emerged looking like a porcupine. The grass was full of seeds that had stuck in my shoes, socks, cycling shorts and other places – thousands of them. They were the type that only go one way – inwards. So I spent the rest of the day trying to extract them from the various hidden places they managed to work their way into.

The one good thing about the day was that as we pulled into Nisa, the first thing we saw was a ‘Residencia’, the Portuguese equivalent of a hostal in Spain (the nearest equivalent in the UK would be a pub with accommodation). A nice soft bed for the night after three nights of camping – luxury!