Day 32 – to Montesinho

No mountains this morning. Or at least no evidence of any. They may have been lurking behind the cloud, but it wasn’t the sort of day to go looking. 4C – light drizzle.

I wandered to the cafe in the village for coffee, as has become habit, then after filling up with water we were off. It had been memorable visit.

An hour into Chaves and the business I had to attend to; drop the bike off at Tutti Bike, an Orbea specialist, put the laundry into the machine, and as much of a supermarket stock-up as possible with my limited memory. The service in all the places was excellent.

Fortunately the bike shop owner spoke Spanish, and I could understand most of what he was saying about the bike. I’ve visited many bike shops on my various courses overseas, and I have always had attentive service at what seems an imcredibly cheap price. I wanted cables tightening. I was going to administer sealant to the tubeless tyres myself, but I’ve done it before, and I make a huge mess, so asked the guy to do it. In addition he did a few tidy ups for me, at a cost of 40 euros.

By the time I got back to the laundry the woman there had fed my clothes through the dryer and folded them, for the second time ever..

I drove on east into Montesinho National Park and around some quiet and spectacular roads, with the cloud now having lifted, but still no sun.

I’m back up at 1000 metres just outside the village of Montesinho, by a derelict property.

This is a smaller National Park with not so much on offer to the hiker, or cyclist, but it’s on my way, so makes for a convenient stopover. And there looks like a good hike tomorrow.

We walked into the village for a nose around. It’s quieter even here than it was in Pitões. It is smaller, but has more smart new development based around tourism, though the season looks a way off at the moment.