Another good day of mixed trails. The morning was fast and open, hard packed and well graded trails. I really got a shift on those, forgetting the lack of grip on the back tyre, I found you could really weight the front end and the outside peg and then power round the bends. I had to reign it in a bit when the back tyre didn't want to grip so well after awhile!!
The afternoon was at first, winding narrow sections through dwarf cork trees, meandering up and down short valleys. In the bottom, there was always a river, some short and shallow, some long and deeper. Still all were crossable today. On the tops of ridges, the wind picked up and the smell of the sea became more present. At one point, I started to get a little cross as I kept seeing the Atlantic just over the next ridge, but the trail always seemed to wind in and out, but never actually got there.
A section dropped into some really soft sand,. Luckily, a vehicle had gone before me and left two distinct and compacted lines, which was good news for me, as this section went for miles and was quite hard work in terms of maintaining a balance and the concentration needed.
This then changed into another cork forest section, that wound between ruined and abandoned houses, before disappearing altogether at one point. Once I realised it was just completely overgrown and got myself orientated, I followed the GPS line and then nearly papped my pants as I dropped through some steep thorn bushes to a washed away section. No choice but to get on with it, so with my butt cheeks definitely clenched, I rolled across a narrow washed out bit, praying the back tyre would not slide out behind me. All good and back onto hard packed sand/mud trails again. Lots of lorries used these sections so it was wide and fast.
At midday, I stopped for a coffee and got chatting to a local Portuguese lady who had visited Scotland and spoke good english. She owned the cafe and was curious about what U was doing, then made me extra strong coffee and internet access.
The day passed and I got into a place called Nova de Santo Andre. I did a bit of shopping, then looked at a map and headed off the TET to Sines. A small town with loads of energy storage, from fuel, gas etc etc. A huge port and the Atlantic crashing onto the rocks on the coast. After taking some footage and photos, I headed back to Nova and booked in to a nice hotel for the night. A small birthday treat for myself which included some nice wine and a huge room! Happy days...
