Wow, wow, wow ... one of my best days cycling in a long while. The rain was gone, although it wasn't sunny or particularly warm.
The roads were grimey, full of the debris washed onto them during the last 3 days and after 3 miles I realised, not only had my chain picked up the dirt, but also tge rain had washed all the oil out and so it was making an awful creaky drone.
I stopped and did a quick roadside clean and lube.
I cycled off towards Ponte de Lima. smoothe and silent !
At Ponte de Lima I crossed the old bridge, there was a pretty church to Saint Anthony, there was also a statue in the river of a horseback warrior, the town goes back to the 12th century and the bridge over the Lima river looked great.
On the other side a large market was in full swing making it difficult to get through the cobbled streets.
Next I stopped at Ponte de Barca where hardly surprisingly anothe bridge crossed the river. I had lunch in a cafe and set off, stopping at Touvedo where the river is dammed, and I do like a good dam !
From here I had a 1400ft climb up to Lindoso where the river is once again dammed creating a huge lake upstream.
The climb was beautiful, the gradient was steady at about 4-5% and the coutryside just kept getting better abd better. I stopped at Compostela to get the views and an old tractor, then two woman went past carrying a huge load of forraged veg.
Near Aceredo there was a viewpoint which offered great views up the river where a bridge crossed down below, there was also an old stone structure.
Before I knew it I was in Lobios, tge climb was effortless, like driving a car !
Lobios is really ancient and I went for a wander and took far too many photos of a former way of life ... beautiful.
I had passed into Spain, the last 5 miles as my original plan in Portugal looked like other than the guest house, there may have been nothing open in town. So I've just crossed the border, givibg me a quick opportunity to get back into Portugal in the morning via the Peneda- Geres nation park.