I had a choice today, to either do a pretty easy 30 mile ride or a difficult 70 mile ride which would include another dive into and out of the Douro Valley .... I chose the latter, hoping my body will have recharged from yesterday's efforts.
I was heading south towards the Douro as I left Mogadouro and the usual climbs and drops followed for the first 10 miles until I reeached the top of the hill after Castelo Branco sfter which I had about 12 miles on a plateau going slightly uphill and into a headwind which always seems to happen on plains - you mever get the tailwind !
Before Lagoaca as I fought the wind, a large number of pylons lead to a huge array of electrical transformers. I knew instantly, because I have ridden the Spanish side of the Douro past Aldeadavila where the huge dams and hydro-electric power stations are.
The Power must also be fed into the Portuguese grid. I was at about 2500ft and from Mazuoco after 22miles the Big Drop into the Douro started, I would lose over 2000 ft of elevation in the next 18 miles. Before descending into Freixe de Espada a Cinta there was a miradour with a swing and the town name in big white letters. From Freixe I was soon in the Douro, I passed the mighty Saucelle dam and pass, both of which I have previously cycled. The next 9 miles along the banks of the Douro are beautiful and brings you to Barca da Alva, which is a tiny, but very pretty village, it has a bridge across the river and the road leaves the Douro for good at this point. The old railway line runs through the village and continues across an old abandoned bridge over the river Agueda which runs into the Douro at barca da Alva. it is long since gone but the twin rivers and bridges make the village look great. This is also as far as the cruise ships go up the Douro and I imagine in Summer the village gets swamped. I had been twice before and stopped for lunch in my favourite little cafe where the couple running it really give me a hard time with my Portugiese but I always get there. Today I had the Feijuada, which is a pork belly broth with lots of beans and rice.
Belly full I was ready to climb back out of the Douro, a 1600ft climb straight up to Escalhao folllowed, I pretty much broke it down into 200ft parts and before I knew it I was up, I was following the Agueda on the Portugiese side and the views down into the Douro just kept getting better and better until evetually the road turned away.
From Escalhao, I still had a difficult 22 miles to go with a further 400 ft to climb and still into that headwind all the way, so it was quite a weary but dogged arrival into Almeida just in time to see the Toon being knocked out of the FA Cup,
Almeida is a great looking town from the air, it is an old fortress built inside massive 30 feet thick walls with the whole town surrounded by a star shape Citadel of double walls.
I will be giving myself an easier ride tomorrow and intend to have a closer look at the Inner town tomorrow morning before I head off.