Final day's commute from Portugal to the start of our TET adventures in the Picos mountains in Spain.
Last night the talk was whether to bin off the rest of the N2 route up to Chaves as the most direct route then from Chaves in Portugal to Pomferrada in Spain was still an additional 3.5hr A-Road blast so finishing the entire N2 was going to result in another very long day on roads in the saddle. We'd already experienced great roads on the N2 up to now so we decided to sleep on it and see how we felt in the morning (although tbh I think we were all thinking this was probably the best plan to get us to the 3rd and final part of our adventure, the Picos TET)
We had a lovely breakfast at the Douro Cister hotel in the Douro Valley wine region of Portugal. A relaxed morning departing the hotel by 10:30 cos we'd decided to bin off the N2 in favour of getting to Pomferrada.
Not too much to tell regards today's riding itself but the journey always creates stories to tell.
We passed a fuel station in the small town shortly after leaving the hotel so despite having half tanks we decided to fill up. We left and no further than 1mile later and Jules had a rear puncture (11:03). FFS! But we're pros and by 11:28 we were on our way again.
We hit the motorway, the A24 - which in this country is only two lanes wide as there's bugger all traffic! We passed a huge dam (I goggled pictures) and the hills on the valleys beyond were covered with vine yards, every patch of land was a vineyard. #Dourovalley
We also crossed some huge viaducts over the valleys.
On a downward section of the motorway I heard some raucous car on the opposite carriageway and looking over my shoulder I saw the rear bodywork of something like a Ferrari (F50 I think cos I'm a bit of a car nerd so recognise the model by the shape of the cars). Then we saw a barrage of other supercars obviously on something like a Gumball Rally - lots of Lamborghini Hurricans, Porsches, Ferrari 812's, Aston Martins. Amazing. I gave a wave and saw some flashing headlights back (before the road split in elevation and I could no longer ser the incoming traffic
We pressed on but the temperature started to drop and despite readiing 21 degrees on the bike I was cold, as were others, so we pulled over into the layby to don our jackets. A GDR police vehicle pulled into the layby shortly after to check if everything was okay, which was nice. I said we were just pulling over to put our jackets on so he went in his way.
A quick stop at the service station for a sandwich and a coffee (5, bargain!) and we set off again, not too far to go now.
We crossed the border into Spain - an uneventful affair aside a big blue sign then onwards to Pomferrada.
We shortly veered off the A-road into a more twisty B-road which was fun and this brought us all rhe way into Pomferrada (60km it was)
We stopped at a cafe for coffee and snacks then looked for a hotel for the night. We found the Hotel Ciudad Pomferrada which was just down the road. Twin rooms, secure underground parking with brekkie so we headed there and booked in (we tried getting a discount direct with the hotel direct over the Booking.com price but on this occasion the prices were identical)
Bikes unloaded, shower's had and a quick beer in the bar and it was dinner time so a quick Google search found a local restaurant 2mins walk from the hotel.
It was busy - go where the crowds are as the saying goes - so we got a table and had a lovely meal with some shared Tapas to start then a variety of burgers for mains.
Pleasantly full with food and a few beers we headed back to the hotel for bed. Roll on the TET tomorrow and some more trail riding. Whoop whoop
