78km Escalhão to Algozinho

A dam on the Douro, near Freixo de Espada a CintaPoppies and a bridge over the DouroWe were slowly pedalling our way up a windy stretch of road, with olive trees and vineyards all around us, the sun beating down on our heads and a view of the Douro River far below, at the bottom of the steep banks separating Spain and Portugal. “Hi,” said a voice from out of nowhere and, unexpectedly, in English. Very few people in the last few weeks have spoken in English to us. Normally we find ourselves muddling through in Portuguese, comparing our knowledge of French words with what we are hearing and trying to work out the general message. “Hello,” we said back, without really knowing who we were talking to. We turned our heads to the left and there, a few feet up in a sloping field of almond trees stood a slight, short man working his land, dressed in farmer’s overalls. He continued speaking to us in English, with a Portuguese accent but also with something very familiar in his voice. “Geez, how do you guys stand it? I mean, climbing a hill like this. Do you train or something, eh?” It was the last word – not even a word, more of an inflection – that gave it away.

Only people from one part of the world talk like that. “How come you speak such good English,” we asked, our suspicions already formed in our minds. His response confirmed it. Our man had lived in Canada for a few years – Chatham, Ontario – before deciding that the Portuguese mountains were more appealing than the Canadian winters. “It’s the pace of life. It’s more relaxed here, eh,” he told us. He threw us down a green almond to eat (yes, you can eat green almond nuts and they’re not bad at all, if a bit sour) and explained how he also had plots of olive trees and grew grapes for making the fortified Port wine that the region is famous for. “I go up the hill every day to my parents’ house for lunch. Maybe I’ll see you later,” he added as we waved goodbye and continued our climb towards the town of Freixo de Espada à Cinta.

Andrew in Freixo de Espada a CintaThere we found a sleepy little town with lots of shady squares, perfect for a long lunch. With the temperatures well above 20˚C and the sun burning away in a clear blue sky it’s important that we take at least a couple hours off before starting again in the afternoon. We didn’t hit the road again until long after midday but we still found it hard going and progressed slowly over the series of hills. Life got more interesting again towards the end of the day as we forked off the main road and towards a series of tiny villages.

Approaching Vilarinho dos Galegos we took a break at the crossroads while a car pulled up and the driver rolled down his window. “You are, how you say,” he said, stopping to look at a woman in the passenger’s seat before turning back to us: “Perdu?” “No, not at all. Just taking a break,” we said, repeating in French as we weren’t sure which he understood better. “Ah, good. You are the GPS then!” he shouted inexplicably before driving off the way he’d come from. It seemed to us that maybe he was the one who was lost.

Just a few seconds later a white van screeched to a halt next to us and a young woman, maybe in her mid-twenties, started to talk to us. After determining we didn’t speak Portuguese, she said excitedly in English: “You want to come see my donkies??” Who could refuse an invitation like that? “Sure!” we said, not quite sure what we were getting into. She started to explain how she was part of a group trying to save a type of donkey in danger of going extinct and they had a sanctuary we could visit and maybe afterwards we could come share some wine with her family because they loved adventurers like us so we were very welcome. If that sentence seems long, that was about how she was talking, very quickly and without taking a breath! She circled the town on the map and said just to go to the church and look for the donkeys. Sounds like an adventure so that is tomorrow taken care of. After all this excitement we thought we’d better find a place to camp so just down the road we found a disused field and tucked ourselves into the back of it for a quiet night ahead.

Comments

  1. andrew
    17th April 2007 at 6:47 pm #

    What we spent: €7.50 groceries, €1.60 coffee

  2. hotshot bald cop
    25th April 2022 at 11:15 pm #

    Wonderful views on that!

  3. marizonilogert
    10th October 2022 at 8:51 am #

    Throughout this awesome design of things you’ll get an A+ with regard to effort and hard work. Where you confused us was first in the details. You know, they say, details make or break the argument.. And that could not be more accurate at this point. Having said that, permit me inform you what did work. Your writing is definitely incredibly persuasive which is possibly why I am taking an effort to comment. I do not make it a regular habit of doing that. Second, despite the fact that I can see a leaps in reasoning you come up with, I am not really sure of just how you appear to connect the points which in turn help to make your conclusion. For the moment I will, no doubt yield to your point but trust in the near future you actually link the dots much better.

  4. retiro de yoga e meditação
    5th November 2022 at 12:45 pm #

    Regards for this post, I am a big fan of this site would like to continue updated.

  5. entrenadores personales valencia
    21st November 2022 at 1:09 pm #

    You got a very great website, Sword lily I detected it through yahoo.

  6. acheter du malegra dxt 130 mg
    1st December 2022 at 5:00 pm #

    comment2, acheter du felodipine en ligne, zzty,

  7. ExhahTaks
    10th December 2022 at 9:33 am #

    cialis no prescription Furthermore, Ifi202 mRNA levels were detectable in splenic cells of wild type Esr1, but not null Esr1, NZB NZW F 1 female mice

  8. y2mate
    7th June 2023 at 2:51 am #

    985313 109517wonderful post. Neer knew this, thanks for letting me know. 132574

  9. kd 13
    14th September 2023 at 2:45 pm #

    It抯 arduous to search out knowledgeable folks on this subject, but you sound like you realize what you抮e talking about! Thanks

Leave a Reply to johnanz Click here to cancel reply.