We rode up the road that I rode down yesterday as my extension and along the way, we passed many nests of these large birds that looked and flew like herons. Our driver didn't appear to speak any English but Mary Clare had learned enough Portuguese to ask him a couple of questions. Very cool.
He slowed down to point out these nests that were built on top of power line posts but I got a much better picture of a nest in a tree that was closer.
If you look closely, you can see some specks below the nest. The area is fall of swallows and they built their own nests in the bottom of these monstrous nests.
Our ride began in Minas, a town built on open-pit copper mining. Our guide from yesterday, Fernando, met us there and took us on a walk to the mine. What is interesting about these pictures is that the mine has been around since Roman times. I don't remember the details because I had started a conversation with Alan who is an orthopedic surgeon and very approachable guy. He basically gave me a free consult about knee replacements and that was much more interesting to me than freezing my butt off looking at a hole in the ground. (Bottom line: I don't think I need a knee replacement anytime soon.)
Here's the open pit with contaminated water.
We finally got started with a climb. It was chilly and overcast again.
The ride ended with a long and steep descent in Pomarao, a town on the border of Portugal and Spain. Since we were there ahead of when the restaurant was expecting us for lunch, we continued across the river and into Spain.
We climbed about three kilometers until the road looked like it would start going downhill. Since Mike got to the top first, he took this picture of me huffing and puffing up the hill.
The descent into Portugal was a little anti-climatic because we had a pretty stiff headwind.
Here's the link to the morning ride using Walter's strava post: https://www.strava.com/activities/1612316940
Here's the link to the ride using my Ride with GPS post: https://ridewithgps.com/trips/23821025
Lunch was at another small family restaurant and they had us at a long table under some greenery and overlooking the river. Here's the table to my right.
Here's the table to my left.
Today's lunch was family style which meant we could take as much or as little as we wanted. The food was more traditionally Portuguese than the day before and much more digestible. That said, those of us who were riding after lunch took it easy on the food.
Most of the group chose to take a boat ride back to the hotel. While the water was calm, I still thought it would be better idea to ride back instead of taking the boat ride and five of us chose that option. While the ride to the lunch stop finished with a one kilometer descent, that meant that our start included a one kilometer climb on a full stomach and cold and stiff legs.
Our group included another Jeff who rode 13,000 miles last year. He is retired and as he said, riding a bike is now his job. He is a very strong rider. We were also joined by Alan, my new orthopedic surgeon. We didn't really know what kind of rider he was since his wife was with him on the trip but he kept up just fine. A few times Jeff dropped back to pull him up. That says more about Jeff than it does about Alan. Mike, Walter and I rounded out the group.
I didn't feel nearly as uncomfortable as the day before in part because the food was lighter but also because I made a point to eat less. Anyone who knows me knows how difficult that was.
The ride back was fabulous but hard. We finished the descent into Mertola on the same road I rode the day before as a group of four. I have video of the descent but it will take a while before it is ready.
Mike and Jeff went out to ride some more.
Here's the link to Walter's strava post for the afternoon ride: https://www.strava.com/activities/1612316940
Here's the link to my Ride with GPS post: https://ridewithgps.com/trips/23823799
And here is my strava link for the whole day: https://www.strava.com/activities/1612190996
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