Saturday morning…7 am Martim and I are ready to explore the town of Castelo Branco and the fields surrounding the town on foot…running. He’s a triathlete, 10 years younger than me – his pace for the first 10km was at a brisk ~5min/km.
I really liked the early morning temperature. My runs in Lisbon were mostly at 5am when the air is still clear and cool. I tried one late afternoon at 33°C – it just killed me.
After 16km and an average of 5.11min/km we were back and ready for a protein shake and – for me – a bola de Berlim!
Martim and I spent the rest of the morning trying to find a mechanic that would want to work on my TWIKE … which turned out to be tricky – even with a native speaker.
Holiday time means that most of the mechanics are closed and the ones that are still open are tending to the same population as before – leaving them super busy. Every one of the mechanics told us to come again on Monday – maybe they could ‘have a look’ and then decide when and how to take care of my TWIKE.
This isn’t really an option for me – I need leave Castelo Branco Monday afternoon at the latest in order to get to Switzerland in 6 days. This means crossing entire countries!
With this, TW560 remains in the garage. Martim and his family take me along to see a few nice places and enjoy some really good food.
His kids really liked the TWIKE – I was very unhappy not to be able to take them for the usual ride around the block!
Rural Portugal is quiet, quaint and …rural. I really liked the small villages we visited. Every one of them is in some kind of need of repair or at the least in need of some love. I think, however, the state of the buildings is still at the level of shabby chic, not like many smaller rural villages in Italy where many houses are close to the point of no return. (which breaks my heart, as I have a huge soft spot for Italy)
Saturday evening’s food was another reminder to me why I should definitely explore more opportunities how to spend more time here – YUM!
Sunday morning 7am was a re-run (pun intended) of Saturday. Only difference is that being 10 years older, recovery is a totally different ballgame. 🙂
Let’s hope I can get my TWIKE repaired tomorrow and be on the road back to Switzerland by midday. Otherwise I will need to organize some kind of transport back. It’s not that I couldn’t have it repaired – I just don’t have the time to wait around as my agenda the week after the next requires me to be in Switzerland. Keeping my fingers crossed!