Scrambled Eggs, Big Hills and Little Things

Day 14: Vila Nova de Foz Côa to Vila de Ala (54 Miles / 5,300 ft.)

On our fifth big bicycle tour, we finally reached an important milestone: we made scrambled eggs for breakfast.

We rolled out around 8:30 into a sunny 58-degree morning. For once, the day began with a screaming two-mile descent, the cold air rushing over us. Of course, Portugal soon presented the bill and sent us climbing again.

Part of our route followed the Ecopista do Sabor, built on the old narrow-gauge railway that once connected Pocinho with northeastern Portugal before closing in 1988. The smooth grade gave us enormous views over the Douro and toward the Sabor Valley. Vineyards and thousands of olive trees covered hillsides that looked too dry and rocky to support anything. The fractured schist actually allows roots to reach moisture deep below the surface, helping grapes and olives survive in one of Portugal’s hottest and driest regions.

Just after joining the trail, we encountered a large group of goats and sheep blocking our path. A local farmer was tending them with the help of four dogs. It is always fun to stumble across something like that, although there is also that slightly nervous moment when you wonder how the dogs will react to two strange cyclists passing through.

Most of the day was simply riding through massive, nearly empty hills. A gas station appeared at just the right time, providing cold Cokes, an apple turnover, and a ham-and-cheese pastry.

In Mogadouro, we split a dürüm kebab, the kind wrapped in thin flatbread, along with fries and more cold drinks. The owner’s daughter came over from a nearby house to help translate. Her father’s pride as she confidently used her English required no translation.

We finished in Vila de Ala, a village so quiet that we had not seen another person by evening. Álvaro, a young lawyer from Spain and friend of the owner, helped us through the check-in process. The owner, Odette, is a retired geography teacher who could not have been nicer and had cold drinks waiting for us. Our accommodations and swimming pool were completely ours. The church next door rings every 15 minutes, which for now we are calling charming.

The landscapes were huge today, but the little things stayed with us: a friendly toot of a horn, a wave between bicycle travelers, a gas-station worker joking that “they” are usually wrong about the internet weather forecast, a cashier checking our eggs for cracks, and a grandmother making silly noises for her tiny granddaughter.

Cultures can appear completely different, but these small moments feel familiar everywhere. Kindness rarely needs much translation.Read more