Gondesende

So here's a quick summary of today in numbers:
- Kilometers travelled: 260 (I was diligent on following TET today and it was mostly offroad)
- Time on the bike: 10h (including the 1h coffee break when spirits were down)
- Spanish/Portuguese border crossings: 13 (the track goes along the border)
- Number of switchbacks: countless
- Number of times I had to turn back: 2 (Due to the rains, the water levels were high and I just did not feel safe doing two water crossings by myself. That's another good thing if you ride with friends, one can be a lot braver in such situations which often make great stories as well.)
- Min temperature: 6 degrees C
- Max temperature: 14 degrees C
- Max elevation: 1527m (could not see the end of my nose as per photo attached)

Overall, it was an emotional rollercoaster day. It did end well though. It started with a cloudy but dry morning on a beatiful camping spot. It was a bird and owl extravaganza since early morning. Then, the wind picked up which was in a way good cause the tent dried quickly. Clouds started closing in and it became foggy. The tracks were damp and it was extremely foggy up in the mountains. I got more wet by the fog than the rains. I stopped at the next village a bit lower for a coffee and a battle plan. I figured I should just camp nearby as tomorrow will be a sunny day (how many times have I heard myself say that recently???) and I don't want to miss the views. But when I arrived to what seemed like a great camping spot on Google Earth, it was really windy again and cold. Plan B. I booked a little cabin further down and continued with the track. As it was not as high up in the mountains the fog was gone and the track was not as damp as I would have thought considering the last few days of rain. So the second half of the day was fast & fun tracks, no rain and I made it to a cute little camping village with my own cabana.

An assortment of Portuguese salami, some wine and all's well that ends well. Aparently I even get a goodnight story written by Dora herself!Read more