Yes, Dearie, the Stork Brought You and No, Dearie, Portugal Is Definitely Not Flat

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Friday, June 3 Tomar to Gaviao about 60 kilometers

Well, the first 6 kilometers today were flat And I think there were a few more flat kilometers somewhere around the middle of the day, but the rest was more of the typical Portuguese hills -- somewhere between a half kilometer to over a kilometer in length and about a 5-8% grade. Just enough to get our heart rates up in this heat and just enough to tire our elderly legs, but not so much that we feel we can’t do it. Fortunately, the roads were only lightly trafficked as they meandered through teeny, tiny towns.
We crossed the Tagus River near Abrantes after cycling through more eucalyptus forests, which smell quite nice though I usually don’t care for that odor. Stopped in a small town and got some groceries -- cereal, grapes, apples, bread, and cheese. Then stopped at an ATM for some euros; we’ve been told that our ATM cards may not work consistently in Spain so thought we should get some extra dinero (money) as we will cross the border on Sunday.
In the town of Pego, two things caught our eyes. First of all, from quite a distance, we could see two cooling towers; obviously Portugal uses some nuclear energy. Secondly, the storks. On top of pole after pole, which the town has obviously placed to keep the birds off the utility poles, were stork nests. Each nest had what appeared to be two adult storks and one or two adolescents. We had seen storks in France before, but these were a real surprise. Something to take our minds off the tiredness in our legs.
I’m not sure whether it’s our age, the fact that we have been on the road only a few days, the hills, or that we are not in a hurry, but 60 kilometers feels like 60 miles. We are quite tired after what would be just a nice ride in the States. Bill is also nursing a sore neck -- yeah, sometimes he IS a pain in the neck; today he HAS a pain in the neck.
Because this town has no campismo, we are in a cheap boarding house type place. A large old building with lots and lots of rooms, each with private bath and very antiquated furnishings. But the water is hot and the bed is hard, so we are happy. We walked into town, found a pizzeria, and gorged on salad and pizza for 10 euros. Afraid of dehydrating in this weather, we bought a large 7-Up then came back to the “hotel” and asked for some ice. (Interestingly, ice seems more available here than during our previous European trips.) The proprietor gave Bill some plastic-encased ice cubes -- sanitary but difficult to remove and not particularly eco-friendly.
Tomorrow it is on to Castel de Vide, near the border with Spain. Hopefully a fairly short day as the next day requires about 100 kilometers through rather desolate country.

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