Welcome Letter, New Doctor

DAY 4 MARCH 2011. TRANSPORTUGAL

DAY 3. CASTELO DE VIDE - CAMPO MAIOR - ELVAS - ALANDROAL. 270KMS

Well rested and with the tank top, started the third day covering the end of the track the day before I had left in the inkwell. The route snaked haphazardly and taking away from due south, seemed to be heading inexorably towards another village located on top of a cliff crowned by a castle, Marvao. After a few detours, I started to climb a difficult traffic lane except for off-road motorcycles,

and along said alley got to finish the climb to the very castle Marvao. The track suggested that the decline began at a dead end, which passed just ahead of the Republican Guard headquarters and also had a no trespassing sign except to residents. As there was nobody at the door of the barracks, I decided to make that gamble and throw down the street for a carefully paved road, steep and full of paella charged, a Roman:

I turned off the engine to pass unnoticed as possible, and quietly,




I reached the next town, San Salvador de Aramenha.

followed fairly straight tracks, and a left-hander, surprisingly the track forced me to go down the bed of a creek surrounded by vegetation.

I interned there with little more confidence. After a while of moving between puddles and bushes I came across a shepherd who made me understand that I was on the correct path. Soon I was climbing down first and then by mountain trails, crossing the Sierra de San Mamede.

Transit through that saw me shortly. Then I descended to the plains of what was to become in some way, crossing the desert: vast fields of Upper and Lower Alentejo. Esperança shortly after the problems started, cut a road sign at the beginning of a long line made me expect the worst. Surely some closed and barred the entry of some great "Herdade" but no, the water was what stopped me:

Find alternatives, but it was then that I found well-protected private land. Esperança had to back up and linked by road until Arronches,

and then to Campo Maior, watering holes, I returned to the track, and I checked with amazement pass saddlebag that rocked more than usual. One of the hardware was broken, and, though thankfully was fairly well supported in a recess of the subframe had to be repaired immediately.

emergency A priest with a spare belt momentarily solved the problem, but once arrived at Elvas, a moderately large city, I decided to look a tinkerer. The truth is that I found a body and paint shop as you walk in Elvas, and even here I could not repair, I went to the right place. As it was noon had not yet opened, so I tried to buy time to dismantle the whole rumpus until I got the artist and I rebuilt the rack:

He made me wait for an hour as he came home to eat, I suppose, but I solved the problem

and they do not charge anything I wanted.

More happy than Easter for the treatment and rapid problem solving, Elvas shotgun went in search of the Guadiana between fields.

I went for a gruesome way, with a shot of tractor so high that was dragging the bags about petrified mud ridges. Thought that such a path was impassable even for a 4X4, and that the landowner kept the way for no one dared get in his farm. And so it should be, because after a few hundred meters tractor that tilled the field next to me was, swerved from their place of slaughter and came to me, to say with gestures to turn around, the road was closed over forward. No mood to discuss, I was ready to make a U-turn, a task that took me a long time, for the plateau that separated the two ruts were so high that the bike was locked with a two-wheel or high (! !).

again touched back down. The following attempt to reach the Guadiana was similarly unsuccessful. A pastor and told me that going straight into the water and there was no way to continue along the shore. Another setback. The third attempt in the same direction promised more

but as abanzaba along the shore, the water level going down the road.

overcame a couple of flooded areas, but there came a time when the track was interned in a corral, where dozens of cows swirled, right where the door seemed to allow me to move on. From afar I saw it closed, and when I tried to approach the wall of cattle became even more impressive, so not wanting to get to deal with those critters, I went back one more time. Between failures and setbacks seemed that this would be my black day.

as I stepped back almost to Elvas and resumed heading south. Evening fell, and on temperature. Connect to the track shortly before Rosario, this time not by penetrating fields, pastures but similar to the previous day:

progressing at a rather slow pace, stopping to open and close many gates,

and when I knew it was that the track and followed a zigzag course and almost among countless meaningless farms, it was almost night. I decided to stray from the path that led into the GPS and, through a fenced adventure, join the nearest road. The risk lay in meet any locked door or chain, but still, I decided to venture out, looking for the straightest line I returned to civilization, through places like this:

Finally, after long minutes of tension, as in darkness, left the pavement and after a few miles to the south, appeared on Capelins. From there to the gas station in Terena, where I recommended approach to Alandroal, another city with castle, to find accommodation. The third was a bad day, no doubt.