Abrantas to Evora

It’s the longest day of the trip today with 90 miles riding to do so we’re down for breakfast at 7 am and plan to get away by 8.

We leave on time but as we make our way out of town, John’s tyre blows. Luckily for him I’m just behind and can pull in to assist.

All the lads now use these special tyres that have silicon inside that repairs a puncture as they happen. You still need to reflate the tyre of course.

This is a new one on me so don’t ask me how it works exactly. Anyway, it is not working this time for John, maybe he didn’t top up the silicon, who knows but he’s now out of action and has to jump in the van to the next stop.

He has a normal tyre and innertube that he can use so he’ll get going again after Montargil.

We push on for a mile or so and come to a railway crossing and the lights are on red so we obviously stop. A bus comes up behind and starts beeping. What the heck, I ain’t moving and getting splattered by an express train!

Once the train has passed we move on but the bus keeps beeping so something must be up and we pull over. Sure enough John hadn’t closed the backdoor properly when he put his bike in. Doh! Driving off with a van door open has been a regular sin of mine over the years but this one’s on Johnny!

We push on and overtake the lads and head to Montargil stopping for photos on the way. The route has a couple of bumps but is largely long flattish straights stretching out into the distance.

There’s a headwind so the lads ride in a peleton style together. Coxy puts in the hard yards on the front until the other lads spot John with the camera, then they put a spurt on to grab the glory shot! Out of order again, Marty!

We soon reach the lake at Montargil and stop to wait for the lads. It’s another lovely spot as you’ll see from the pic below.

A good chance for John to sort that tyre you’d think. But he’s wandered off with the camera and it looks like he’s taking pictures of birds and insects to me. I think he’s at it…

Once the lads catch up we find a cafe for some coffee, cake and ice-cream.

The next stage is from here to Montemor where we’ll leave the N2 and take a detour to our final destination in Evora. Montemor will also be our lunch stop.

The road to Montemor is similar to before with long undulating straights and the odd small climb and John and I get there in no time and find a spot for lunch at the side of the N2.

Another good chance for John to sort that tyre you’d think. But again, he’s wandered off. There might be a better cafe round the corner he says and disappears… He’s definitely at it!

The lads arrive not long after and have lunch in the cafe. Before leaving Coxy has to do some running repairs on Gibbo’s gears.

The last section is the detour to Evora. It’s about 20 miles and again, mainly flat so John and I head straight to the hotel.

We arrive in about 25 minutes. Now he decides to fix his tyre! And guess what!… He finds the silicon thing has worked. He just has to pump the tyre up!

He’s been at it the whole ride!! He’s gonna get some stick later…

The lads arrive as we’re checking in and are soon sorted. We’ll head into town later and explore Evora which is a historical walled city, with roman walls and other cultural stuff.

Of course you all know we won’t get past the first bar!