Day 21: Évora to Santiago do Cacém. 66 miles. 2915 feet of climbing. Another hot one!

Getting ready to ride this morning as we leave Évora.  Notice the cobblestones.  The entire downtown area is cobbled.  Made for some extremely bumpy riding both last night as well as this morning.

bon Dia from Santiago do Cacém.

More of the farmlands we rode through this morning and afternoon.

It was another hot day.  We were able to got out on the road early to avoid the major heat of the day, but it was still another hot one.

In St. Jean de Luz in southern France, there were only three accent colors people were allowed to paint their houses.  As we rode through some of the small towns during today's ride, I saw a similar pattern.  All the houses (and many buildings) were white with an accent trim color around the windows, the doorways and the bases of the buildings.  Above are some of the color choices.

The day started off at a very fast pace.  We all left together and rode on some very nice roads (well paved, but still no shoulders) there were --- wait for it --- flat!  The first time in days we've not started out with rolling hills.

We've been riding by churches with nests on their steeples throughout this journey.  Today, for the first time, we actually saw some inhabitants of those nests. 

Each day we've been asking ourselves, "what state in the US do the areas we're riding through remind us of?"  Mainly, the answers have been Utah, Texas or Colorado.  But, for the past three days, even with the olive and almond groves, the answer has been Missouri or, as people who've ridden across that state would say, "Misery."  Missouri is known for it's "rollers," short, steep rolling hills that come one right after another.  Much of what we've ridden through in Portugal has been very reminiscent of Missouri's rollers.  However, this morning's first 15 miles was a respite from that.

A study in contrasts.  This morning, we left a modern, very nice 4-star hotel in Évora.  This afternoon, we checked into a very delightful, 2-star Pensione, with very nice hosts.  They don't speak English.  We speak very little Portuguese.  Yet, somehow, we're able to communicate.  That's been one of wonderful experiences on this trip...connecting with people.

The second half of the day was nearly all uphill.  Right to the very end.  Uphill.  We rode past a rice paddy, hung a right turn and started the remaining 20 miles of the day's ride with a sustained 16% climb up the side of a mountain.  Fortunately, the gradient got better the higher we climbed.  But it kept going up!

For the first time since leaving France, we had some shade in the morning.  The trees were growing right alongside the road and provided some very appreciated cover from the sun during the morning.  And, for some reason that none of us can figure (other than speculation that we've been riding through fields of wild fennel), there has been an intermittent smile of licorice in the air.

And, once again, we'd be in real trouble were it not for Jesse and his scheduled and unscheduled SAG stops along the route. Just knowing he's on the road, whether we need his help or not, has been so reassuring to everyone.  And, when he's there with a bottle of fresh water to refill our empties, that's even more reason to celebrate is presence on a day like today.