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Mourao, my stay
Yesterday I cycled from Moura to Mourao and I was in the lake district almost all day.
Mourao is in the middle of it and this area is absolutely beautiful.
I had seen two spots for wildcamping close to Mourao but I was not really confident since I would be noticed there all days by many people. So I had cycled to the Bombeiros Voluntarios de Mourao.
I asked to be hosted, was presented to the commandant and he did not hesitate. There was a place available in the big sportinghall where I could stay. And I could use the showers plus the kitchen, including the fridges. Thank you 💯 !
I had the complete hall plus ofcourse the podium all for myself 🏆. The competition didn't show up, I guess I frightened them.
Here you have a look at and in the firefighters station. The tower is multifunctional. It is used to hang the waterhoses to have their insides to dry. Which was very important when they were made of natural rubber. Drying them was quite critical in the days that rubber was used. The tower is also used for practicing, ie how to enter buildings and conquer stairways. And ofcourse the antennas are build upon it.
Mourao is a nice, small town where life is tranquille. There are about 3200 people living here. In the mornings I walked over to a cafe for some good coffee and a tostada (toasted slice of bread) or sandes (sandwich). And in the evenings I returned there to enjoy some tapas and a small beer outside in the nice garden. Unfortunately most people smoke and that garden is surrounded by 2 meter high walls. They "store" the smoke and several times I had to change tables because of that, I even had to leave twice.
In the Netherlands about 20,000 people per year die by smoking-related cancer. Where not all of them were smoking themselfs ... About 500 die in traffic accidents. So ofcourse the (un)safety of the traffic is discussed 🙈.
The sunday afternoon I even could watch the MotoGP-race, including nr 46 Valentino Rossi. The MotoGP and Superbike races are actually the only tv items I miss, all the rest I don't care about.
I was allowed to use the bombeiros cleaningroom to wash the OnTheRoad 4.0 🖱️. That had been done a very long time ago, I can't even remember when. However, the bike actually never gets dirty since it has no oily chain and sprockets and no rimbrakes.
One evening there was a discoparty next to the bombeiros station. Attracted by the music I walked over there and had a nice evening. Including grilled sardines and good beer 🍺.
The castle of Mourao. This first picture makes clear how huge those walls are ! But I could not visit it since it was closed for renovationworks. And that is no problem actually since there is nothing left to see inside those walls, then it is just empty, except for some trees.
The beautiful beach close to Mourao.
And the beautiful Primavera statue there. But She deserves a better spot where She gets all attention She deserves.