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Cycling from Senhor da Serra to I left Senhor da Serra and the plan is still the original one namely to cycle to Góis and while on my way over there to have a look (and maybe a stay) in Lousa. At least the first part of todays track would have quite a normal heightprofil. A ✅ downhill into the valley and then some distance that would not be ✅ to difficult to cycle.
In the first village Nossa Senhora de Fatima was wishing me luck. That is, she did not show 🙃 any attention to help me uphill.
I cycled into the valley where I had an easy and nice time. These tiles were at the garage of a nice house. I turned to make this 👍 picture.
It is always a good sign if the place you are heading for is not at the signs ! It means you are cycling the most interesting roads. Or the most demanding 😄. Or both. As long as you are sure you are (still) in the right country 😁 there is nothing to worry about.
While climbing out of this valley I had a last view at Senhor da Serra.
It was a pleasure to cycle here since there was hardly any traffic and the hills were not all too steep. I took a 15mins brake in a very small village were nothing was moving.
And after some more hills Lousa came already in sight. I had decided to see if I could make a shortstay here of ie one day/two nights to explore the town. Why hurry ?!
So I freewheeled down into Lousa and halfway the hill I passed a young guy walking. I realised (😎 yes !) he maybe could inform me about a (cheap) place to stay. Then I knew there is no camping in or next to this town (anymore).
I returned to the guy, told him about my plan and explained him my budget would be € 15 max per night, but that I was prefering to (wild)camp. He responded by telling that staying here for little money, or even for free, would be no problem, so I decided to walk along with him.
From this moment on the character of the day changed to the 😬 worse.
It took already 30+ minutes of walking (with the 67kgs OnTheRoad 4.0) to get to the real Lousa. There the guy walked to the GNR (national) police station to ask for a place to stay. That was the first indication he had no idea himself ... And it did not work since I heard them talking about a hotel. And then the intown hills begun, so the pushing got harder. He invited me to have a coffee at a terrass which I accepted gladly. It was a really nice guy who was very enthousiastic about me and my YesTrip. Finally, after at least 45mins of walking we arrived at a square in the town's centre and he told me we were there.
Around the corner was a hotel, he rang the doorbel and then spoke to the hotelmanager. The rooms there were from € 40 per night ... I explained I was not willing to pay that kind of money and we left there. The hotelmanager had told him the only other hotel costed € 46 per night. So I thanked him 👍 for his effort but that was 👎 the end of our encounter.
I cycled downtown, saw two women chatting, stopped and asked them for a place to camp. They had no idea but pointed me to the camara (townhall). There I asked at the reception and the woman asked a collegue to talk to me. He had no idea and explained me the only camping was in Serpins, at 8kms. Which was more or less in the right direction to get to Góis anyway. So it was an option to go there but it was not an option for me to visit Lousa from there, so to return to it the next day.
I left the camara and freewheeled down again. Just in front of me a scooter got knocked down by a cardriver coming out of a garage rearwards. Luckily I am a slow traveller, had I been 15 seconds more early could that car have knocked me down. I could pass the instant trafficjam easily and continued to the supermercado I had waypointed in my gps. I thought it a wise idea to have some extra food since I had no idea where and how this day would end. When I arrived there a german speaking man started a chat with me. And when I returned out of the shop he explained he would bring me to a cheap place to stay for the night.
So we took off and he cycled to ? The bombeiros station ! Where an officer told him they were not allowed to accept any guests in these times of covid. Which I had heard before but that guy obviously had not. Then he told me to follow him, which I did, and after 15 minutes uphill3 we ended at a hotel. The same hotel again ... I told him I was there already and rooms were from € 40 per night. He was clearly blown away about that price ... So I told him this was the end of my "trip" in Lousa and I would now leave town to get to any camping somewhere.
I had been walking to and pushing in Lousa for at least 3 hours without actually having been there. I have already noticed several times before that many people have no idea about situations and prices in their own hometown. Today was once more such a day.
I cycled out of town uphill, stopped at a promising place to wildcamp but was already 🔭spotted by an old woman looking for anything moving all day (I suppose). Some 20 minutes later I stopped at another promising place but once more I was already 🔭 spotted by a man standing in his garden. Camping here might not be a good idea anyway since it seems it could be snowing and freezing here.
I cycled on but stopped at a sign about a natural well that however was not delivering water anymore.
So it was actually a natural unwell.
Then came the point were Serpins was at a roadsign.
Here I had to decide to continue to Góis or to change plan and turn left to Serpins.
I turned left since the camara employee had told me the camping in Serpins was very nice.
And because I would not make it to Góis before dark,
and also since I don't want to cycle in the dark anyway on roads that might have some nasty surprises
(like branches, potholes, stones and blinding carlights, etc) for me.
I downhilled extremely in the first kilometer, so I knew I actually would not be able to return up here,
not today and also not tomorrow.
Which means my plan to visit Góis had also to be cancelled.
After an easy more 3kms downhill I arrived at the camping and found a nice spot where I would also have some shade. There even was a real chair awaiting me.
Today had been a rather easy day concerning the cycling (but with 305vms). Too bad I did not find a way to explore Lousa.
So how about Serpins ? CU in the next blog !