After Tordesillas and Palencia, for a couple of days I could not make any right decision. I just wanted not to lose time and follow "the timeline" that I found myself with a flat tire, riding in the mud, with stomach problems, fever and pushed away from a storm in the middle of the Spanish countryside because I was so stubborn that I was not listening to environment. Everything was telling me to get lost, to go with the flow, to forget any timeline, but I was not ready yet. The city-machine follows you even when you know you do not belong to it. Listen.
Do you know that feeling when you reach the peak twice, you are sweating...the vegetation it is all around you, no cars, no humans around, only trees. You see the river from the top. It is immense, it flows down to Lisbon and the air smells like eucalyptus. Finally it is time to ride down, the wind it is challenging but the beauty of this natural gorge is priceless. Pure nature, pure happiness.
This is Évora, where the air tastes of orange. As one of those oranges which felt on the ground, I was also rolling somewhere, to that north you can not find on a map.
Here I met Pedro, Pablo and other crazy world travelers who left home to look for a different kind of life. Cycling for all those km that day was really exhausting. I thought I could manage but my body disagreed. After a couple of days, a warm shower, enough sleep, and good food I was ready to move to Alter do Chão.
