Kenny and the Ninja

Day: 402
Vila Real de Santo Antonia to Faro
Time: 3:43
Distance: 57.4 km
Avg Speed: 15.4 kph
Terrain: Rolling
Location: N 37˚ 01’ 9.1”, E 07˚ 56’ 14.5”

Last nights destination definitely won the longest name on the trip award. Most of the road signs just shortened it to VRS Antonio. I bet they would have to add a little bit of signage to get the whole lot on there. Most lodging in Portugal has provided breakfast and this morning was no exception. We thought we had really hit the jackpot when we found scrambled eggs to go along with the usual bread and coffee. We fueled up (I may have fueled up a little too much…I was really excited about the eggs) and got on the road just in time for the wind to pick up and the moisture to roll in. The moisture never really developed and we were able to dodge rain drops most of the day. We donned rain gear once, but it turned out to be a false alarm so all we did was sweat in it. The wind never really subsided and we encountered strong, steady headwinds most of the day. The riding was pretty mellow even though it was through coastal development most of the time. We even got caught in a traffic jam in a small town and being too wide to fit in between all the cars and the curb we had to wait our turn like everyone else. After we got through the traffic we stopped for a potty stop at McDonald’s. I now think that Leslie knows where they all are and times them for potty/lunch spots. We now have hit a McDonald’s in every Western European country. I am not sure if I should be bragging about that little feat. They do have them in Eastern Europe as well, we just managed to avoid the timing and temptation. We got to Faro shortly thereafter and staying true to our city experience we got lost. We finally found the lodging area of town and got settled in. It was Leslie’s turn to cook tonight so we headed out for a nice little dinner near our place. The national passion in Portugal is fish, so that is what we had. Leslie opted for prawns the size of my arm and I decided on Dorado the size of my face. Fully bloated but wanting more we ordered dessert and coffee. We think we got decaf-espressos with dinner, but I am pretty awake right now. It could be the sugar coma from dessert though. We head off to a week long break tomorrow and I think we are both looking forward to it. The coast here is beautiful and it is easy to see why it is so developed.
The title of the blog pertains to our Halloween outfits for today. See if you can tell who is Kenny and who is the Ninja. Happy Halloween (and Happy Birthday to me!!)!!!!!
CK

Day 382: Lunel to Beziers

Time: 5:35
Distance: 103.4 km
Avg Speed: 18.8 kph
Terrain: Flat
Location: N 43˚ 19’ 45.5”, E 03˚ 17’ 18.0”

I had ideas for all kinds of titles today, but we saw and encountered so many different things it was hard to sum up. We headed out with some warm temps and our friendly little tail wind pushing us along. The going was really straight forward as we got out of Lunel and tried to stay south of Montpellier. We have gotten a little weird about staying out side of cities, so much in fact that we spent today in circuitous avoidance of them. They seem to suck us in and spit us out only after they have had their way with us. Right out of town today we started hearing gun shots coming from the fields. This was a first for us in France, and as much as I can figure it was the first day of dove season. We rode a little ways and had to take a roadside pitstop. I took care of my business and right as Leslie was taking care of hers a little old farmer came strolling out of nowhere with a little satchel and an ancient double barrel shotgun. So much for privacy on the side of the road. We got back underway and saw our first Tour de France street art. If you have watched the Tour you will have noticed that fans paint all over the roads with drawings and sayings. Today we rode over a giant bicycle painted across both lanes of traffic. As soon as we saw it, we both new what it was. It was a little faded, but pretty neat nonetheless. We had a little over an hour under our belts when we got to a big shopping area in a suburb of Montpellier. We were low on cooking gas and I had seen some signs for sporting goods stores. We turned into the first parking lot and came face to face with our friend: McDonald’s. It was still early so we stepped right up and got a petit dejeuner of an Egg McMuffin and a Coke. Egg McMuffin is the same in English as it is in French. After snarfing some calories we hit all the sports stores and the mall and came up empty handed. Our next goal was to get to the coast. Remember, I said circuitous. We made good time and arrived in the port town of Sete. We finally made it to the Mediterranean and were greeted by clear skies, blue water and boats, boats and more boats. From little dinghies, to barges to giant cruise ships. It was a hopping little place, with the traffic to prove it. We ate lunch here before setting off across a 13km narrow sand spit. We had a nice bike path for half of it, the other half we shared with cars and RV’s. It was nice to have those sparkling blue waters to our left the whole way. After the spit we saw that we had another 32km to our desired destination for the night. It was time to put our heads down, but not until we had another Coke and some refills on our water. We also got sucked into cooking gas shopping some more. No Dice. We did make it with daylight to spare and now are eating everything in the food bag. Hopefully the stores are open on Sunday.
Au revoir
CK

Can’t you hear what my mind is thinking?

Day: 354
Poreč, Croatia to Verona, Italy
Time: 9 hours

True to our host’s word we were met at 6:00 am by a light breakfast and hot coffee. Quite the nice guy. The typical breakfast in Croatia is fresh bread with butter and spreads. It also has a lot of cold cuts and cheese. After loading up on mostly bread, spreads and some coffee we got rolling on down to the ferry dock. The dock was hopping this morning and I found myself using my big bike as a deterrent to queue cutters. As I was keeping the hordes from swallowing up Leslie and me, Leslie was giving cuts to a couple of old birds from England. One of the ladies remarked that since I was bigger than she was, she had better do as she was told. We finally boarded the high speed ferry and got underway. The weather was stormy so the sea was quite rough and I found myself eyes closed and Ipod on most of the ride.
We got to the dock in Venice just as the skies decided that a thunderstorm was necessary. We got our bikes together in the rain and since we were dead last leaving the dock area we didn’t have to wait in line at all going through passport control. I suggested that we head west, but Leslie said that passport control was to the east. I replied ‘I know that, we should head west after passport control, can’t you hear what my mind is thinking?’ A truce was reached at that point and we agreed to lighten up. We rolled our wet bikes into the control area and one of the guys hopped up flagged us through and stamped our passports without us breaking stride. SERVICE!! When we got back out the other side the rain had intensified and we worked our way west. Even though it was raining the travel gods were smiling on us and we worked our way really close to the train station. We sought shelter under a gas station garage and got our bearings. At that point the rain really picked up (I am talking inches per hour type of rain, with lightening and thunder) and we decided to wait a little. The rain lightened up a little (so we thought) and we made a break for it. We got about 200 meters from the gas station and rain started coming down harder than before. We only had one bridge to cross, but it was one the gorgeous arched stair stepped ones that grace the canals in Venice. They aren’t the easiest to cross lugging a 40 kg bike in a torrential downpour. We found a little respite under a hotel overhang along with several dozen other people. Right when we were getting ready to make another break for it there was a lightening crack right over head and the resulting thunder shot a rush of air through the overhang. We both thought that we could wait a little more. We finally got to the train station, got our tickets, got lunch and got to Verona. The rain continued here and since we didn’t want to walk all over the city looking for dinner, we ended up at McDonald’s at the train station. Lame? Yes, I think so, but we were hungry, it was dark and it was pouring. Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun.
Tomorrow we are back on the train to Venice for a little tourist action. I can guarantee that McDonald’s won’t be in that game plan.
Ciao
CK