It was a bit of “deja vu” this morning as we prepared to set off again towards Evora.We had an interesting breakfast talking to a different staff member who said the hotel would be full next week with Belgian army personnel coming for training.Good job we timed our arrival well.

We set off on a beautiful morning birds singing, more blossoms were flowering and verges were full of poppies,dandelions and daisies.We got to the bus stop the 7km mark where we had spent 2 hours learning bicycle mechanics thankful for little towns with great bike shops and helpful mechanics who keep us incompetents pedalling.

Our coffee stop was in Montemor-o-Nova an old historic town with a castle on its summit.Normally I’ll only pedal along a couple of cobbled streets and give up but on this e-bike I could go anywhere.There was no sign of coffee shops in the old town and we were on way out when I smelt coffee Tim had sailed past unusual as he has a better sense of smell.He was called back and we went into a great patisserie advertising the work of a local pastry chef Andre Megaloe.We thought about the Megaloe chocolate but we already had one bar of chocolate on board and the weather is warming up.It also displayed a great chocolate carving from the obidos chocolate festival, very tempting to break a bit off…

After a cuppa of cha and Tim’s milky coffee, gallio, plus the obligatory Portuguese tart , a bit sweet for me but nice nutmeg flavour,we were on our way again. It was easy riding as we had a huge lane next to the road and the road was direct to Evora so only navigation was to get out of Montemor-o-Nova tricky with tiny roads and alleys and into Evora inside the walled town.A great cycle path is being built around Evora but its not finished yet. Fortunately I have found a button on the computer of the bike which makes it go whilst you’re holding it in ie. walk mode so my bike will go up and down steps very clever and get me off unfinished bike paths safely.

We arrived in Evora and tucked our bikes up in the underground garage and set to charging our batteries, the negatives of having the e-bikes., you can’t just lock and leave!

Evora is a wonderful historic town dating back to the Romans, at this time of the year its mainly locals visiting.Tim was very excited to see a white Renault 4 which was his work vehicle when he worked in this area of Portugal 38 years ago. Apart from the internet not much has changed.

Highlights of Tim’s day was motorbikes whizzing past some up to 250kms an hour it was like a race track.My highlight was seeing a rookery of storks near Sao Mateus community, all sitting on their nests no sign of baby storks yet.Apparently storks have been protected since the 1980s and now with climate change they don’t bother migrating back to Africa they are quite happy in Portugal.

We decided Evora is so interesting we will have a rest day to try and get rid of these colds which are hanging around. Monday we cycle to Vila Vicosa where Tim lived on and off for 6 months and I visited frequently. In those days Tim’s ginger beard was of interest and no one spoke English.it