Prochain jour

Will the real 'Man from Belmonte' please stand up

Next day, more trails, more kicking over, more i struggled. I was somtimes struggling to breathe and i was also losing a lot of fluid from sweating. Wearing full motorbike riding gear aint a good idea out here mate. We got lost on the trail again, the heat got to us and tempers were once again being frayed. This time we took a 30 minute dinner break to cool down and sort ourselves out, i was struggling big time again. Off we went again and found a trail that lead us to a small road. I was relieved the ordeal was over for a while. I plotted a route to Belmonte on the GPS where we met up with Ian again.

Although i nearly collapsed (well thats what it felt like to me anyways) it didn't stop us going to the local square to partake in much ado about sardines, pork and red wine. The local mayor invited us to sit with a few of the locals where more free red wine was gratefully accepted. The next day Ian and i were suffering a bit. A local chappy on a Kawasaki 1400 wotsit, who i named 'The man from Belmonte' invited us to join him at a local swimming malarky, where we stayed for a couple of hours to bathe in the cool mountain waters. However, Pedro Alvares Cabral, who discovered Brazil on the 22nd of April 1500, is probably the real 'Man from Belmonte'. He was born in the small town of Belmonte, probably close to the very square where we were the night before, where he would no doubt had his own sardines and red wine quite a few years ago now.

This was the worst day for me, too much wine, too much sun, too much running up and down trails, too much kicking over, not enough water, bit of a cold and just generally feeling crap. We didn't do many miles this day and ended up in an expensive hotel at a place called Montegas (i think!). I did a bit of maintenance to the bikes, didn't have a drink, felt exhausted and went to bed around 10 of the clock.