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In Which A New Country Appears Before My Eyes, Sort Of
September 29, 2007 by Mike
Viana do Castelo
Route: Vilanova - Vigo - La Guardia - Caminha (Portugal) - Viana do Castelo
Spain disappears in my rear-view mirrors, not only rain-splattered but -- finally -- plug-ugly. From the moment I entered the Basque Country, though Cantabria and Asturias and the rest of Galicia, the coast has been a wonder to me, a riot of views and smells and thoughts and faces.
Yes it rained: during the night -- the tent is more waterproof than the hammock, I'm happy to say -- and throughout the ride. I got drenched. More dispiriting was the scenry, or lack of it. I've been telling the locals that Galicia is more beautiful than the rest of the country. I revise my opinion. North and west Galicia is. Southern Galicia isn't. There are factories, smokestacks and grim apartment blocks. The road weaves through a non-stop suburb: no greenery, no space. I'm in local traffic the whole way -- shoppers, commuters, tractors -- so I'm permanently on extra guard.
(Bikers will recognise this: car drivers on short trips, on roads they drive regularly, pay less attention to what's going on around them. So we have to pay extra attention to them.)
There's a ferry across the mouth of the Minho river from La Guardia to Caminha. I leave Spain, in the rain, and arrive in Portugal, in the rain. The cloud is so low and the rain so heavy I can barely make it out.
I've had to pull myself up several times in recent days. Galicia makes no pretence, such as the Basques do, about language. No signs here in Spanish. Everything is in Galician -- which looks and sounds a lot like Portuguese to my semi-literate ears. Hence A Coruna and O Viso, instead of La Coruna and El Viso.
Now, finally, I can use all the Portuguese I learned in Brazil. That's, err: "Hello, thank you, one two three, I don't speak Portuguese, do you speak English?"
What does a modern traveller do on arrival in a new country?
S/he hares it down to the first town of any size to buy a new SIM card for her/ his mobile phone. I now have a Portuguese number, and it's quite a good one. Do you want to know what it is so I can text you weather reports and such like?
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By steve | October 2, 2007 9:10 PM
Ah Mike it's great to rediscover your site (I 'bookmarked' it but somehow it remained stuck in July and I thought nothing was happening). Now I find you're out there on the bike again, living the life, and making me laugh out loud for the joy of it. Safe riding, mate, and enjoy Portugal!