Sad day today since Theun is leaving us. At least that’s what we thought. We go to the station to reserve him a ticket for the night train to France, but apparently all trains for the coming days are fully booked… After an exploration of all the options how to get to Ars Electronica in Linz on time he will take a train to Lissabon, and from there fly further to Barcelona and Munich and then take a train again. Woaw, public transport in Europe in summer is not easy. The freedom of travelling with an interrail ticket is not as free as it proclaims to be! Since the airplane only goes on Monday Theun joins us for another day to Fundao from where he can catch a train to Castelo Branco.

Sorting out all these travel options time has passed.. We decide to lunch in Guarda and then hit the road. At 15:30 we are finally ready to continue the fold. But getting out Guarda in that heat is not the easiest thing. After many ups and downs we drive in the direction of Monforte, where VA extracts some more water from the river.

After Monforte, we follow the direction of Covilhas. The road N18 is the national road that goes all the way to Castelo Branco. People on the road support and encourage us. They probably find us a bit crazy cycling trough this mountainous part of Portugal. Luckily today we bike through the valley, so the first day for VA is not too heavy.

Around 20:00 we pass by a campsite just before Fundao. We did almost 60km today and that when we only biked from 15:30 onwards! A restaurant next to the campsite rewards us with local wine and food. Tomorrow we’d like to start early. Let’s hope it works out this time!