Wednesday 18th November 2009, Moura to Mertola, 88km

The hotel was quite noisy during the night, so what should have been a good night’s sleep wasn’t.

We followed the hotel proprietor’s directions, which took us straight out of town and eventually onto quite roads again. The terrain was slightly hillier and we got back into the subsistence farming type areas, away from the intensive agriculture of the day before. It was a day of hill and vales. None of them too steep or too long, but there were just a lot of them.

We had agonized over which journey to make today. It was either a short journey to Serpa or continue on to Mertola. As we had an early start we made good time and arrived in Serpa before lunch. We had a coffee (and cake of course) and then circled around the town finding a shop to buy water and bread for lunch.

You would be forgiven for thinking that there is not much about the towns we are passing through, as we have hardly mentioned them. In fact they have all been lovely little towns, with cobbled streets, castles, churches, whitewashed houses etc, but having been through so many we are a bit “white washed” out.

The day was warm and sunny and after a short while, just passed Espirito Santo, we stopped at the side of the road to eat lunch.

We continued on through the heat of the afternoon. Steve was complaining of a sore throat and was drinking lots of water. We had been looking for a shop or bar most of the afternoon to get hold of more water. Eventually we reached Mina de Sao Domingos. We ignored the first bar, which was full of men and carried on to the next bar which, much to Karen’s delight was full of old women.

As Steve got of his trusty steed he said “If I get mentally undressed as I walk in, I am walking straight out again”. Guess what, they did, but the need for coffee and water was too strong to deter him. I think there was also a hint of enjoying it as well!

This small town had been a center for copper mining. Up until the Second World War, the mines were run by an English company that employed a private security firm which treated the workers very badly. The mines continued to operate until 1965.

The town lies on the Baragem de Tosada Grande (reservoir) which we saw as we left. There was a nice little beach there, but we didn’t have time to stop. The climb out of the town was quite long and hot. Eventually we reached a bit of a plateau and then it developed into a long and thrilling downhill all the way into the Guardiana Gorge, with Mertola standing above it on the hillside.

The view up and down the gorge was stunning, particularly in the cold morning as the mist was still rising and before the sun had fully risen.

Mertola was a very nice busy town that has been well developed for tourism, but retains its old world charm. There are Roman ruins, a castle, the usual churches and for the adventure minded, kayaking on the river.