Word Of Mouse

On of the things about cycle touring, which is pretty obvious, but didnt really take on much meaning til we started experiencing it, is that there is a lot of passing through and passing by and little stopping. I am hoping we will get a little more stopping as well as some travelling shared with others now we are going on by train.

By bike however there were some chances to observe and interact a little with local people, even on the move. I have collected a lot of memories, which it gave me a great pleasure to review as we cycled along, so I thought I would take this chance to share some of my glimpses. There will be so many I dont recall today that I envisage adding to this.

The Arabic keyboard is slowing me down considerably so I may manage less "teh" typos, though i offer no guarantee, but advance apologies that i cant locate the apostrophe key.

Particularly after leaving the Picos in Spain and also on entering Portugal we passed a lot of people tending their land, both rural and urban - there were a lot of animals in gardens on the outskirts of Chaves. I have some fond memories of an elderly couple stacking hay and of an old man sitting in the shade his peach tree preparing his onion crop for storage.

We passed a number of women out in their gardens in the afternoon sun, scrubbing away at their washing. As they watched the world go by, we briefly became a part of it. They may not remember us, but I cherish the warm smiles and waves we had from many. This reminds me of another Albufeira horror! We saw a number of "green safari" 4wheel drives roaming about. All I could see that might be green about them was the paintwork. Determined not to be too cynical however, I was pleased to have the chance to find out more from a fellow diver who had been out on a trip. Sadly, my cynicism onluy increased on her description. The Safari took grouips of tourists round to goggle at the quaint customs of the Portuguese villagers. Their guide had explained how people still did hand washing here and took them to see real live examples. Ok I have felt a bit like Mickey Mouse as people have photographed us and our tandem, but if we chose to invade places on a tandem what do we expect? but these women are just going about their daily lives and are being transformed without consent or consultation into a tourist freak show. ok maybe that is a bit harsh, and I couldnt fault the interest of the person who had been on safari, but that guides are making money out of this, it left me quite uncomfortable.

on to other things...
one of my duties as tandem stoker is to greet people and thank considerate drivers, a job which I took up with enthusiasm - a little too much on occasion! We had had a wonderful day of passing through small villages and getting friedly waves from women sitting on their doorsteps watching teh world, and clusters of men in bars. We had had friendly waves from people tending their gardens too. I saw the face of an elderly woman and gave her a big smile and a wave. I was a little puzzled at her lack of response for a second or too until I realised too late that she had both hands occupied in hitching her skirt and had come to the botom of her garden to attend a rather private matter. I rode on red faced.

On another occasion I caught out an older man in quite diferent circumstances. He was on his balcony in his vest playing with a large fluorescent water pistol which probably belonged to a grandchild. As we drew close he clocked me, he looked a little embarrassed but recovered quickly, broke out in cheerful laughter and aimed the gun at me.

Other people we passed were less cheerful. I thought for a long time afterwards about a woman we passed on our way to Fafe. She was stationed at the top of a long grey hill in the middle a wood. She stood in the cold in her short skirt and red knee-high boots swinging her handbag and waiting for trade. I imagine shae was my age or less, but certaéinly looked a lot older. I flet so fortunate to have a very differnt set of life experiences behind me. I felt angry at the world that had forced her to ply her trade in so dangerous a manner and seemingly so unsupported.