As i mentioned in the last post, the night was spent in a gas station truck park. As a safety measure, tried to park in one of the corners, where presumably less movement would occur. And the place had security, i mean, once in a while there was a guy in a scooter going around the big park. This left me thinking that maybe this wasnt the safest place to be. On the other hand, what profit could someone take from a guy sleeping in a Fiat126P, while there were so many other trucks there so steal more valuable stuffs.
As far as i noticed, the night went smooth, so at 8 a.m. there i was starting the last day of the trip. About 700km to go yet.
Crossing Madrid was very easy, even if was rush hour, but the M40 (a circular highway) was no big deal with no stop-and-go. Exiting Madrid i could all the way by highway until Badajoz (without paying tolls), but going by highway is so boring that i wanted to leave as soon as possible. Unfortunately could only do it when exiting in direction of Caceres.
From Caceres to Marvão (already in Portugal) it was fairly easy since the national road was good. And then, around 15h there i was: entering Portugal!!!!!! Not without first putting gas (in a spanish gas station just in the border), enjoying the almost 20cents difference per liter in the price. And one thing that was very nice, was to see the difference in the landscape. On the spanish side much more dry and poor in nature terms. On the portuguese side, a lot more greener!!!! For those who dont know, there are some mountains on this area, which causes these climate differences.
Then, it was just a matter of doing some 80 kilometers by A23 until Torres Novas, and then heading to Golegã, Chamusca, Almeirim and home! But these 80km proved to be hard. Never in all the trip the car suffered so much with all the up and down of the highway. All this due to the great skills of the portuguese enginers, that dont understand the difference between a highway and a roller-coaster. In some parts, i could not go quicker than 50km/h. Shitty and dangerous. Alps, Pyrenees, nah. What is really hard to cross is the A23!! Even more stupid is the fact that there are not even real mountains.
As far as i noticed, the night went smooth, so at 8 a.m. there i was starting the last day of the trip. About 700km to go yet.
Crossing Madrid was very easy, even if was rush hour, but the M40 (a circular highway) was no big deal with no stop-and-go. Exiting Madrid i could all the way by highway until Badajoz (without paying tolls), but going by highway is so boring that i wanted to leave as soon as possible. Unfortunately could only do it when exiting in direction of Caceres.
From Caceres to Marvão (already in Portugal) it was fairly easy since the national road was good. And then, around 15h there i was: entering Portugal!!!!!! Not without first putting gas (in a spanish gas station just in the border), enjoying the almost 20cents difference per liter in the price. And one thing that was very nice, was to see the difference in the landscape. On the spanish side much more dry and poor in nature terms. On the portuguese side, a lot more greener!!!! For those who dont know, there are some mountains on this area, which causes these climate differences.
Then, it was just a matter of doing some 80 kilometers by A23 until Torres Novas, and then heading to Golegã, Chamusca, Almeirim and home! But these 80km proved to be hard. Never in all the trip the car suffered so much with all the up and down of the highway. All this due to the great skills of the portuguese enginers, that dont understand the difference between a highway and a roller-coaster. In some parts, i could not go quicker than 50km/h. Shitty and dangerous. Alps, Pyrenees, nah. What is really hard to cross is the A23!! Even more stupid is the fact that there are not even real mountains.Before arriving home, time still for a pit-stop in Torres Novas to have coffee with a friend. Though, i suspect that because i was with that car and with 6 days trip on my face/hair/clothes it was fairly quick, and she convenientely had an appointment in the hair dresser, so could not stay long.
And this was it, arrived home at 18.15, on 4 of April 2008, after 3912km from Poznan.
This is not the end of the blog, since i still want to explain the preparations before the trip......
And this was it, arrived home at 18.15, on 4 of April 2008, after 3912km from Poznan.
This is not the end of the blog, since i still want to explain the preparations before the trip......
3 comments:
Que as aventuras continuem por muitos anos e que a intensidade perdure. Quando é que vens a Tóquio?
Desculpas pela ausência de resposta, mas com este blog descuido-me mais em acompanhar os comentários.
Tóquio é algo longínquo. Não pela distância geográfica, mas pela disponibilidade financeira :(. Vale ao menos morar não muito longe do Martim Moniz para ter um ligeiro vislumbre da Ásia.
Boa sorte contigo aí em Tóquio.
Loved your account on your road adventures in the maluch.
Congrats on the courage. So jealous. Always dreamt of such a trip but in the States, driving from the East to the West Coast (Route 66 and stuff), but now I see that travelling across Europe can also be quite exciting.
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