Day 558 29th January 2018
43 miles (Praia Siri to San Francisco) Average speed 12.5 mph Top speed 43 mph
A good day of relaxing and then a good tailwind.
I got up at 8 and went for brekkie in the self service restaurant on the campsite. I went in and got a coffee and sat down but the waiter came over and told me to button up my shirt; there were two young ladies next to me in bikinis!! I had bread, cheese, ham and scrambled eggs and another coffee for 11 reais. Then I went back to my tent and down to the beach to relax on a sunbed. I went for a paddle and a walk along the beach and watched all the kids in kids club playing ball. These big campsites are a bit too much for me, I prefer the quiet ones.
I packed up slowly in the heat and tried to clean my tent without much success. By the time I’d checked out it was 2pm and I knew the start would be a fairly big climb, but it turned out to be lots more of ups and downs. Thankfully I had a strong tailwind to help me up the hills and after a while a bit of cloud cover too. As I ventured inland the surroundings changed to countryside with lots of farmland. I had lunch bought from a supermarket of ham and cheese rolls with hot chilli flavoured crisps, sat under a tree which also doubled up as a good way to dry out my clothes and wet towel. The people in the house opposite gave me some strange looks and they probably thought I was mad hanging my washing out to dry.
In the next town there was a small pousada but I carried on with a couple of hours of daylight left. I stopped at a bus stop at the top of a hill to change my shorts in what had been a quiet road until I took off my shorts, when cars, motorcycles and lorries appeared from all directions. In my rush to change I inadvertently put them on back to front and had to go through the process once again.
After lots more ups and downs I arrived in Sao Francisco and found the pousada on the main road quite easily. I was very happy to see it because I wasn’t sure there would be one as there was nothing on the map. I checked in and showered in a tiny bathroom with the shower almost over the toilet and did my washing. Hopefully it will dry with the aid of the fan. I had to carry the bike and bags up two flights of stairs.
I went out to search for food and a bank and walked about a mile in the thunderstorm that started the moment I left the hotel. I found a small bar and then a good restaurant and feeling flush having been to the bank I ordered steak and chips. It was massive and I struggled to finish it. At 36 reais it was probably one of the best value meals I’ve had here in Brazil and it kept me out of the rain for a while.
Value-for-money steak and chips
Pousada Sao Francisco 40 reais.