When Things Aren't as They Seem (on google maps)

 

Preparations. I do my research. I researched the route, downloaded the maps, charged the extra battery pack for my cell phone, packed gear for an all day ride, bla bla bla. It's amazing to be so organized beforehand that when it comes to stepping out the door, I let it all go, most of it anyway. This is not the first time... 

Article of evidence #1

I had a huge list of things to get while in Lisbon that I can't get in Morocco. All of it having to do with cycling, running, yoga, etc. So, you know, the fun stuff. I get up to start the odyssey across various neighborhoods in the city and don't take the list. I mean, I KNOW the list. I OBSESSED over the list for a few weeks beforehand. I did well without the list- as I knew I would. But still, I forgot one or two fairly important things.

Articles of evidence #2-5

Everything I needed today was organized beforehand. I didn't know where I was going, really, so I knew I'd be using a lot of battery power. I brought the fully-charged battery pack but forgot the cord to attach to the phone... 

While I was up late looking for waterfalls,  I was keeping track of basic kilometers to cycle. But, did I overlay the map with 'terrain' to include for topography and elevation? No... 

I knew there would be a lot of çesme (fontes in Portuguese) because they seem to be everywhere, so I *knew* that I wouldn't have a problem re-filling my bottles... All those fontes that I saw, while descending, on the way out... didn't have water in them for the uphill battle I incurred. 

I had my Plan A (to find the very CLOSE waterfall that I couldn't locate on Saturday while out biking AND on Sunday hiking) and a Plan B (a cascata/praia fluvial a bit further away in Vimieiro). So, en route to Plan B (yes, I aborted Plan A because I wanted a longer more technical ride), I happen to see a brown sign "praia fluvial da Moura Morta") and made an on-the-spot decision to go rouge with a Plan C... This is where the topography and elevation is definitely not in my favor (for the return voyage), but am I thinking about that in the moment? No. However... I did stop to look at google maps and saw that it wasn't *too far away* from Plan B, as well as it *looked* so close to Penacova- which suddenly became Plan D - for the voyage home... Again, the elevation... 

In the end, I did not jump into any waterfalls today, but I did manage to find a spot in the Alva River to cool off. Today's odyssey absolutely kicked my ass, and I pretty much limped back to Poiares and crashed out on the couch, where I am still lying down, recovering. Was it worth it? Yes. 100 percent.