moto-iberientour-22

Pamplona-Braganca

Today we're heading to Portugal, to Braganca! It's about 550km there and I estimate about 9 hours of driving time. Therefore, I choose the fastest route, which sometimes includes the highway.

After two hours, I can't stand the massive traffic on the highway anymore, so I exit and take a country road. My navigation system calculates the new travel time as 15 hours. Endless harvested wheat fields stretch along both sides of the road. The landscape is slightly undulating, flat until the horizon.

The Spanish road builders love long straightaways. Occasionally, roundabouts provide some variation, but without the junction of larger roads. Mostly, they are just gravel paths for the management of the fields. Even more rarely, I pass through small villages that look like ghost towns. All the roller shutters are closed - no one on the street.

Mighty thunderstorms are piling up in front of me. Lightning bolts drive horizontally through the sky in front of me, clearly visible as heavy downpours like dense curtains. I'm driving straight towards them, but as I get closer, they pass by me on the left or right. It's oppressively hot with extreme humidity.

Just before the Portuguese border, a dozen super sports cars overtake me with a lot of noise. They are participants of the Cannonball Rally 2022. This border crossing is also without any control. Only the color of the road surface changes. A few meters later, the long awaited road sign appears: Braganca 6km!

I quickly find my hotel and the check-in is done just as quickly. At the hotel, I order 2 beers one after the other, and just as eagerly as I pour the beer in, it comes out through my pores. A little later, a thunderstorm brings some coolness with hail, but then the humidity becomes even greater.

I'm definitely too tired for a walk, so I settle for several long showers and a nap until dinner at the hotel.