May 2008

Thursday 1st May – Bank Holiday:  Climbed down to beach below and stood watching the surf crash in and turn to foam as it smashed through the rocks.  Left our lovely free pitch and drove out through a forest with many Spanish families enjoying their Labour Day picnics under the shade of the trees.

Stopped miles up the coast at Figueira de Foz as we liked the name, to see yet more waves crashing in and more beautiful sandy beaches that stretched for more miles in either direction - decided to head inland to the mountains for a change of scenery!

To the Parque Natural da Serra Estrela and beyond! Passed a huge castle nestled into the hillside at Montemor-O-Velho (stunning).  Got lost in the large University town of Coimbra, and then followed the River Mondego for the most spectacular drive yet.  Awesome scenery as the narrow road meandered along side the river before eventually climbing up into the mountains.  Nel’s Sat-Nav had trouble finding our chosen mountain campsite and we somehow found ourselves driving into the tiny mountain village of Folgosinho, its road system a maze of narrow cobbled streets.  After much reversing (and cursing!) we ended up in a valley where the road ran out!  More skilled reversing, this time on a loose sandy incline and we tried again, only to return an hour or so later to the same dead end! Tired and frustrated, Paul jumped out, moved the barrier of cones and ignoring the road closed signs, we thundered down the newly laid tarmac as it wound its way towards our destination (we hoped).  Eventually found the campsite in Melo (Quinta das Cegonhas) at about ten pm!

Much to our surprise and most surreally in this remote mountain location we were then entertained by very loud live music coming from the valley below, followed by a grand finale of fireworks at 2am, we think a celebration of this day.

Friday 2nd May:  Lovely site in day light! - A grass pitch, surrounded by beautiful views.  Walked into the quaint village and found the bakers – it’s really pretty.

Later Paul tuned the telly in for us to watch Sky News and we watched as Boris Johnson was voted in as Mayor.  That’s it!!  I knew Paul’s longer blonder locks reminded me of someone!

Saturday 3rd May:  Paul put up the weather Station with Michael on top and as we left to walk back up to Folgosinho, the second highest village in Portugal, I noted that it was registering 30°! - Mad dogs and Englishmen and all that!  Was a long hot walk but we got there in the end having covered 3 miles uphill, seeing only a tractor pass us and two smiley ladies carrying huge baskets of vegetables.  Went to the tower to look down over the village, unable to see our campsite as it’s tucked underneath us out of site.  What a view!  village roof tops, vast countryside and mountain peaks surround us.

Walked a different way back to base with Paul saying “Let’s just see what’s round that corner.”  If I had a Euro for every time he has said that!... round a few corners later we found ourselves on a steep dirt track downhill and eventually arrived back in the village of Melo.  Making our way through the deserted village a grinning man asked us into the Taberna (a traditional mountain village ‘pub’).  It was as if we had walked into someone’s front room from 50 years ago! We sat nodding and smiling as the friendly man introduced us to Maria, the establishment’s owner and told us stories in Portuguese whilst we drank glasses of red wine poured from old dust covered bottles that sat on wooden shelves.  It was unreal! An ancient radio sat on another shelf, a calendar pinned to the wall dated 2002, and pictures of Jesus adorned the walls next to a plastic ‘No Smoking’ sign.  Lovely warm people – lovely wine! A few glasses later and we made our excuses, said our obrigardo’s and adeus’s and staggered our way back to the campsite.

Sunday 4th May:  Being so close to the country’s highest point we just had to go!  We drove up through the pretty village of Sabugueiro with puppies for sale at the road side and shops, (Yeaaaaaaah! Shops! At Last!) Shops full of leather goods, animal hides, toboggans, scarves, hats, gloves and all things winter! On the way up to the Torre (highest point at 1993 metres) we passed through cloud to see a vast lunar landscape before us, interspersed with shimmering mountain fresh reservoirs and patches of remaining winter snow hiding in the shadows.  We just had to park up and run and jump in it!  Both ended up with feet like blocks of ice, I was wearing flip flops and Paul wearing his Crocs!  We had great fun.

At the summit we saw more snow and people taking their last opportunity to toboggan and use the chair lifts, skis, etc before the summer sun took over.  In the resorts tourist shop we sampled a traditional Portuguese cake that neither of us caught the name of and ended up walking out armed with a huge section of the ring shaped cake.  The lady hacked off a lump about a foot long and nearly as wide. It was so heavy it weighed more than my handbag!  Paul thought it would also be nice to buy some locally produced ewes cheese – wrapped in muslin – stinking even before we put it in a sealed container in the fridge. (The fridge hasn’t been the same since!).

Stopped on a deserted mountain lay-by for lunch - lunch being a chunk of the cake and it sat in our tummies like a lead weight for the rest of the day.

Took an A Road and made our way round, over and up and down the mountains passing several pretty villages and towns whilst heading back to the coast.

Having driven for miles we arrived early evening at San Jacinto a spit of land with sea one side and the Aveiro river the other, passing villagers selling fruit & veg from carts at the road side, to a lovely quiet, nearly empty campsite (Orbitur S. Jacinto) set under pine trees.

Monday 5th May:  Walked out of the back gate to the sand dunes through a Nature Reserve - a 5 km walk to the beach.  Another beach of golden sand that goes on for miles!  This one had lots of interesting flotsam & jetsam washed up upon the shore.  We walked for 3 hours and saw no one!  Deserted! We felt like castaways as we beach combed with red kites circling above us.

Early evening we ventured out of the front of the campsite to stroll along side the Aveiro.  With no one else around we had the place to ourselves. The fast flowing water reflecting the colours of the brightly painted moliceiro boats moored along the river in the shimmering twilight. On way back to van we heard a noise up in the trees above the van…….

As we approached the van we could hear a rustling noise above us and we strained to see what was up in the branches.  All day we had seen many different birds in and around the tall pine trees and had been intrigued by incessant squeaks from overhead; Alison’s bird book led us to believe that the rusty hinge sound was that of hungry young owls.  I ran inside and grabbed my torch and as I shone it up in the tree a large pine cone fell to the ground (narrowly missing my head!) followed by a flapping of wings, a cracking of branches and a light thud by our feet - on the ground before us sat a shape in the moonlight. I moved my torch beam slowly down to the ground to be met by a juvenile long eared owl staring straight at us. He sat still, clearly shaken by his adventure and as I walked around him his head followed me as only an owl’s head can.  Not sure what to do next I left him be and we observed him from inside the van.  After an hour or so, he hopped toward the base of a tree where he then stayed put as if waiting for his mum to come and get him.

I struggled with my thoughts, should I let nature take its course, could he fly, or would he be eaten by a fox or cat in the night?  I went back outside and found “Ollie” sitting staring straight at me.  I slowly approached him and to my surprise he let me get to within inches of him; I took some photos and then decided to try and pick him up.  I put on some gloves and slowly moved my hand closer to the bird.  I could not believe what happened next!  The owl hopped onto my hand, flapped its wings and gripped my finger tightly with its claws!  As I stood up he shuffled slightly, regained his balance and tightened his grip on his new found perch.  An astounded Alison took a photo and I walked the bird over to the trees. I climbed up as far as I could with one hand and stretched out to a branch in the pine tree above me.  Ollie then stepped off my finger and onto the branch where he then sat.  I left him there and by morning he had gone.  The lack of any feathers on the ground comforting my belief, that he had found his wings and not become another creature’s supper.

Tuesday 6th May:  Left site 10 am carried on up the west coast, getting stuck in heavy traffic in Porto (we had planned to stop to sample Porto's’ famous tipple but so busy and congested decided to carry on) over another huge bridge, we ended up driving a lot further north than we had intended and ended up at Caminha, the most northerly campsite in our book (Orbitur Caminha).  Set up camp on a lovely sunny pitch on this pretty site 200 metres from the mouth of the Minho River, close to the sea with Spain just the other side of the river!! 

Wednesday 7th & Thursday 8th May:  Raining! Stayed in! Heard the weather is better in England!

Rain stopped just long enough for us to walk along the river to the beach to watch the tide coming in fighting with the river water going out.

Friday 9th May:

Cloudy and dry!  Bikes off the rack in a flash and we cycled to the town of Caminha over a narrow bridge with great big scary lorries thundering past.  A very pretty area with the prettiest gardens I have seen so far with roses and Birds of Paradise – my favourite – growing side by side.  Oh to have Birds of Paradise growing in your garden – top banana!  Oh to have a garden!  People have got lawns with grass! It’s very green and lush.

We seemed to be the only people around and stopped in the pedestrianised old fashioned square and just had to buy a couple of custard tarts which we packed very carefully in the rucksack! 

As usual we rode the long way back to site having followed a railway line for ever until we were able to cross it!

The custard tarts made it back – they were exquisite!

Saturday 10th May:  On the move again!  Followed the Minho River that flows between Portugal and Spain - its beautiful either side and very green.

Ran into a supermarket and got ten packs of micro minute rice that we hadn’t found in Spain!

Midday over the bridge and we’re back in Spain!

Made sure to change our watches an hour ahead so as not to be hungry at the wrong time of day!!!

Headed to a site from our Spanish Guide book only to find it shut this time of year.  The area was not how we thought it would be so decided to cut the corner off the north westerly point.  Went through Santiago and on to A Corina on the north coast – a really massive town – totally unexpected! Lots of huge old buildings next to a large busy port, we couldn’t believe the size of the town or the old buildings, similar to London with the amount of people, traffic and buildings. Oh the hustle and bustle, we are just not used to it! The Sat-Nav directed us over a roundabout and under a bridge that we are 2 metres too tall for.  Round the town a bit more, off another roundabout where I saw the height restriction sign just in time and much to the amusement of on lookers, the cars behind us all reversed up to allow us to do (another) 3 point turn!  Plan B – let’s get out of here!  Little argument later and we were back out on the main road heading east.

Up to Ferrol yet another large town where we pulled up in the high street and had the quickest bite to eat ever, crackers and cheese washed down with a cup of water and we were on our way again, by now its 10.30pm.  Back inland on major road to pick up another major road up to the coast driving to many campsites en route all still closed for winter!

Drove to the site in our trusted discount book arriving at 1.15am to find they were all shut up for the night!  Carried on round the corner along the coast a bit and found a car park at the end of a dirt track that was to be our pitch for the night.  2am - dinner of toast and marmite!

Sunday 11th May:  Daylight. Wow! What a pitch!  Can see a few houses perched up on the hill, next to a river and a minute’s walk to the beach, a picnic area and a sign on the (closed) toilet block tells us we are at Playa de Pampillosa.  It’s well nice!  Donning jeans, sweatshirt and cap we went for a stroll along the beach – its chilly have we come north to soon?

Looked at the map to plan a route – hey that’s a novel idea, why didn’t we think of that before?

The route along the north coast of Spain is beautiful but we eventually take the main road to cover more ground deciding that you just can’t see everything.  Still passing forests and rivers with awesome scenery all around us we eventually turn off the main road towards the sea and our chosen site - Camping La Paz near Llanes.  As we approach the entrance of the site we were franticly waved on past reception by a young girl keen for us not to lose momentum up the really steep windy track to the top of the campsite.  And having climbed to the top we could see why she did!  It’s a stunning site, terraced with a difference.  Found the ideal pitch on a cliff edge (furthest away from everyone else and the shower block!)  Paul reversed on to the grassy pitch that I still think was meant for a tent.  On manoeuvring to get level we got stuck in the mud.  Having settled in we looked around us to see mountains behind us and sea stretching out in front.

Monday 12th May:  Overcast and sea mist - sat around looking out to sea across the Bay of Biscay with our binoculars.  The scenery seems to change hourly around us with mist rolling in from the sea (isn’t that a song?) and low clouds over the mountains, giving the place an eerie feel.  Paul tried to move the van again (wheels just spinning in the mud) and the microwave fell off the shelf like I knew it would – scary moment – for Paul! - Luckily no damage done.

Cooked outside on our electric grill both wearing fleeces and hats, trying not to think of the weather we had left behind in the south.

Tuesday 13th May:  Rained all day!

Wednesday 14th May:  Cycled along the cliff path to the nearest town of Llanes which we were told is 10km.  It was really tough going, went past a blow hole and could hear the waves underneath us pushing the air up through the gaps in the rocks, a really scary noise, like a dragon!

This to me is true mountain biking! Off road, it was great!  Over a little bridge which spans a salmon river and we had our packed lunch on a picnic table in the middle of nowhere – who empties the bin here? I thought.

Past fields of cattle all wearing bells, a lovely sound.  Still following the cliff path with Llanes now visible in the distance, we carried on through a tiny village that took us high up and almost round the edge of a mountain, before eventually dropping down in to the town as it started to spit with rain and get chilly - rode on to the harbour to see the Rubik's Cube-like coloured boulders that make up the harbour wall.  Too soon we were leaving this pretty coastal town behind us and were heading back again.  Returned to base having ridden the hardest 21 miles ever, it was a real challenge for both of us!

Thursday 15th May:  Raining, thunderbolts and lightning, very, very frightening indeed!

Friday 16th May:  Cloudy but dry, walked to the cove below us, over the rocks Paul doing his fossil hunter bit then hiked back up to Nel and waited for the weather to improve.  Later walked for miles along the coastal path to the east, eventually stumbling across a cave!  It was fantastic!  We walked miles (again) and got back just as it absolutely chucked it down.

Saturday 17th May:  Packed up and ready to leave site, well, we were ready, Nel wasn’t, she was rather stuck in the mud!  Paul finally admitting defeat and sent me off to find Miguel (the friendly smiley handyman) to ask to be towed out!

Having been told about the Picos de Europas (a national park set in the mountains) and being close by, we headed off in that direction.  Following the river up into the mountains, the road narrowed in places with rock over hangs.  Through the village of Panes where a man came running at us waving a stick! Followed by a herd of cattle heading straight for us with large scary horns!  “Mind the van!” Paul shouted whilst I rummaged around trying to find the camera.  On through the mountain town of Potes, before arriving at (another) beautiful, small campsite (La Isla Picos de Europas) beside a fast flowing mountain stream.

Sunday 18th May:  Set out to walk down to Potes and the lady from the campsite told us of a detour past a monastery adding an hour to the walk.  A hard hill to start with up a track, beautiful scenery, surrounded by mountains, the view today spoilt slightly by low cloud.  Visited the Monasterio de Santo Toribio de Liébana a beautiful Monastery revered for its relic of a large piece of Christ’s crucifix.  Walked down into the pretty town of Potes, a busy mountain market town with lots of shops and restaurants and Tourists! - had a good look around. Walked back to the site in the pouring rain!

Monday 19th May:  Whilst swapping a couple of books at the exchange library, the lady in reception told me it was the worst weather in May for 20 years - just our luck! Oh yeah and we had to be towed off our pitch again!

Mad drive along the north coast of Spain, kept thinking we would stop somewhere but we just carried on and on! Past Bilbao where we had arrived 5 months ago!  A strange feeling to be back here, remembering how it was all new to us back then, the ice on the windscreen as we disembarked the ferry, what lay ahead, where would we go, where would we end up, would we last the planned 6 months, would the microwave prove to be a waste of time to bring along?  Woops, got carried away there, anyway, after the mad drive along the north coast of Spain we ended up in France! (having filled with diesel in Spain and saving euro or two) Pitched up next to a fishing lake at Camping Du Lac for the night.

Tuesday 20th May:  Up and away, heading up the west coast of France, we were both excited to be in a different country.  It’s cloudy and chilly, oh yes we are heading north!  Drove for miles through forest before Sat-Nav directed us down a single track lane through more forest! – Fantastic.  Managed to stay away from the motorways and toll roads.

Booked into Mayotte Vacances - a large pitch on a large site beside the northern lake Biscarrosse, one of three awesome, sandy beach fringed fresh water lakes.  A huge lake!  Can’t see the end!  The military own part of it and we heard, saw and jumped every time a Euro Fighter flew by!

Wednesday 21st May:  Warm and sunny, at last!  Fought with the new windbreak, another bargain from Lidl, which Paul said we didn’t need, that I insisted we did!

Thursday 22nd May:  Paul inflated the kayak; we walked it to the sandy shore of the lake and set off!  It was brilliant fun!  (There was no one around to watch us).  We did really well, neither of us having been in a Kayak for years, the lake was a good starting point.  We paddled (in time and together) to the harbour where we skilfully navigated our way around the many boats (ok they were all moored up and not going anywhere but hey!) as we looked for the canal that links the three lakes.  Didn’t find the canal so rowed back to the little harbour from where we had started - we had been out for 2 hours! It was great.  The lake is just brilliant.

Tucked the kayak up for the night next to “the windbreak” under the awning.

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Friday 23rd & Saturday 24th May:  Rained heavily during Friday night, awning collapsed a little bit but ok and no damage done.  Rained on and off for two days, sat outside under awning, protected from the wind by our lovely windbreak doing crosswords, watching and feeding the birds and looking up different varieties in our bird book.  Saw lots including a green woodpecker, chaffinch and watched as three storks circled above us. Saw a blackbird flying to and fro from its nest feeding its young also heard but didn’t see cuckoos.

Sunday 25th May:  Rode around part of the lake on the (famous) Llandes Cycle Route towards Biscarrosse Plage, under trees, past sand dunes, in fact the area is one big sand dune.  A brilliant cycle path, right through the middle of a forest, we rode for hours and didn’t see anyone!  Ending up at the beach and with packed lunch eaten, we turned around and rode back a different (longer) way, past pretty gardens and houses back to site; 5.45 hours later and we had clocked up 24.03 miles!

Monday 26th May:  Waited in all morning for rain to stop then went out on the kayak in the afternoon.  Windy on the lake, good fun again, choppy waves that seem bigger than they actually are as we are so low in the water.

Saw something in the water and we paddled over, thought it was a dead body! Thankfully it was just a black bin liner.

Wednesday 28th May:  Sunny and bright so packed everything up whilst it was dry, deflated kayak, dried it and luckily packed everything up just before it poured with rain.  Thunderstorms for the rest of the day, overhead, very scary!  I was scared, especially as we were under some very tall trees. 

Thursday 29th May:  Time to move on, loved the lake shame about the weather.  Still heading along the west coast we stopped at the Grand Dune at Pylat (a massive sand dune, the highest in Europe at just over 100m high).  As we climbed the steps going up, I got halfway and panicked, walked back down on my own as Paul carried on.  A good talking to myself and some deep breathing later and I gave it another go! I did it! I got to the top as lots of people passed me, they must have thought I was out of breath as I half crawled to the top.  I sat in the sand, my legs like jelly as I looked around for Paul who thought I was waiting below at the bottom of the steps.  Next thing, he came bounding along and to his surprise found me sitting on the top of the Dune. “Look at the view! Its fantastic! Look how high we are!”  he said as I just managed to stand and take a few photos.  It was unbelievably high up with awesome views in all directions.  Inland over forests and out to sea a never ending horizon.  The photos don’t do it justice; it was like being in the Sahara!  We came back down the sand route as I couldn’t face the steps again!  Oh to be back down to Earth again, what a wonderful feeling.

Headed to the Ile d'Oleron as it is in a region reported to have a warm sunny microclimate! Past more forest, more sand dunes, many campsites and unending cycle paths.  Then suddenly the landscape changed with miles of grape vines in either direction as we rolled on through Bourdeaux.

We crossed the long bridge to the island and headed straight to the Aire du camping car located in the town of Boyardville, next to a marina beside the river.  The area is famous for its mussels and we sat and watched as the flat mussel boats came and went loaded with their daily harvest.

Friday 30th May:  Put the chairs in front of the van along side the river watching the boats and the world go by - very relaxing and peaceful.  Late in the afternoon we strolled along the river to the harbour, over the bridge to the opposite side and onto the end of the harbour arm, watching jet bikes and looking out to sea.

Saturday 31st May:  Onto another island called Ile De Noirmoutier and headed straight for an Aire we had picked from our guide book (All the Aires France) right on the beach, beside a harbour and free! unfortunately it was full, so we turned around and went to a campsite that we had passed on the way (La Sourderie) - yee ha - its in our discount book! And it’s open!