Our adventures in a mobile home
Posts tagged nature
Walking amongst wildflowers and waterfalls
Apr 11th
The mountain streams are crystal clear
We are now heading back Southwards to catch a free music festival in April in the Alentejo. We routed through the Serra de Estrela mountains, first stopping at Folgoshino. Our walk from here took us through steeply terraced hills up to an old Roman road. This was lined by wildflowers and interspersed with streams that course down into the valleys. The top of the hill was quite a contrast, very rocky and often dotted with blackened trees. The sound of cuckoos follow us wherever we go now. Spring has sprung!
Our second stop in the Serra de Estrela was Mantegias, a very pretty town in the Rio Zezere valley. We were hoping to do a walk from here to Poco do Inferno but couldn’t find the starting point so we drove up and walked from the picnic point. The waterfalls are beautiful with green coloured pools and the hills have stunning views into the valleys. We stayed over at Mantegias next to the river and slept like babies lulled to sleep by the sound of the waterfall.
Rivers of wine
Apr 9th
We followed the Duoro river inland, this massive water course is surrounded by steeply, terraced hills full of vines. It was once the main route for the boats carrying barrels of wine from the fertile valleys of the Duoro down to Porto where they would age and eventually become port.
We stopped by Cinfaes, right on the waters edge surrounded by sweet smelling wisteria and under a weeping willow. We had sundowners at the local hotel overlooking the river and on our way home stopped at the local ‘shop’. This turned out to be a little old lady’s front room where she sells some bits and bobs. Our wine container was a water bottle filled with the local vintage. Our perfect day was topped off with the sighting of an otter at sundown, clambering in and out of the jetties a few metres away from the van.
The river has some great walking opportunities and the next day we followed a path along it for a few hours. This was a revelation as we experienced some extraordinary acoustics along its course. At one house a radio was playing, this was amplified and distorted for miles down the river until you could hardly make out the songs being played. The route also provided us with refreshments from the many orange trees and freshwater springs, nature providing at its best!
A bit of France in Portugal
Apr 5th
We detoured through the Serra da Freita on our way to Arouca. The landscape in this area is almost English, very green and full of tumbled down stone cottages surrounded by gardens packed with flowers. There is an abundance of water and rock, creating white waterfalls and idyllic roadside stops. At one such place we got out to explore and encountered a rather hunched up crone guarding her goats. I hadn’t noticed her crouching away from the blistering sunshine until she unfurled her black shawl to tend to her charges. She was wrapped in black from head to foot, whilst I was wandering around in shorts and a strappy top. This seems to be the norm here, the Portuguese are wrapped up like its -10° and most women seem to wear black (perhaps to trap in the heat?)
Arouca was bustling compared to the quietness of the Serra da Freita. We wandered around the town and then stopped for lunch in a cafe frequented by the locals. David ordered a Franceshina (translates to “a little French”), that turned out to be not so little. This massive meal consists of a door stop sandwich, containing pork steak, bacon and sausage, covered in grilled cheese floating in a soup of chips, tomato, beer and piripiri. It was a dream meal for David although he struggled to finish it and we opted for a healthy carrot soup for supper to try and balance out our diet.
Music in the hills
Apr 3rd
We drove up into the hills surrounding Caramulo and found an idyllic spot at Cabeca da Neve. We decided to stop here for the night, much to our detriment as it was frequented by locals through the course of the night blasting cheesy rave music. At 4am we had enough and blotted out their crap tunes with our drum ‘n bass turned up to the max. This started a soundsystem war and we didn’t get any more sleep. We will remember in future not to stop anywhere with views of lights on a Saturday night. Our lack of sleep put paid to our walk along the hills the next morning and instead we stopped for pastries at Caramulo and drove on to Vouzela.
Vouzela’s campsite was on a hill, next to a Castelo and a very steep 2km downhill into town. We cycled it and dreaded the all uphill return journey. Vouzela itself is a pretty backwater town, it has a famous pastry which tastes like very eggy custard combined with mounds and mounds of icing sugar encased in filo pastry masquerading as paper. Not my best pastry experience! And it definitely didn’t help with the cycle ride back home … less sugar rush, more like jelly legs!
Water, trees and piggies
Apr 1st
Luso is the home of Portugal’s famous mineral water. It was a pleasure to go and fill up our water bottles for free at the town’s fountain. In fact, the fountain provided us with much entertainment over our lunch. There is an endless stream (haha) of people that come to fill up and we counted them with up to 10 big water bottles each. They must be very thirsty!
The campsite in Luso is set amongst the pine trees and dotted with daisies, it was very quiet and peaceful. From the site it is a short walk (up a very steep hill) into the Bucaco forest. This walled forest was planted by monks and there is a tree dating from 1644. The paths meander past ponds full of rose petals and up to the Palacio do Bucaco, now a hotel. The hotel is ornate, in a manueline style with some beautiful azulejos on the exterior walls.
We walked up to the Porta de Coimbra and also to what we thought was the Cruz Alta, but we discovered that we must have stopped climbing before reaching the summit and the topmost cross! Ah well, both had panoramic views of the countryside.
This region is famous for its leitao, a roast suckling pig which is usually eaten accompanied by a local sparkling red wine. We tried both, and stuffed ourselves silly with such a decadent meal. I had to leave the driving to David as I had rather overindulged my appetite for wine at lunch and had to have a little lie down.
Costly Port
Mar 13th
A hardy fisherman braves the massive waves
Porto Covo, once a tiny fishing port is now a swanky holiday town. We found ourselves underdressed and underfunded compared to the stylish Lisboetas. In one unassuming little shop, reminiscent of our corner shop back in the UK, we were amazed to find a bottle of port on one shelf going for the princely sum of €850! Said bottle dates from 1935 but remarkably this great vintage sits amongst the other cheap bottles of wine. We opted for a bottle of vinho verde close to the expensive port, but even closer to our budget of €6. We stuck to cheap activities like fishing and walking along the cliffs admiring the lillies which are starting their spring bloom. The colour of the sea in this area is amazing with lovely turquoise blues and bright white sands. The waves are also inspiring, but for their force, not beauty, and on a fishing expedition I managed to soak my iPhone in the wild water! I can no longer dial any new numbers and my text messages come out weirdly … you have been warned!
Aljezur
Mar 4th
An old motorbike parked on an Aljezur street
Aljezur is an old Moorish town with a hilltop castle and stunning views to the mountainous region of Monchique. The cobbled streets lead up narrow lanes bordered by tiled houses. We spent a couple of nights at the campsite and also wild camped at a few local beaches.
The Amoeira beach is divided by an estuary with an aquamarine river providing a home to what looked like trout. Unfortunately David hasn’t managed to catch us an dinner, although secretly I am pleased as I am not too keen on gutting a fish. I dealt with a couple of squid the other day, one had nothing inside but the other had undigested little fishies which made me jump out of my skin and squeal when I discovered them.
Children dress up in bright colours for a festival in Aljezur
Westwards
Mar 1st
We are now meandering up the Western coast of Portugal, we stopped at Castelejo beach and managed to adopt two doggies who inhabit a little picnic spot. We took them on a walk and fed them, much to Odie’s chagrin, especially as they gorged themselves on ham.
The western coast is less developed, the sea is rougher and the weather more windy than the southern Algarve but it is perfect for wild camping by the sea. A lot of the coast reminds us of our travels in Australia with its jaw dropping scenery.
We had an abrupt reality check when we developed a puncture after stopping in Carrapateira. Luckily the AA managed to change it for us and recommended a repair shop where two very hard working Portuguese fixed it up for only 30!
Cycling Struggles
Feb 26th
Next stop was Salema, beachside wild camping along with 10 other motorhomers. This spot is in a wetland, and the sound of frogs and waves serenaded us to sleep. We spent a gloriously hot couple of days fishing, sunbathing and generally lazing about. We managed one cycle ride up the rather steep hills into the town, David’s very cheap bike is currently running on one front gear and he had a hissy fit when he saw the climb out of town. Our bbq is getting heavy use now, it is magical to sit next to the ocean, glass of wine in hand of course, and cook some fresh fish or frango piri-piri.
We reluctantly moved onto Sagres, the most westerly town in the Algarve where the weather turned more windy. Consequently, it proved to be another challenging ride to Cabo St Vincent, especially after a couple of G&Ts. David was carrying Odie in his doggie backpack much to the delight of the busloads of Americans who grabbed the opportunity to take a photo, some by asking if they could and others by snapping away when they thought David wasn’t looking. The lighthouse is the most powerful in Europe and its light can be seen for over 90 miles. It’s a very good thing as the sea is very choppy and rough out there.
Sagres town has a couple of places to park in the van, we stayed at both and had a great time walking and fishing near the town. We enjoyed an incredible Sunday lunch of grilled fish and a massive steak washed down with the local beer. All cooked by an old salty looking chef who brings out the uncooked wares for you to examine before singeing them on the grill. Beats a Sunday roast hands down!
El Rocio
Feb 14th
Being back on the road again was a bit of a shock to the system. We drove to Seville in the hope of spending a couple of days exploring this city’s incredible architecture. However our hopes of staying over were thwarted by the blustery weather and the local annual marathon. We had to make do with a drive-by-viewing of the fine buildings, but we hope to come back to the beautiful town after our travels in Portugal.
We hustled on to El Rocio, a genuine spaghetti Western town. The streets are sand covered, as wide as those in Bulawayo (for non-Zimbos that means very wide), and each house has a tethering post outside to cater for the horse population. The horsey way of life even extends to the bars where you are able to enjoy a drink from atop your horse at extra high tables.
The town was almost deserted when we visited but apparently is a famous pilgrimage site with over a million visitors over one weekend each year after Easter. The main draw is to see a statue of Mary that moves of its own accord and party like there is no tomorrow. The church is ornate with a very glittery altar.
Nearby is the Donana National Park, Europe’s biggest wetland (Dad was thinking of you especially), and it provides a winter home to a vast bird population. The enterprising grey herons have decided to use the highest structure in the park to nest in, never mind that they are electricity pylons instead of trees! Unfortunately we didn’t get to see the Iberian lynx, one of the animals we were keen to see on our European travels, I guess it was a bit ambitious to try and see it in one day!
Tiles on one of the El Rocio monuments