We travelled up from La Carolina to Salamanca in one long day of driving which included the busiest road section we have yet encountered just to the south of the sprawling city of Madrid.
Salamanca was fabulous- an absolutely stunning university city, steeped in history and its Plaza Mayor was probably the single most impressive urban setting we have yet seen. Whilst on our overnight stop just outside the city we were worried to find that Ted had managed to pick up a couple of ticks, one in each ear. It took both of us, and considerable patience (from Ted as well) to remove them but we think we did a good job.
Then it was onward to Portugal. We had a few issues with the automatic toll system for foreign vehicles (we missed a pay station) but by all accounts this is common and unlikely to result in a fine..time will tell. First impressions of Portugal were good, greener than Spain and with many more interesting villages dotted around as opposed to Spain's vast empty spaces.
We stayed the night at a beautiful riverside campsite in a small village near Oliveira de Hospital and spent some time with a couple of very seasoned travellers from Tenbury Wells. There were people swimming in the river (Lyn paddled!) and a pretty riverside walk alongside the most amazing terraced bankside vegetable garden which appeared to be the life's work of one dedicated gardener. It made our allotment look pathetic! We had intended to spend two nights there but we (Ted) were troubled by a number of feral cats which roamed the site. He was very disturbed by them and that meant we (and others) were disturbed by him. So today we have made the short trip to the coast near Figueira da Foz and are settled in on a lovely site with its own access to a huge, dog friendly beach. Big Atlantic breakers are crashing in the distance as I write this, facilities are superb and all seems well with the world.
No comments:
Post a Comment