Sunday 30 Sept Onto Nazare , a very elegant looking large sea side resort famed for its fishing and surfing opportunities . I'd like to visit again if possible . It is hosting the World Surfing championships this year ( Oct- Feb) which starts tomorrow, so lots of surfer dudes in town ( and motorbikers by the score) We went upthe hill using the funicular ( eyes closed for me ) to the old city at the top (sitio) where women in Portuguese traditional dress sold artisanal clothing and pottery. On to the largest monastery in Portugal , built by the Cistercians in 12 th century in an attractive city a few miles inland called Alcobaca , suitably impressed by the size and simplicity of the Monastery , it has a Romeo and Juliet theme as it houses the tombs of King Pedro and his wife Ines, who was murdered by Pedro's father Afonso IV . Pedro ordered the tombs as evidence of his undying love for Ines . Very tired by now Found a place to wild camp overnight overlooking the beach at Praia da Polveira where Andy did some noble litter picking A very peaceful spot , sea fog bringing the temperature right now at night, a welcome relief .

Saturday 29 September.

Walked into the town of Sao Martinho do Porto, sat in beach side cafes, admired the beauty of this natural harbour, decided it was too cold to swim ( sea temp of 18 C) and walked home again, had a swim in the pool where there were fewer flies and a rest day, need to get used to the hour time change (Portugal is on BST) weather is thankfully cooler early 20's sunshine from 11-5 til mists cloud over

There was a tunnel through the headland, which popped you out on the seaward side. So the fishermen could check whether they wanted to go out without climbing the hill?

Friday 28 September 2018

Left camp site at 10.30 am Visited Los Barracueos, granite volcanic extrusions on a very flat landscape, another GoT location (giant v Brienne of Tarth fight?) dramatic, has the biggest rock dwelling stork colony in inland Spain, when they are not AWOL in Africa.

Rock with hole!

Rock dwelling stork nest

En route to Portugal now.  Pulled up at the border for a lunch stop and 2 eagles soared, circling above us, in the blue sky. Beautiful wooded valley with white washed villages, terracotta rooves, just across the border.... We spent the next 4 hours travelling across inland Portugal 170 miles, in van induced air conditioned comfort. We ended up on the coast with a wonderful breeze (no flies) at Sao Martinho do Porto, a perfectly natural sheltered semi circular shaped beach shielded from the Atlantic waves by two rocky headlands. We opted for a basic camp site after such a long drive Colina del Sol, very hilly site with beautiful views, portakabin loos and showers quite clean but very shabby and old, and no extras, and an open rather chilly 25 metre pool, a 20 minute walk through a quiet residential area to the small town itself

Thursday 27 Sept

Bus into Caceres €1.20 , visit to Museo de Caceres , and the Palicio de Caceres , with the obligatory lengthy tour only conducted in Spanish , and clutching a much shorter leaflet in English Beautiful lalique vases, Louise XV ballroom furniture, exquisite chandeliers... Caceres was a film set for GoT TV series ... Back to camp site for catching up on emails, a swim and delicious tea cooked by Andy, ratatouille and soya burger, TV download of Black Earth Rising, and to bed, another warm, stuffy night.

Our own personal wet room at the camp site. Every plot had one!

King's Landing?

 

Wednesday 26 th Sept

Delicious full buffet breakfast to chose from at the hotel. Drove into Merida and parked on the Car Park /Aire site (6€ per day, 12€ per night if you stay over, 15€ with electricity). Car park attendant (pleasant but spoke no English). Parking says libre outside but it isn't.   No shade for vans, but very convenient for the Roman ruins which are all within walking distance - one ticket covers all sites (15 € or €7.50 over 65) 5 minutes from the parking to walk to the ruins of the Roman chariot racing stadium where 7 lap races (representing the days of the week) were held, max of 12 chariots a race (months of year etc).

The race track

 Merida was a province under the dominium of Rome , and the ruler was Augustus Emeritus , racing Iberian horses, the fastest and sleekest. Awe inspiring. We walked to the Palastra and baths where young men used to wrestle and hang out and spotted some of the aquaduct ruins carrying water into the town.

The aquaduct

The gladiatorial arena

The amphitheatre - now kitted out for modern productions!

Next the Roman gladiator theatre ruins where gladiators fought animals and each other; we ducked down into the cavelike area where the gladiators waited to come out and then walked out from there into the wide open combat space , it was a terrifying feeling ! Next to it , was the Roman amphitheatre which seated 5500 with 2 storeys of columns framing a stage for cheering at the emperor's processions ( when he visited) . We walked past the public Forum and around the temple of Diana ( the huntress) all in the centre of town and walked half way across the longest most ancient Roman bridge in the world, witnessed the Alcazar fortress ruins, and then back into town for the huge Merida Museum ( extra 3€ each and totally worth it ) A fabulous huge building architecturally, with Roman house ruins in the crypt , artefacts and statues and amazingly enormous mozaics on the top two floors 

The museum

Floor mosaic

Caceres street

Being somewhat sight seen out , we had a 3 course lunch for €10 each, fans spraying cold mist , and drove 47 miles north to Caceres , a Moorish attractive Walled old town in a large city (UNESCO world heritage site) We parked up at Caceres Aire, again well situated for walking into the old quarter, but whilst the Aire itself was very pleasant, (entrance framed by trees and a grassy area ) there were only 12 spaces, and by the time we arrived at 3.30 pm every space had been filled apart from the one right next to a locked gate with overflowing large rubbish bins and it smelled strongly of urine as it was a space right next to the service area, where human waste is disposed of by campervans. Cramped spaces on one side of the Aire, very big spaces opposite side, more spaces just up above the Aire near the football area, but these are reserved for coaches, and we learned that if you use them you can get moved on by the Police or maybe not.   We parked up purely to enable us to walk into town, a 10min walk because we hadn't had enough sight seeing that day (of course), and spent from 4 pm-7.30 wondering around the city, touring the Iglesio de Santa Maria, climbing to the bell tower and deafening ourselves by waiting for the 6pm big bell chimes. We went to the Tourist office and chatted to the guy who spoke very good English about his experience of WOMAD in Carceres which has lost its edge, he thinks, in recent years, and then we got lost in the Jewish quarter.  Drove to the camp site 5k out of town to find to our delight that this camp site has elected to keep its 35m swimming pool OPEN because of the very hot weather. How about that ...! We also got our very own wet room toilet, wash basin, mirror with our own key, cold water tap and sink outside, electricity, shade table and chairs, ACSI card only 18 euros per night for the lot.  Went for a quick swim and a couple of drinks at the bar after a very full on day.

Tuesday 25th September Left Cazagelas camp site at 10 Drove up and over hills N502 800m through famed very smart ceramics city Talavera de la Reina where we made a much needed shopping stop ( we always take ages) on the outskirts at the Carre four supermarket The drive was very wiggly, steep and very scenic at the top We stopped off at the only campsite for Merida and found it both flyblown, very run down and suffocatingly hot with the air full of bitey insects and dogs howling nearby, with no public transport access to Merida itself. We took the decision to stay in a hotel and opted for a four star TRYP hotel 15 mins walk from town , we had a suite , full air con ( bliss) a jacuzzi bath for two, a lounge balcony and comfy bed I was very weary and wanted to take advantage of the comfort of air conditioned life at the hotel ( pool closed as usual, crazy in 35 degrees heat ) so we are in the hotel cafe, watched TV and swanned around in hotel robes The bed was wonderfully spacious and comfortable .

Monday 24th September

Drove from Toledo 75 mins west to a lake / reservoir where we could swim to cool off (if the campsite pool was closed ) and stayed overnight at camping Cazalegas, an out of season holiday camp resort Very hot in the afternoon, besieged by wasps and flies on our pitch , we sought respite swimming in the sandy bottomed warm shallow lake and read novels with our feet dangling in the water , lovely . Beautiful sunset over the lake Very tired after the sight seeing in Toledo yesterday ,where the night had been disrupted by the screams, shouts and general hullabaloo of a traveller family pitched near to us A very welcome respite stay . Very friendly if somewhat disorganised reception staff Heated reasonably clean new shower block, more bins around the site would have made for less litter.

Good sunset over the lake!

Sat 22 Sept

Left Madrid after an early morning shop in the local market , no English spoken but managed to get the items we needed to stock up ( through gesticulating and the odd word hazily and sleepily remembered ) Booked ourselves into a smart campsite perched on a hill called El Greco in Toledo ( Don Quixote country ) about an hour south of Madrid. Tragically , the 25 m swimming pool with stunning views of Toledo (a UNESCO World heritage site) , proved out of bounds , (closed since Sept 10!) Not great news as we have hit a heatwave (35 degrees in the afternoon ) and it's too hot for sight seeing , so we did the laundry, stayed cool with wetted scarves around shoulders ( me ) and beer (Andy ). We went into Toledo for a few hours in the late afternoon ( see later ) We decided to eat out at the campsite restaurant in the evening , which, whilst more expensive than most, ( comparable to the price of eating out in the UK ) was tasty, plentiful and beautifully prepared (goats cheese salad and grilled mixed vegetables- yum ..). Fewer flies and mozzies here and a blissfully quiet campsite, with slightly fierce reception staff , but hot ( and cold ) showers in the slightly worn washing but clean block, (with loo paper, soap, hand driers and sink plugs!) and best of all, no maintenance staff wielding chainsaws or lawnmowers on the go. No supermarket on this site, (garage 10 mins down the road sells bread). We are making sure that the next campsite has access to lake side swimming as this heat wave shows little sign of letting up... Re our late afternoon adventure, we caught the number 72 bus from outside the campsite, a 10 minute air conditioned bus journey 1.40 € each way (T is a Unesco world heritage site).  We visited an exhibition of Roman/ medieval giant catapults and battering rams (Andy's choice - a source of all modern engineering ) and then on to the enormous cathedral ( my call ) , second only in Spain to the splendour of Sevilla in Gothic architecture. There was a big wedding going on whilst we wandered around, with everyone dressed to the nines, the guys all in tight mid blue suits and sunglasses, it felt like we had stumbled onto a film set (from The Godfather, Andy thought). Toledo is famous for steel and the Crusades so there were lots of swords,  penknives, suits of armour in the shops, (and many tourists and their tour guides winding their way through the old Jewish quarter).   And so at the end of a long day, we sank gratefully into bed, me finishing off Rowling's 4 th Cormoran Strike book ' lethal white' (absorbing, uneven, meandering, and an irritatingly self-denigrating female lead) and Andy finished off Steph Penney 's Under a Pole Star (strong plot, lots of sex, woman centred adventuress) so take your pick ...

OTT cathedral

Battering ram

The centrepiece

Friday 21 Sept

Left the campsite at 9 00 am and drove 4.30 hours to Madrid We camped in Valdebernardo, on a long -stay free huge supermarket car park, where there were a few other vans parked overnight, but mostly it housed Spanish motorhomes parked there long term it seemed We caught the metro in to Madrid,a very handsome city, see a couple of photos taken of some buildings en route to El Prado. We took the metro on line 9, changed to line 2 , got out at Sol and then had a 10 minute walk to El Prado museum at 4.30pm in suffocating heat. What an elegant city! One large very crowded cafe had big fans sprinkling water mists onto grateful tourists... In El Prado ,we appreciated the main artists Velasquez,('Ladies in waiting' and El Greco ) and his good mate, Rubens, Breughel the elder, El Greco and the hallucinatory Hieronymous Bosch and his amazingly surrealistic triptych (4 centuries before Dali came on the scene). We were very tired (El Prado is a a really confusing museum to navigate around, guides offer to show you round privately for 20€ per hour and after 3 hours of the place we wished we had invested in one), so we made our way back to the supermarket car park (van unvandalised despite my concerns , so Andy's confidence was vindicated (this time!)). Beans on toast and bed. Very little air in the van and a fitful sleep. Andy's bashed knee is slowly healing, sympathy still welcome).

Madrid

Add caption

 

Knee damage, now well on the way to healing!

Thursday 20th September

Went for a morning short walk around this beautiful lake/ reservoir, using the national cycle route which runs right by the camp , scrub, semi desert terrain, many Westerns filmed here ( most recently the Freres brothers, due out Nov in UK) Enjoying this comfortable , clean campsite at Lake Caspe, with its long outdoor swimming pool and swimming in the cool lake as temperatures hit 32 degrees . Friendly neighbours on site. Campsite fully booked at the weekend as there is an annual motorcycle grand Prix event in nearby Alcaniz (40 k away). Lots of motorboats and fishing on this lake at weekends. The reservoir is filled with enormous Catfish (100 kilos), but very quiet mid week and no maintenance men with chain saws, so appreciated a well-deserved rest. The sun brings out so many flies in the day, one is constantly batting them away, however, come 7 pm,they all mysteriously disappear... Treated ourselves to an evening menu d'el dia meal in the campsite restaurant, delightful, pretty, shady, few flies, £12.OO each for 3 course meal, drinks and coffee, tasty and good value, vegetarian options made possible. Early rising tomorrow as we make a big push to Madrid across the middle of Spain.

Camp site bar with trees. Highly recommend Lake Caspe Camping, Aragon

Lake Caspe

Wednesday 19 Sept Andy went for an early morning 9 km run around the lake , I meditated and went to the gym/ small pool . Andy returned wounded , having tripped up en route , sustaining grazed and bruised knees, chest and elbow. He improvised a knee bandage out of one of my clean old running socks. The campsite was great, but the noise of chainsaws in the field behind the vans ( nothing the camp site could do about it ) drove us ( ok, me ). on to seek a quieter experience .We found a campsite 90 mins on , on the inland Sea of Aragon, Lake Caspe , shady pitches , great open air swimming pool still open (hurrah) , lush grass, loungers and shade and a lake which proved much easier to access (shuffling forward on your bottom over the large pebbles /small rocks ) than the last one, swimming out to the diving platform and back,magical. Watched Real Madrid v Roma on a large screen at the cafe   this evening with Welsh striker Gareth Bale doing his stuff for RM. 30c in the day , so the cool of the evening is very welcome .We like this site so will stay another night to let Andy's injuries heal .

Tuesday 18 Sept

Left at 10.30am ( camping gran sol) and took the road towards Lleida, and turned off the N211 to reach a campsite 9 km off the beaten track for some peace and traffic- free quiet. En route we encountered some magnificent limestone jagged cliffs , rising from the valley floor, a large, mature, seemingly endless blue green winding river to the left , dammed and ending in a lake ....Dinosaur fossil country ... Stopped off for a walk near Oliana a tour of four springs , only one was working , a trickle .. Stunning views but too tough a walk (for me).  Stocked up in Oliana where we found a freshly painted mural wall tribute to Angelita, the patron of the only cinema in Oliana which had to close down. Stopped at a large campsite mid afternoon 'la noguera ' at the foot of Lac Sant Llorenc de Montgai, with a small gym and small indoor heated pool (the outdoor ones all close on 15 Sept unless sites apply for a special license we were told). Spotless facilities and v friendly staff. Sadly commercial radio was piped through the complex (cafe, bar and pool).  Andy went for an evening swim in the reservoir outside the gates but the climbing in and out looked too precipitous for me, so I stuck to the tiny pool . Slept well .

Tribute to Angelita

Springs only producing a trickle after the dry summer

View over Oliana

Monday 17 th September

Not allowed to use St Joan de Les Abedesses Aire facilities to dispose waste, take on water etc until 10.00 am (council clear the bins and clean toilet before then, and the workers congregate for breakfast). Off to Ripoll Aire/ large car park, 10 mins down the valley, a Spanish Via Verde cycle route runs right behind it (disused railway line ) with a cafe/ restaurant. We went for a farewell coffee with Grant and Andrea (thank you for the converter electric plug Grant). Huge monastery at Ripoll, completed half of a town walk of this interesting large working town at the confluence of two rivers, and then set off for a trip up into the Catalan hills. Splendiferous wooded hills, climbed to 1700 m , past ski ing resort La Molina and down to the head of one valley to Puigcerda then on to La Seu d'Arguell , and a 2 star roadside campsite (the Aire was a car park on a wasteland on the outskirts surrounded by mesh wire fencing, it felt a bit like a prison camp, hence decision to camp).  Camping Gran Sol 2 star site by main road, shady large pitches swimming pool closed sadly but grateful for a cool shower and a chance to do more laundry .the Night time traffic and local factory guard dogs barking weren't loud enough disturb our sleep.

Aire in St Joan De Les Abadesses

Park in Puigcerda

Pass on the N260 Ripoll - Puigcerda

Sunday 16th September

Moved to St Joan de Les Abadesses walled village in the foothills of the Catalan Pyrenees founded in the 12th century by Wilfred the Hairy (!). Visited the monastery - originally an abbey of Benedictine nuns for several hundred years until they were supplanted by Augustine monks, (mates of the King), who ejected them for immoral practices 😶. Stayed on an attractive Aire car park (one of 3 up a hill) with vistas of the town and the hills around, at one end of a high arched bridge leading into the old town.  Applauded the returning runners from their annual 20/40 k run ascending 2000 metres (can you imagine that ?). Fiesta atmosphere in town as the run finished here. Met Grant and Andrea, full time motorhomers for the last 12 years, friendly, helpful and full of tips on good places to stay on our route, a pleasure to meet them. A walk by the riverside under the bridges.  Rainstorms late afternoon and evening, finished reading 'The Mars Room' by Rachel Kuchner, highly recommended.

New bridge

Old bridge design, but rebuilt after it was destroyed in the civil war.

International language!

Sat 15 September

Early morning dip in the sea.  18 € per night with ACSI card at La Gaviotta campsite highly recommended.

30 minutes drive to Figueres to look around the Salvador Dali museum. Parked in a supermarket which allowed campervans and walked a km to the museum. I was drawn more towards the Antoni Pitxot rock paintings exhibited there, than the Salvador Dali paintings. From the crowds there, I think I was in the minority. Worth a visit none the less to view the excessive surrealness of it all!

Dali museum

Sraddabaha and a Pitxot painting

 On to the Catalan Pyrenees, further 60 minutes journey, stayed overnight in car park in Besalu an attractive walled medieval town with a scenic Jewish quarter. Disrupted nights sleep - traffic and dogs barking!

Besalu

Catalan nationalist symbols and banners everywhere