The day started with a castle sunrise, and ended with a castle sunset. But the bit in between turned to shit very quickly.

It started well. We were both feeling great after our rest day. I was navigating beautiful back roads through cork oak trees. We even saw some guys harvesting the cork. But we needed supplies.

There was a shop coming up in a small town. We decided we would wait until the Lidl in a bigger town further on. Then we changed our mind. Then changed it back again. Then we turned right when we should have turned left.

Big mistake, as we suddenly found ourselves on a main road. But what happened next was way worse!

Mike went to do a U-turn when there was this almighty explosion and I was covered in glass.

WTF!

I sat there trying to process what had just happened.

Then I saw it.

My side window had shattered, with bits of glass still clinging in place.

“FUCK,” I said.

I opened the door and some of it tinkled onto the ground and it was all over my seat. It was a mess!

I closed the door and some more glass crashed down . I don’t think I’ve ever seen so much broken glass!

The first thought that entered my mind was, this could seriously ruin our day. How on earth were we going to get that fixed?

Some guys had been strimming on the side of the road and a rock had flown up and smashed my window.

Mike got out of the car and started swearing at the guys in English. They swore back in Portuguese. How could they think this was our fault? Meanwhile, I was a shivering, shaking mess. Trucks and cars continued to barrel past, not even slowing down.

The guys didn’t speak a word of English, and we didn’t speak a word of Portuguese, except for “Olá”. Anyway, we asked them to call the police. Polícia – that’s a new word I now know.

The police turned up and we communicated using our phones. He told us we should not have turned there because of a solid white line. But we were turning into a driveway, so it seemed legit to me. And the guys really should have stopped strimming when they saw us.

The local policeman was very nice and rang a glass place about 20 minutes away. They couldn’t get a spare window, but they could put a film on it. So we brushed all the glass away as best we could and drove there.

It was a fast road, and not very nice with my window wide open and the breeze rushing in. We arrived at the glass fitting place, but he couldn’t fit the film until 2 pm. It was 12.45.

So we went to the nearby Mercedes dealer in the hope they might be able to find us a window. Thankfully, a man there spoke good English. He said they didn’t have a window in stock. I asked if he could see if any other dealers had one. If needed, we could get one ordered near a place we were travelling through.

He grabbed our documents with the VIN number and looked at his computer.

“Oh,” he said. “We might have one here.”

He disappeared upstairs while we twiddled our crossed fingers. He came back and said, “Good news!” Those were the words we wanted to hear.

It turned out someone had ordered the window and never picked it up. Yay for us! He said they couldn’t do it until 3 pm, but there was a good local restaurant we could try for lunch.

So we went to the restaurant. It was very, very busy – the Portuguese like eating out for lunch. There was a choice of buffet or off the menu. The idea of navigating a menu was beyond my cognitive ability at that time, so we chose the buffet, having no idea what it would cost.

There were lots of meats in gravy, potatoes, crisps and some green stuff. I tried a bit of everything and wasn’t too sure about the green stuff. Everything else was really tasty.

And the cost? 36 euros for both of us, including a Coke. I thought that was pretty good.

The window was a different story, though. But we didn’t care, we just wanted it fixed. We sat in the lovely air conditioning at the Mercedes dealer while we waited. A man came and made us a short black. It was pretty nice.

Then the man we spoke to earlier came out and asked what was wrong with the van. Seriously, we’d shown him an hour earlier. He’d gotten the glass for us. A panic rippled through me, wondering if they’d fixed the wrong thing.

But no, something had just gotten lost in translation. The staff thought they were fixing the mirror. But it was just a misunderstanding, and they had the glass for the window and went about fixing it.

We didn’t get Bertie back until 4.30 pm, with the grand total of 300 euros. Nothing is ever cheap at Mercedes, but we were just pleased they were able to fix it. We realised how fortunate we were.

Then we had to do the shopping at long last. This involved going to two supermarkets as Lidl didn’t have what we wanted. What sort of supermarket doesn’t sell AAA batteries?

Anyway, we were finally back on the road by 6 pm. I was absolutely exhausted, shattered like my side window, and a little traumatised by the day. But Mike seemed fine and was happy to drive.

It was 8 pm by the time we got to another old whitewashed town with a castle. The car park for camping cars also had a beautiful view over the lakes below. And as per our new thing, we hiked up to the top to watch the sunset.

This was another amazing town, quite different from the others. It reminded me of those villages in Greece, with the white walls, flowers on the sides and cats on every corner.

Except we only saw one cat, and it decided to take a shit right where we were enjoying the sunset. Then a couple of guys came along and gave us a dirty look, as if we’d made the smell.

Anyway, we moved away from the putrid stench and found a better spot for the sunset. We had a look around the ruins of the castle too. It was absolutely gorgeous and I felt like the day had redeemed itself.

At 9.30 pm we were back at Bertie and it was still stinking hot. So we sat outside and had a beer, watching the last of the remaining light disappear.

Today was a rest day. It was only forecast to be 29 degrees, which seemed like a good excuse to stay put. Not that we needed much convincing. Our camp overlooking Marvão has amazing views, plenty of shade, and we love it here.

We are both feeling a bit flat today and I thought it was just the heat. But we’re coming up to that six-week mark, which I’ve always said is the sweet spot for travel. Up until now everything has been new and exciting, but after six weeks it starts to become normal. You settle into a routine and some of the novelty wears off. Add in the heat and it can be hard to find the motivation to do much. 

Most of the day was spent trying to work out a route south through Spain using the back roads. It sounds simple enough, but it’s proving harder than expected. We have about a week before the temperatures start creeping back towards 40 degrees, so we’d quite like to make some progress before then.

We do actually have a goal, believe it or not, and that’s to reach the southernmost tip of mainland Europe. We made it to the northernmost tip last year, so it feels only right to complete the set.

This evening we walked back up through the narrow streets of Marvão to the castle and watched the sun set once again. The haze from the Sahara dust has made for incredibly orange sunsets, and the whitewashed houses glowed in the evening light. And tonight, the streets were deserted.

We wandered around the castle for a bit, had a poo in their toilets and then found a spot to watch the sun go down. 

And it didn’t disappoint. 

One minute you’re staring at maps wondering where to go next, and the next you’re watching the sun set from a castle overlooking the Portuguese countryside. It was the best way to shake off that flat feeling. Or maybe it was just having a poo.

There were no mad roads today, just normal twisty roads with a white line down the middle for most of it. After the last few weeks it felt very civilised.

The area has now opened up into more farmland. Mike noticed a lot of high wire fences topped with barbed wire. When I googled it, it was apparently to keep wild boar out.

The other thing I’ve noticed a lot in Portugal is houses covered in porcelain tiles. They look really decorative, and when I googled it, apparently the shiny surface helps reflect the heat and also helps insulate the houses. And they look pretty.

I’m getting sick of the frikking heat though. 38 degrees again today. And it feels really oppressive even when it’s only 33 degrees for some reason. Usually 33 is a tolerable temperature, so I googled that too.

Apparently this heat wave is caused by an African heat dome. And the fact that there isn’t even the slightest breeze makes it feel suffocating. That and all that Sahara dust, I guess. Thanks Africa!

So we drove for most of the day in the heat. We did stop at a town which looked neat, up in the hills. There were 450-million-year-old fossils embedded in the rocks. So we took a walk to see if we could find them.

But of course it was the heat of the day. We trudged through the narrow cobblestoned streets, all uphill of course. I can see why all the buildings are made of stones here, as we’ve been driving through fields of rocks for weeks.

At the top, it was then a steep downhill walk to a swimming hole in the rocks and to view the fossils. But we didn’t bring water with us. What were we thinking? So with no water and the heat, we decided we weren’t that keen. Maybe we’ll look at a photo of it instead.

We were ready for lunch, but with Bertie sitting in full sun, we moved on to find a better spot. We re-fuelled the van (expensive in Portugal) and continued on our way with the A/C blasting on full.

I took a little detour down to a river spot, hoping to find some shade so we could eat our lunch. It’s a river that separates Spain and Portugal. Apparently you can sleep on the Spain side, but not the Portugal side.

We found a little spot in the shade to stop and eat overlooking the river. There was a little beach on the river and I found it odd that at 1pm on a Saturday it wasn’t heaving with kids. In NZ it definitely would have been. Maybe they are all chilling out inside in their air conditioning, which is probably the sensible thing to do. Apparently that’s the Portuguese way. Hibernate between 11am and 5pm.

After lunch, we decided to drive to Spain. It was just across a little ford-type bridge, with no sides. But there was no shade in Spain, so we left. A couple of people were there by then, having a swim, and that made it seem more normal.

We drove for the rest of the day, enjoying the cool of Berties A/C. At one point we got onto a narrow road and the police passed us. Then shortly after, Mike noticed them tailgating us. Uh-oh. So when we got to the main road, Mike pulled off to let them past. Thankfully they did.

I was navigating to a town called Marvão. That lady we met from the Lakes District a week back recommended it. I just hoped that it might have cooled down by the time we arrived.

It was 6.30pm by the time I saw it: a village and castle perched on top of the hill. “That’s where we’re going!” I said to Mike. I just hoped there would be space left at the camping car place.

When we arrived I was ridiculously pleased. Not only was there space, there was shade. I could have jumped out and hugged the trees, but the giant ants around here are terrifying. It was still 33 degrees, but manageable out of the sun.

We had dinner. Mike had wraps and I had hummus and crackers and a salad. I can’t remember the last time we cooked! Or ate meat!

Then we waited until 8pm to take a walk up to the castle. It was still 32 degrees at 8pm, and the steep climb up to the town was brutal. But by the time we reached the castle the sky had turned bright orange. It looked like we were in for another beautiful sunset.

And even better, the castle was still open to look around. It’s just ruins, but it was still pretty cool, and an amazing spot to watch the sunset. Unlike the other night when we were all alone, there were a handful of people there to enjoy it with us.

I think I might start a series called Castles at Sunset! We didn’t get back to our van until about 10pm, and it was now cool enough to go inside and have a game of Monopoly Deal before bed.

We’d parked strategically the previous night so we’d be in the shade in the morning. There was no internet coverage where we were in the little village, so we got the starlink out to research our route for the day, and also upload my blog.

Today was mostly a driving day. We took on another suspicious mountain pass. This road was steep and pot-holed, but there was a centre line. I wasn’t sure about it, but up we went anyway. 

Then we came across a village, built steep in the hills. This is always another source of anxiety, having to navigate their narrow cobblestoned streets. We haven’t seen any other campervans or motorhomes for days! They certainly don’t seem to take the same roads as us.

The village wasn’t too bad, but we still drove through it with a few expletives. It’s when you are on a narrow cobbled street and it is steep and going around a corner I get worried. And the way the locals stare at us!

Anyway, strangely enough on this mountain climb there were 3 villages we passed. The third was perched on the edge of the main road. And by main road, I mean enough room for two cars to pass without slowing or pulling over. It was still windy AF, just faster!

I also don’t like to stress Bertie out by running the A/C on the steep uphills, so we were also sweltering. But Google had told us it would be cooler at the top. He lied.

I’d researched that the town at the top was only at 29 degrees, rather than the 36 we were having below, but when we arrived it was still hot at 33 degrees. And that doesn’t sound like a lot, but for some reason it felt oppressive. I think it was the humidity.

So we hopped back in Bertie and headed downhill with the relief of the A/C blasting. We went through a town called Paul, which was exciting for a moment.

With this heat it was either find somewhere and suck it up for the afternoon, or drive until 9pm when the sun goes down. Then I thought, what if I find somewhere with a pool? I started searching for campsites and found one in the town of Fundao with a pool.

But when we arrived, the man on reception was very grumpy and I did not get a good vibe from him. We had a look at the campground and it all had a weird vibe. There seemed to be a lot of permanent people here. 

But it was 5pm and we were both tired, and the entire campground was in shade. And then I looked down and saw the sparkling blue pool below. It was either that or drive until late. So we decided to stay. And it was only 12 euros!

It was a tiered campground and most people were squeezed in up the top, but we chose a spot on the lower tier and we were all alone and it was quite pleasant. Apart from the tent people one tier above us. I wondered if they were living in the tent, an older couple, sitting there, no car.

She came over and was trying to communicate with us, but neither of us know a word of portuguese, except for Ola and Obrigado (thank you). It was weird.

Anyway, the first thing we did was put our togs and headed for the pool.

As I stepped in, it was freezing and I was convinced I heard a ssssss sound as I submerged. You know that sound when you pour cold water on a hot grill? Yeah, pretty sure I heard that.

We spent probably a good hour in and lazing beside the pool, enjoying being cool for a change. 

Then we went back to our camp and sat outside, enjoying being a bit cooler. Then the lady came back and wanted me to sniff her water bottle. I dunno what the heck that was about. Mike declined a sniff and she went away. Like I said, this place is weird.

Then we went for a walk around the camp to see who else was here. I quite like to see what nationalities are about. But they were all mostly Portuguese. We did meet one Englishman, but I think he is living here. 

Then a couple tried to leave in their car. We assumed the barrier would open automatically, but it didn’t. He looked a bit stressed, I tried to find a button to press, but there was none.

The grumpy man who checked us in pressed a remote control to let them out. Great. We’re locked in here! I put the thought out of my mind and we headed back to our camp.

For dinner, Mike had a salad and meat wrap, and I had some left over baguette and some cheese. It’s too hot to cook. Heck, it’s too hot to eat! Then we finished with Mango and yoghurt for desert. Yum Yum.

The other day I was bragging in my blog about stumbling upon a hidden medieval village that nobody knew about. I forgot to mention in yesterday’s blog that, as we were sitting there in the morning having a cup of coffee, Mike spotted five coaches driving up.

As we drove away, we saw they were from Emerald Cruises, the same cruise Lynda is doing with Chrissy! So people do know about it; we were just lucky enough to be there when nobody else was around.

Anyway, back to today.

There is a cycle trail near here that I want to do. It’s the one thing I actually researched before we arrived. But with temperatures forecast to hit 38 degrees, we figured we’d tackle it first thing in the morning.

Unfortunately, this morning we weren’t organised enough. Instead, we went to the library to upload a video, then headed to the midpoint of the trail. The plan was to ride one direction and backtrack, then ride the other direction the next day.

But when we arrived in Tondela, the midpoint, it was too fricking hot to even think about a short ride. So we sat in the shade for a while until the shade disappeared.

We didn’t really like the town we were in, so I navigated to a smaller village where we could also pick up the cycle trail.

The start of the trail was down a very steep hill, and I’m starting to get a bit nervous every time we head down one of these narrow, steep roads. What if there’s nowhere to turn around?

Thankfully, at the bottom there was a little grassy car park right beside the trail.

Then we made a decision we probably should never have made.

We were here, the cycle trail was there, so why not go for a bike ride in the middle of the day?

And it really was the hottest part of the day. The van was showing 40 degrees!

But off we went anyway.

Thankfully, the breeze you get on a bike certainly helps, and there were plenty of shaded sections. It was such a nice trail, extremely smooth, with beautiful views over the Dão River. We were cruising downhill at 18 km/h without even trying. I’d forgotten I much I love riding a bike.

But it was hot, and it would be uphill on the way back. So we turned around at the 6 km mark, not wanting to overdo it, and slogged our way back up.

By the time we got back to the van, we were properly heat-stressed. We dumped the bikes on the ground, climbed inside, and blasted the air conditioning until we’d cooled down enough to put the bikes back on the van.

Then we headed 2 km back to the village where we thought we could spend the night. It was a beautiful little spot with just a few houses, a church, and a river running through it.

There was a little bit of shade in the carpark, and a tap which I dunked my head under like a duck. 

It wasn’t an official place to stay overnight, but we thought we could probably get away with it, so we lay down for a while.

But then the sun shifted and the van was no longer in the shade. I couldn’t bear the heat any longer. Despite drinking plenty of water throughout the day, I had a terrible headache.

There was an official motorhome parking area in the next town, about 20 minutes away, complete with toilets. So we headed there, enjoying the air conditioning along the way.

But when we arrived, it was an ugly town and the toilets were locked. By this point it was already 8:30 pm.

So we headed back to the little village we’d just left. The sun would be gone soon, and hopefully it would start to cool down.

By 10 pm, the temperature had dropped to 27 degrees inside the van, cool enough to sleep.

It’s forecast to be even hotter tomorrow, so we might not get the big bike ride in after all.

Typical.

Today was… interesting.

It started off with a morning grocery shop where we couldn’t find anything, followed by a nice drive. But as we got into the hills, I started feeling claustrophobic. It’s hard to describe, but I just wanted to get out.

We were driving through a glacial valley with mountains surrounding us, and it was that closed-in feeling.

So we headed up. I was reluctant to go up the road as the map showed it was extremely twisty with extreme switchbacks. But Mike said, ‘Let’s go for it.’

And the road didn’t disappoint. It was ridiculously squiggly with steep drop-offs, but at least it was wider than the scary road we were on the other day. It was still a little scary.

At the top were amazing views over the town below, and I instantly felt better being up here. But then, the road I wanted to go on was a dirt track. I saw a couple of cars go up there and a hotel sign, so I thought maybe it was just for a short stretch. Mike didn’t want to go up there, but I didn’t want to backtrack.

So up we went. And it wasn’t just a dirt road. It was steep, twisty, potholed and simply terrifying. In places the surface was so rough we were bouncing along, hoping the bikes didn’t fall off.

Every time the road disappeared over a rise I wished I had’ve listened to Mike. But it was too late. We couldn’t have turned around if we wanted to.

It was so steep that if we’d stalled, we would have been stuck, as I doubt we’d have got started again. Mike was taking it in his stride though, i’m glad he’s a confident driver.

But after about 30 minutes of driving, we made it to the top, where there was indeed a hotel. And the road turned to tarmac. It looked like the road had been washed away and this was just a temporary road over the farmer’s paddock!

But the drive from here was incredible, through fields of giant rocks. I couldn’t stop taking photos of them balancing like they were about to tumble onto the road in front of us. It was freaky.

And the views out over the valley were amazing. But it was 7pm and time to find somewhere to sleep for the night. We deliberated over which way to go before finally choosing a town called Gouveia down in the valley where there was a free spot for campervans.

The drive down was also beautiful. We arrived in the town and drove through the narrow streets while everyone stared at us. This is normal. We wave, they continue to stare, but they never wave back.

We arrived at the freedom camp, and it was perfectly fine, near the centre of the town. But neither of us wanted to stay there. So we navigated to another one about 30 mins away. This one was even worse. It was just a huge unkempt car park on the outskirts of town. Both of us said no to this too.

So we found another place another 30 mins away. That would make it 8.30pm by the time we got there. We wanted to find somewhere before it got dark, and it gets dark at 9pm.

On the outskirts of town was a giant factory, which didn’t look promising. The town itself was ok, and we found the car park. There was a barrier and pay stations, and I didn’t realise we’d have to pay. But the barrier was up.

A local came over to us and told us it was free, so phew. It wasn’t the greatest spot, surrounded by apartment blocks. We were the only ones here, but it felt fine.

We decided on having an early night as we were both shattered. So at 10pm we crawled into bed and had just dropped off to sleep when a banging sound came from outside the van. 

I woke up and looked out the window. On the street above us some men were walking around with sticks. For a second I wondered if we’d chosen a terrible place to park for the night.

I had absolutely no idea what was going on.

Then the drums started.

‘Something’s going on out here,’ I said to Mike, who was softly snoring away.

‘Mumble, mumble, snort,’ he replied.

And then the music started.

‘Come look,’ I said.

So Mike crawled out of bed, rubbed his eyes and peered out the window.

By now, some women in traditional dress were dancing in the street.

I googled what was going on to see if anything special was happening. Turns out 10th June is a special day in Portugal. It’s their national day.

So we both got dressed and went outside to watch. It was a pretty cool way to end the day. I think we finally got to sleep around midnight.

Today I woke up and decided that, as it was such a beautiful spot, we would stay put. There was no shade, but the forecast was only 26°C, so it would be a cooler day.

At 8am we took a walk up through the old town of Castelo Rodrigo. It’s a really neat place: a preserved medieval village high on the hill. As we wandered the narrow streets, I heard snoring reverberating through the stone walls and had to giggle. The town was still asleep.

We climbed a narrow but steep street to the castle, only to find it didn’t open until 9:30am. It only cost €1 to visit, so we decided to come back later.

After exploring the village, we returned to the van and spent the day marvelling at the view while working on a video.

I cooked dinner that night: pizza. A tortilla wrap in the pan, topped with cheese, ham and pickled onion, then another tortilla on top. Toast, flip, and serve. Simple and tasty.

That evening we took another walk around the village in the hope of catching a nice sunset, and it was worth every step.

But first, we had to have a little argument. As we walked up the hill, the sky was already a deep orange, and we had to shade our eyes from the blinding sun.

I saw some amazing light through an archway leading up into the castle and said I wanted to go up there. But Mike was on a mission to walk around the town walls first.

‘But we might miss the sunset,’ I said.

‘Sunset isn’t for another hour,’ he replied and kept on walking. But the entrance to the castle was calling. So we went inside. It looked like the sun was very close to setting, even though Mike insisted it wouldn’t set for at least another 30 minutes. So I Googled it.

Sunset: 2 minutes.

So we grabbed a spot up by the castle to watch it go down, accompanied by a running commentary of ‘I told you so’, ‘we could have missed this’, and so on.

As the sun dipped lower, the sky caught fire and cast a warm glow across the landscape below, and the commentary was replaced with ‘wow’, ‘beautiful’, and ‘glad we didn’t miss this’.

We turned to look at the castle, and its stone walls had turned to gold in the last of the evening light. It was perfect.

We wandered around a little longer afterwards. The village reminded me of Mont Saint-Michel, but without all the tourists. In fact, I’m surprised there are so few visitors here at all. I suppose most people head for the cities and the coast instead.

On one street there were some very little doors, way smaller than Mike. They looked like little hobbit doors and I wondered how often people bonked their heads going into their houses. I decided there and then, I wanted a house with a hobbit door. In a town like this.

There was just some residual light left from the sun, and it cast an eerie glow on the streets. Only a couple of locals were out, going about their evening. The same two old men we’d said hello to that morning, still sitting in the same spot, and another guy calling his cat.

And then I realised we’d forgotten to explore the castle. Maybe tomorrow. We scurried back to the van before we got lost in the dark among the back streets.

Portugal wowed us today.

But to start with, my navigation was off. I navigated us to a town about an hour away, but Google kept trying to send us via this major road. It looked like we had no choice, so we figured we could handle it for 25 minutes. But as soon as we got on it, we had to get off. Too busy. Too fast.

So we ended up taking the squiggly back roads instead, passing lakes, fields of fruit trees, and eventually what looked like an entire field of rocks. Then we headed down another narrow, winding road to the Douro River, an almost 1,000 km river that runs between Spain and Portugal.

We found a wonderful recreational area with toilets and plenty of shade. It was a beautiful spot, with only a couple of other people around. We took a walk in the midday sun: singlets on, no sunscreen, no water. Not exactly our smartest decision. But it was a beautiful walk alongside the Douro. If I’d done that in New Zealand, I would’ve been burnt to a crisp. Here, somehow, it’s fine.

We spent most of the afternoon by the river because it was just so damn nice.

Around 5 pm, we decided it was getting too hot, so we backtracked up the steep road and continued higher to a viewpoint overlooking the Douro far below, along with a dam and power station. We were so high up that eagles were soaring beneath us. For such a spectacular viewpoint, I was surprised to find we were the only ones there.

Unfortunately, we couldn’t stay the night because it was in a national park, so I found another spot about an hour away.

And this is where things got interesting.

We drove through a village with tiny, narrow streets before turning onto the scariest road I have ever been on. It was narrow, winding, ridiculously steep, and had a sheer drop right beside us.

I was freaking out.

Mike couldn’t understand why, until he saw the drop-off for himself. From where we were, you could see the road zigzagging all the way down the mountainside below us. It was probably the craziest road we’ve ever driven.

If another vehicle had come the other way, we would’ve been in trouble. There were very few places, if any, where two vehicles could pass.

At some points Mike was crawling downhill in first gear. You could see the next corner ahead, and beyond it… nothing but a cliff edge. I was gripping my seat for dear life while simultaneously sticking my 360 camera out the window.

Priorities.

Thankfully, we made it to the bottom without seeing another soul on that road.

We rolled into a place called Barco de Alva, right on the Spanish border, and suddenly there were cruise ships everywhere.

Cruise ships?!

This is the first place we’ve been where there’s been any real sign of tourists. Yet there were no people around. So I’m still not entirely sure what was going on there.

From there we continued over another mountain, which turned out to be another beautiful drive. The afternoon light was perfect, and we spent most of it saying “wow” at whatever appeared around the next bend.

Then Mike spotted what looked like castle ruins high on a hill.

As we got closer, sure enough, it was a castle!

And then Google started directing us up towards it.

Turns out… that’s where we’re staying tonight.

Can this day get any better?

Well, yes, it can.

The place we’re staying has the most spectacular views. It’s a free camping area provided by the council, with nice flat parking spots overlooking the countryside and the castle above. And not only does it have dump points, it also has free electricity.

Not a bad way to end a lazy day.

Man, it’s gotten HOT again! We left our campground and headed for a town where there is supposedly a rail trail as we wanted to go for a bike ride.

It was a pleasant drive today, through fields of fruit trees, mainly olives and avocados. The olive trees looked like they were all having a bad hair day. It was only about 1.5 hours drive but by the time we got to the town, it was HOT! 

On the outskirts of town was the best Lidl I had ever been to. It looked like it was brand new and beautifully air conditioned and even had nice toilets. We grabbed a few bits and pieces then headed to the town of Mirandela and parked up in a camping car place for the night. It’s quite a nice spot, beside a park and the river.

But we had trouble finding where the bike ride started and it looked like we’d have to ride mainly on roads. So we lay down for a nap instead. At 5pm, I couldn’t stand the heat in the van any longer so we took a walk alongside the river into the town.

There was a student festival to celebrate the end of the school year, and the town had a great vibe.

We sat down at a bar and ordered some zero beer. I couldn’t believe the price. 3 euros for two beers! So cheap! At that price we decided we could afford two each! It was really tasty too, a Portuguese one. I can see now why so many people sit around outside drinking at bars. We couldn’t afford to do that at home.

Today we booked another night in our campground and decided to explore the area.

I had made a plan to go to a traditional stone village, but first Mike wanted to explore the castle in the nearby town. We followed the signs to the castila, and the next thing we knew, we were driving up a steep cobblestoned street.

Then Google tried to send us to a parking area through a narrow tunnel that Bertie would never fit through!

So we had to turn around on this steep road, doing one hundred-point turns, followed by a terrible burning smell. I really hoped we hadn’t just wrecked our clutch!

We parked down the bottom and walked up to the castle. Bragança Castle isn’t just a castle; it has an entire medieval town inside its walls, with people still living here. The castle walls are still intact, and we were able to walk around them, and then through the little village itself. There were mostly old people living here, going about their day. For the second time on this trip, I feel like I’m imposing on people’s lives here.

Then we tried to do some shopping. The first obstacle was finding parking. This town is not campervan-friendly, with tiny car parks. The first supermarket we tried didn’t have anything we wanted. So we tried Lidl, but the queues at the checkouts were horrendous. I didn’t want to spend the nice day queueing, so we escaped. Quickly.

And then we took a drive to one of the most unusual villages in Europe because it is split between Portugal and Spain. On the Portuguese side it’s called Rio de Onor; on the Spanish side it’s known as Rihonor de Castilla. The two halves are separated only by a small stream.

We followed the narrow lanes between traditional granite houses topped with slate roofs, peeking down quiet side streets while trying not to be too nosy, as there are a few elderly residents here. It’s not a tourist destination as such, just a little town on the border, which made it feel authentic.

After that we followed the back roads to our camp. And this was almost a mistake. At one town, the streets were so narrow I thought we were going to scrape Bertie’s sides. I was simultaneously holding my breath while swearing and barking orders at Mike.

But we made it through and continued our drive through the Portuguese countryside of olive trees, cherry trees and wineries.

Back at camp, a couple had just driven in in their three-wheeler open-top car. A light blue Morgan. It was very cool; they had all their camping gear strapped on the back. There was barely enough room for the two of them to sit side by side.

We saw the UK plate, so got chatting to them. They are from the Lake District, so I had to tell them about my sisters doing the Coast to Coast. Apparently, the walk goes right by their village of Bampton.

That night we decided to eat in the camp restaurant as it had good reviews. We both ordered local dishes. Mike had the wild boar and I had the roast pork. Mike really enjoyed his, but mine was just OK. I guess I was imagining a roast from the roast shop. It was nothing like that.

It’s been another beautiful day and not too hot.