We left Llanes in Northern Spain yesterday and travelled to Porto in Portugal, across country. It has been very interesting observing the driving habits in the countries we have visited; in France they follow the (sensible) rules, in Spain they almost follow the rules, it would appear that in Portugal, rules are simply guidelines. We also didn’t realise there was an hour difference between the two countries which caused much confusion. We arrived at our chosen campsite with R suffering from terrible man flu, having consumed several gins he fell asleep at 8pm.
It seemed to be raining all night with loud splashes on the roof and at 7 o’clock I was rudely awoken by what sounded like an air raid siren, obviously I panicked a bit but nobody else seemed bothered. I got out of bed only to find that there was a heavy sea mist which meant you couldn’t see further than your hand, I guess this was what the siren was for and explained the actual foghorns in the night. The mist had caused condensation on the Eucalyptus trees which covered the site, to sound like rain as it fell in the night. (I didn’t realise Eucalyptus seeds look like little buttons all ready to be sewn on.) We decided not to bother sightseeing in Porto as we couldn’t see anything and pressed on.
We travelled the length of Portugal today which means we have travelled about 750 miles in 2 days and the scenery has been spectacular, at one point we found an altimeter on the phone because our ears were popping, we were 1.5 km high and travelling across endless plains, as flat as Norfolk, we passed mountains and reservoirs and watched the environment change from green to red to brown. The most surprising thing for me were the rice fields, miles of them, I think I forgot that rice can grow in Europe. We saw flocks of storks circling on thermals looking for all intents like synchronised swimmers in the air. Their nests were perched on top of the electricity pylons like messy miniature haystacks, it was a lot to take in.
Portuguese is actually double dutch, I don’t think Jose Mourinho is here, the drivers are crap and I can’t see the sea from the campsite so nul points so far Portugal.