2 October 2022 - Valencea and the Costa Verde

Miles driven today = 47

Total Miles to date = 1,878

We've made it to Portugal!  The River Minho forms the western section of the northern border between Portugal and Spain and so from our starting point this morning on its northern banks we headed upstream.  We ignored the first crossing point and continued to the town of Tui, steaming over the bridge and into Portugal at 50mph.  

As soon as we had crossed we took the slip road to Valenca and within a couple of minutes we were parked up beside the fortress walls, which completely encircle the old town.

The first defensive walls were built around the town in the 13th century but what we can see nowadays is what the Rough Guide describes as a "classic piece of 17th century military engineering". 

The angled double ramparts enabled the defending forces to catch any potential attackers in a cross fire and they successfully repelled numerous attacks in times when cross border relationships with the Spanish were less cordial.

There is only one vehicle access to the entire fortress, which is split in two by a deep moat and connected by a stone bridge with a traffic light system alternately giving vehicles and pedestrians right of way to cross between the two parts of the town.

Most of the buildings within the fortress are now given over to retail and restaurants.  There are the expected tourist tat shops but also lots of clothing and bedding stores.  You can buy towels by the kilo.  Lisa tried on a couple of jackets but ended up with a long sleeved Tshirt and some new socks.

There are at least 4 churches within the fortress walls.

These two were built right next door to one another.

I'm sure we will see plenty more of these tiled houses as we travel through Portugal but these were the first we have spotted.

Looking out across the Minho, the bridge in the foreground was designed by Gustav Eiffel.  He of the big pointy thing in Paris fame.  Beyond that is the Spanish town of Tui.

We are now back in the same time zone as the UK. You could say we have effectively gained an hour by putting our watches back but as far as we were concerned it just meant it was an extra hour to wait for cafes to start serving lunch so we decided to move on.

It's been a gloriously warm day with temperatures peaking in the mid 20s so we decided to take the N13, which follows the south bank of the river heading back towards the coast.  We passed through the pleasant looking towns of  Vila Nova de Ceveira and Caminha.  As we approached the latter we could see the campsite we started at this morning on the other side of the river so we had effectively driven more than 30 miles to travel a distance of less than one.

We continued for a few more miles down the coast to the village of Carecco where we took one of a number of bone rattling cobbled tracks down to the beach.

The top of the beach here is nice and sandy, although Lisa got a shock when we sat down near the high tide mark as the sand is absolutely full of sandhoppers randomly pinging themselves around when they are disturbed.

There is a small inlet where you could probably swim or land a small boat at high tide but otherwise its very rocky with lots of these amazing rock pools to explore.

There is a coastal path which forms part of the Portuguese version of the Camino de Santiago.  From here it leads all the way to the next town of Viana do Castelo.  We walked the first couple of kilometres of it this afternoon.

We spotted plenty of lizards scuttling along the path, our first wild cactus and this stunning swallowtail butterfly.

At the point we turned around there was this renovated windmill.  We could see a couple more of these a little further along the path and can only imagine how fantastic they must have looked in their heyday.

Wild camping in Portugal was officially banned in January 2021.  This decision has since been repealed, all be it that the repeal is yet to be ratified in Law.  In practice it seems that we can wild camp without risking a knock from the authorities anywhere other than National Parks and the Algarve.  

So hopefully we'll be OK here now that we are officially out of season.  Lisa had a chat with a German girl who is basically camping in her car.  She's been here 4 nights and reckons other vans have come and gone without a problem.  Given its been a sunny Sunday there have been quite a few cars come here this afternoon but now the sun has set its going to be another night of just having the sound of the waves to ease us to sleep.

We're planning on heading inland for a bit tomorrow and the long term forecast is set fair.  Loving this transient lifestyle.

3 October 2022 - The Limia Valley