3 October 2022 - The Limia Valley

Miles driven today = 43

Total Miles to date = 1,921

We had a bit of shopping to do first thing this mornning.  Firstly at Intermarche for all the usual food and drink and then to find ourselves a Potuguese SIM card.  We parked up in Viano do Castelo and made our way to the Estacao Viana shopping centre where we joined the queue at the MEO store.

Our van has an on board "mi-fi" system which boosts SIM card data to allow us to watch movies on the telly and connect to the internet with our laptops.  We had a VOXI SIM card which was recommended by the people who installed the system and we naively assumed that the 25Gb of monthly data we got with that would be available for international roaming.  It isn't as it turns out and we would have to pay an extra £3 a day for the privilege, which we weren't prepared to do.  Instead we've basically done without the telly thus far and used our phones as mobile hotspots to tether our laptops.

As we are now likely to be in one country for best part of a month we decided to bite the bullet and buy a local SIM.  We now have unlimited data for the next 30 days.  It cost €40, which is a bit more than we had hoped to pay but rather than queueing up all over again at the shop next door we paid up and got the hell out of there.  And it works, or at least it seems to have so far.  Fingers crossed.

So on to the the fun stuff of the day.  As I mentioned last night, with the weather looking warm and favourable we decided to head inland for a few days.  Viano do Castelo stands at the mouth of the Limia River and one of the places we've seen recommended for a visit in numerous guides is the town of Ponte de Lima which lies a few miles upriver.  Without thinking I allowed Google Maps to guide me on the quickest route, which was basically the A27 motorway so it wasn't the most scenic of journeys.  Then Google Maps tried to push me down a road with a 2.1 metre headroom.  When I refused it sent me through the centre of the town, which I'm pretty sure isn't allowed for a vehicle of our size judging by the glowering looks we were getting from the locals.  

Eventually we found our way to a large car park on the river bank, close to the bridge from which the town takes its name.  The original bridge was built by the Romans in the 1st Century AD.  

Its medieval replacement was completed circa 1370 and then embellished with paving and merlins in 1504.  It originally had towers at either end but these were demolished along with a lot of the town's other defensive structures in the 19th century to make access easier.  Nowadays the bridge is only open to pedestrian traffic.

Ponte de Lima certainly lives up to its reputation.  It's a lovely town and even on a Monday lunchtime out of season a lot of the cafes and restaurants were doing a steady trade.

As with so many of the towns we have seen recently in Spain and Portugal it is packed with churches and religeous buildings and lots of little back alleys to explore.

This fountain was commissioned by the town council and completed in 1603.  It was paid for by taxes charged on salt and olive oil sold in the village.  It was originally built in a different square in the town but moved to its current position in 1929.  

There are a few of the town's medieval defensive structures which have survived.  This is the Torre de Sao Paulo.

On the tower there are 3 plaques marking the depth that flood waters rose to at various historical points.  The lowest of these was in 1987.  It was roughly head height on me (5ft 7").  The other two dated 1909 and 1959 were considerably higher.

The 16th Century Torre de Cadeia Velha was originally the keep for the town's fortifications and subsequently became the town's jail.

Ponte de Lima claims to have the oldest market charter in Portugal dating back to 1125 and they still hold a huge market here every other Monday.  Not this Monday though it seems as we would probably have had to find somewhere else to park if it was on.  This is the old municipal market which is now home to a selection of popular looking restaurants.

Opposite we found this great statue of folk musicians and dancers in traditional costume.

We wandered back to the van which was shaded by this amazing avenue of old Plain Trees.

Back in the van we continued up the river valley, this time choosing the much more wriggly N203 which took us through a succession of charming hillside villages.  There are also stacks of vineyards round here.  We are in vino verde country, the refreshing white (not green) wine which is drunk when it is still young and slightly effervescent.

We stopped again at Ponte de Barca.  The bridge here has been in place since the 16th century but the "Barca" actually refers to the boat which would have ferried camino pilgrims across the river prior to its construction.

We had a wander up the hill and found Ponte de Barca to be another charming little town and much quieter than its neighbour downstream.

There were a considerable number of motorhomes parked by the river and we considered joining them for the night.  However it had been my intention to push on into the Paneda Geres National Park before we stopped for the day so we set off again in the direction of Campo do Geres, which we understand to be a good jump off point for exploring the area.

I really should have investigated the route more thoroughly because it quickly became apparant that the in order to approach Campo do Geres from where we were would involve a lot of very windy single track roads, so we abandoned that idea and made for the nearest place where we could access the park via the more motorhome friendly N roads.

We've ended up just a little further up the valley from Ponte de Barca at a campsite called "Lima Escape".  It's only €16 a night with hook up on the ACSI card and they do an assortment of adventure activities like kayaking and quad biking, so it's actually surprisingly popular for early October.

We went for a walk down to the river, which is actually dammed a little further downstream so it's probably more accurately described as a lake here.  The road which runs past the campsite entrance used to lead to somewhere long since submerged so it disappears into the water a little further down the hill like a yachting slipway.

We are considering hanging around tomorrow and exploring the area a bit more but we've just realised that the van next door has a young baby on board with an extraordinarily powerful set of lungs, so we'll just have to see how tonight goes before we make a final decision.

4 October 2022 - Peneda Geres National Park