5 October 2022 - Campo do Geres

Miles driven today = 0

Total Miles to date = 1,968

This morning we took ourselves off on another of the walks which we got the details for from the campsite reception.  It makes a tour of the points of interest around the village of Campo de Geres.

Fairly soon we went off piste and wandered up a side path and over a stream via some stepping stones.  There are a number of longer distance paths criss-crossing the countryside here and we had no idea where we were heading so having admired the countryside for a few hundred yards we retraced our steps and rejoined the designated village trail.

The local museum shuts for lunch at 12 noon.  We got there at 12:01!  Never mind though.  Outside on a road junction there is another of these Roman mile markers.  This one has been commandeered by the Catholic Church with a bizarre looking crucifix attached to it's top.  This particular icon looked as though he had been spending far too much time in the gym.

Onwards to an impressively sturdy looking Roman bridge.  Our instructions told us that a short path to the side would lead to some "water mills" but something was definitely lost in translation.

All around us here the scenery is just phenomenal.

To enter the older part of the village the road passes between two huge boulders.

The stones used to build the wall around the church were pinched from the original Roman camp buildings.  Apparantly the original Roman masons' marks are still visible on some of them.

The narrow alleys in the village are festooned with grape vines.  A few grapes may have accidentally fallen into our mouths from those which were overhanging the road on our walk.

We got a couple of new neighbours yesterday evening, one of whom must have only just sneaked in under the wire of the 11pm curfew as we were already tucked up in bed when they arrived.  There's now 4 vans lined up in the €18 a night ACSI card cheap seats but the rest of the site is virtually deserted.  We went for a stroll around the site this afternoon.  There's a great looking little pool with mountain views, mini golf and an adventure playground with climbing walls, zip lines and assault course type stuff for kids to break their necks on.

Today marks exactly one month since we drove off Le Shuttle at Calais and we are therefore excatly one third of the way through the 90 days which I am allowed to stay in the Schengen area.  Sad as it may seem we are therefore having to make arrangements for our return journey before the prices start to go up.  We looked at the possibility of getting a ferry directly back to the UK from either Santander or Bilbao.  It would give us a few extra days in Spain before we needed to start heading north again but prices are hefty, coming in at somewhere in the region of £600.  Discounts are available with the AA and other organisations but it's still a very lumpy sum.  So we've decided to drive all the way back up through France and have booked Le Shuttle for 4th December, which is day 90 exactly.

The rest of the afternoon has been spent putting the World to rights over a couple of cheap Super-Bocks at the campsite bar and giving the van a good sweep out.  It may be chilly at night but even up here in the mountains daytime temperatures are still getting into the low 20s so we've got some steaks out of the freezer and the barbecue is getting another run out this evening.  

6 October 2022 - A fraught driving day