North Portugal, Spain & Home

Thursday 15th November Day 70: Winds were very light.. We loaded ourselves up with kite gear and set off on our bikes to the beach. The wind seemed even lighter on the beach than at the van. SJ used the frenzy while I set up the large scorpion. After ½ hr of running around I got the kite in the air. We both practiced some riding blind etc. The wind picked up enough to try some unhooked rotations but it wasn’t much fun. In the evening we went into town to escape the van. We found a restaurant and ate some really good fish.

Friday 16th November Day 71: We left Peniche. The wind seemed to have moved to an easterly which A) meant gusts B) v little beach to ride on C) fookin cold. I didn’t sign up for this sort of cold! We made our way to a campsite in Madelena just south of Porto. There is a nice beach here, useless for kiting tho.. It seems to be much colder and I am not looking forward to the next couple of weeks of campsite showers. They are generally ok but the shower blocks are usually devoid of heating and windows, not good.

Saturday 17th November Day 72: Went into Porto to have a look. Interesting journey in through v narrow streets you wouldn’t want to drive a car along let alone a bus! Beautiful city in the sunshine. Looked at lots of churches again, did a bit of light clothes shopping. Ste was v pleased to find a suitable man bag and winter coat. Wandered across the awesome iron bridge on the upper level and then down to the river side for some lunch in the sunshine. Took a tour of a port lodge in the afternoon and did some tasting. Ste had to take the camera off me as I kept taking the same photo of the houses on the edge of the Douro in different light. Got the bus back, Ste was going
green because of the twisty journey and greasy lunch.

Sunday 18th November Day 73: Had a run along the wooden walkways by the beach before leaving Madalena. Drove North first stop Esposende. Saw some interesting motorbike racing on the motorway, apparently a big biker community North of Porto. Esposende was very pretty river estuary, again another awesome flat water spot had there been any wind. Hazy sunshine and cold today. After lunch drove on to Viana. Campsite is right next to beach and we were lucky enough to get a brief evening session as the wind had picked up a bit. Pleased able to do first 540 back rolls to toeside. V cold in evening had to try and warm up van with hairdryer.

Monday 19th November Day 74: V bad night sleep after being terrorised til 4am by kamikaze mosquito. Don’t know where the bugger kept hiding but he escaped Steve twice and me once, though without my contact lenses there was v little chance of hitting him. Discovered he’d got Steve in the end just to the right of the eyebrow. Had porridge for brekkie it was so cold. Pissing it down pretty much all day, got stuck at the toilet block when light rain turned into downpour. Brief trip to supermarket and rest of day in the van. Finally persuaded Steve to put the heating on, no longer have to rely on heat from one candle and the hairdryer. Awesome hot air system had the van up to a nice temperature in no time. Found and executed mosquito.

Tuesday 20th November Day 75: Got up to bright sunshine. Didn’t last for long. Had a run and then headed into Viana as tide was in and it started drizzling. Got the little ferry across and spent some time roaming the streets. Nice town with some funky clothes shops. Went up to see the church on top of the hill. Took the funicular up...was frigging scary and vv fast and steep. View from the top was cool, could see the boat yard, the bay and fields behind the sand dunes. Looked a bit like Rio and seems to have a weird tropical microclimate, probably why there are still mosquitoes. After a large pizza for lunch found some internet and booked the ferry home. Sad times but nearing the end of this part of the journey and had enough of nights in the van with zero entertainment.

Wednesday 21st November Day 76: Started the day unsure whether to drive on to Spain or see if the weather cleared and we could get a last session. The sun came out so we decided to stay. Spent the morning sorting out all the kit and packing-up kites. After lunch ummed and ahhed about whether to landboard on the small bit of sand available or risk the cold and kitesurf. Steve decided to kitesurf, I ducked out as I had a cold. Ste had a good session in the waves with the 13m instinct edge whilst I worked on my filming skills. He confirmed that it was v cold when he came in, but nothing a hot shower and cup of tea wouldn’t sort out. SD it was indeed very cold, my feet and other appendages were freezing, it was fun tho...

Thursday 22nd November Day 77: We drove out of Viana and up the valley of the Rio Lima into the Peneda Geres national park. The views were v scenic, lots of wooded hills, ye olde style building and terraces with vines on. We stopped when we reached the Spanish border for a couple of photos and then drove on. The scenery changed once we entered Spain, it seemed harsher and there was more deforestation (SD: the Portuguese are very into trees). After a while we reached the Sanabria National Park where we planned to stay the night. It was really picturesque with wooden cabins, lakes and woods everywhere. The weather was a lot colder and there was a dusting of snow on the surrounding hills. Unfortunately the campsite we planned to stay in was closed. We had some pasta and re-fuelled then decided to drive onwards to a campsite a bit South of Leon which was open. Up on the plains the landscape was pretty barren with lots of farming but still pretty nice with the sun setting behind us. When we reached the campsite it looked a touch on the salubrious side so I made Steve go into the “motel” at the side. The place wasn’t very appealing and when he came out we decided to drive onwards until we got tired. After another hour or so we were well and truly in the mountains, getting tired and irritable. We took a turn off the motorway and ended up on a single track road in the outback. With no sign of anywhere suitable to wildcamp Ste took over the driving. We headed back over the motorway to a town which may have a suitable place. There was a huge cement factory with lots of train tracks and after a couple of turnarounds we found somewhere by the railway track where a couple of lorries were parked-up. Finally stopped we cooked up some dinner and then went to sleep.

Friday 23rd November Day 78: We woke-up in Mataporquera with a good view over the frosty mountains. It had been a cold night and there was ice on the puddles on the railway track. The van took a while to warm-up before we had breakfast. Back on the road we were glad we had stopped in the mountains or we would have missed the scenic views of the Picos de Europa on the drive down. It only took an hour or so to reach our final stop before the ferry at Santillana del Mar. This part of Spain is really green and it would be nice to spend some time exploring it when it’s a bit warmer. The mountain biking looks really cool. We had a look round the medieval town and brought some artesan products for presents. The rest of the day was spent eating the remaining food we had and trying to pack some of our stuff.

Saturday 24th November Day 79: It was only an hour or so drive to get to Bilbao. A supposedly stress-free journey before jumping on the ferry. Unfortunately heavy rain during the night meant that the van had little chance of clearing the waterlogged mud and getting back on the tarmac. Our fears were confirmed when the wheels starting spinning. Steve was dispatched to head to the back and push in the rain. With very little weight in the front and a front wheel drive we still weren’t going anywhere. After searching for something to put under the wheels and provide a little grip we got the door mat and tried shoving it under the front tyre. Luckily this did manage to get us moving, and after a couple tries, more pushing and swearing we managed to get onto the tarmac. Relieved that we weren’t going to miss the ferry we drove on to Bilbao. We waited for some time to board the ferry but finally got the van on and found our cabin. We were a little disappointed at the size of the cabin though surprised that it had an en suite. The boat itself had a lot of space and things to do, but little to entertain without parting with your cash. Clientele were predominately booze cruisers whose sole aim was to drink throughout the trip and buy as many cigarettes as possible. Once the sun went down the seas got increasingly rough and Steve started to suffer from sea sickness. After a light meal of salad and fruit we got an early night.

Sunday 25th November Day 80: The disco had only gone on until 2.30am so we had a fairly decent night’s sleep. The sea was calmer and Steve had got his sea legs and so managed a full English for breakfast. We passed the time reading and playing on the PSP and finally got off the ship at Portsmouth at about 7 in the evening. 80 days, 3 countries and 4,000+ miles we were back on home soil.