Safe Return Doubtful

Early on Sunday morning up at the Chapel, just after breakfast two cars pulled up for their drivers to exchange vehicles. They had three dogs with them, the two smaller ones came over to be friendly with Roja. Soon after the other, a male fifty kilo mastiff came over and almost immediately attacked Roja. Fortunately the dogs took hold of him with his jaw at the back of the neck, but wouldn’t let go. Its owner and I tried for what seemed longer but was probably only a couple of minutes to get him off. We did so, and Roja was shocked but unharmed physically, though I took a bite from him, Roja, on the hand, in his desperation. The two guys were helpful. We checked Roja carefully, and he was fine, but my hand needed treatment, so in due course, I made the trip to the emergency room at Arganil, thirty minutes away. There were some other people there awaiting treatment, but I was quickly through, in just over an hour. The teeth had bitten deeply, and being an animal bite they don’t close the wound, just clean it, and administer a tetanus and antibiotics. 

It was an unpleasant incident, but one that can happen between two intact male dogs. The owner had a local olive farm and called past a couple of times during the day to check all was well. My activities for the day were delayed, but resumed after something of a two hour hiatus. 

We stayed up at the Chapel for four nights. In the week though the Chapel itself is not used very much, its grounds are used by locals for various activities; a woman came regularly to do yoga, another just to listen to music and take coffee, a guy ran soccer skills sessions for kids as an ‘after-school’ club; it’s not directly lit but there is some light from the surrounding buildings. I wanted to complete the circular hike around the local olive groves and the waterfalls of the area, the GR21 which links several Schist villages, and I did in two halves, on Saturday and Monday mornings. Leaving for the second part of the hike on the Monday morning took me down to the village of Benfeita. A lot of English people live around here, quite a few young families, and a few older folk as well. I met one such guy at the small shop, starting his first beer of the day at 10 am, who confirmed with me the route o was taking, and said that the dog of the olive farmer that had attacked Roja had previous history of that sort of behaviour, which made sense. Between us, Roja and I, we have met more dogs on our travels than most, and pretty much none of them have caused any issue until now. 

Another reason I stayed four nights is that the hospital in Arganil had arranged for the medical centre in Coja, which is nearer, to change the dressing on my hand. That was done this morning, Tuesday, and again was extremely quick and impressively conducted. I walked into Coja to use the grocery store and again was surprised by how many British people live here. I met an English woman in her late middle age parked next to me in a French campervan who was doing her recycling at the same time as me, and we chatted for a while. She had originally come out in her van, but since settled and lived nearby. In the pedestrianised area in the middle of town there were two older English guys enjoying a beer before lunch. 

The weather changed over the weekend. The high pressure that gave clear warm days and cold nights has gone, replaced by more typical conditions from the ocean to the west, wind, occasionally strong, rain and showers, and much warmer, in the mid teens. I’ve moved into the Alva valley, close to the village of Barril de Alva, where there is a free campervan area next to the river and some hiking and biking trails. There are three other vans here, two from the Netherlands and one from Estonia. The blue van opposite has a dog, so we spoke just to be sure the dogs were fine together, as again it was two intact makes. They were fine. The owner is a young Dutch girl who also lives in her van, working online, and is here doe somewhere a bit warmer, not a lot warmer like further south, and quiet, which this certainly is. 

I’ll be here for a few days. Just a few kilometres away is the medical centre at Coja where they have kindly offered to change the dressing on my hand again on Friday, and maybe into next week. It’s an ideal place though, as the weather higher up in the mountains is colder and wetter at the moment, and there are plenty of hiking and biking opportunities from the camp.