Safe Return Doubtful

Day 36 – to Rio Truchillas, Truchas, León There was a Guardia Civil car browsing around yesterday. They looked so bored that I had a chat with them. They said that overnight sleeping was not allowed only in the parking areas marked with signs, here in the Sanabria National Park.…

Day 35 – to San Martín de Castañeda Greenland sets the example by no longer changing its clocks to summer-time. They began today. Both the dog and I were more unsettled than usual with the change as we had just come into Spain from Portugal the previous day, and gained…

Day 34 – at Ribadelago There was a disaster here on the early morning of January 9th, 1959 when the dam on the River Tara failed, releasing water from the Vega de Tera reservoir. A total of 144 of the 664 residents of the village were killed. On a quiet…

Day 33 – to Ribadelago, Santabria National Park, Spain Another day, another national park, but that wasn’t really the story of the day, which was much more humorous. About 7 pm last night I was surprised when another van pulled in, next door to me. Surprised, because I have seen…

Day 32 – to Montesinho No mountains this morning. Or at least no evidence of any. They may have been lurking behind the cloud, but it wasn’t the sort of day to go looking. 4C – light drizzle. I wandered to the cafe in the village for coffee, as has…

Day 31 – yet again at Pitões das Júnias A much cooler day here, single figure Celsius, with the sun rarely poking through the cloud, so a good chance this afternoon to catch up on a bit of business with some book reviews, and planning of the next few days.…

Day 30 – still at Pitões das Júnias Pitões continues to grow on me. Just occasionally, I come across places which I think would be appealing to live, and this is such a place. The hot summer days have much cooler evenings. Winter brings snow occasionally, but it’s is a…

Day 29 – at Pitões das Júnias Mornings after a coffee I recline on the side seat with the van door open and read for an hour or so. Here in rural Portugal, I am usually disturbed at some time, by a cow, a goat, or a dog, all very…

Day 28 – to Pitões das Júnias The various weather forecasts I use all tend to be a bit pessimistic about conditions. They use a percentage when predicting rain, and I am never sure that if for economy it is 60%, whether that means there is a 60% chance of…

Day 27 – at Fafião I’ve done quite a few kilometre of the GR50 in the last three weeks. It’s the Grand Route of Pineda-Geres and would be a tremendous long distance footpath to walk in its entirety, 190 kilometres in all. It has its own website, https://www.walkingpenedageres.pt/en/grande-rota/. Today I…