Southern Europe - Day 8

A day of contrasts.

For a change I'm going to start with the Cali comment. Last night up in the mountains it started to really blow. About 4am we both woke up with the van being shaken by the high winds. Up in the roof where we were sleeping the canvas was snapping around violently. At best that was the end of any sleep, at worst we felt the canvas might rip. No worries - the Cali has a bed downstairs too. It only took us 10 minutes to throw the duvet and pillows downstairs, clear all the crap off the parcel shelf and fold out the bed. 5 minutes later we had the roof down and were tucked up and cosy. Downstairs is a smidge smaller but plenty spacious enough and loads warmer with its double glazing than the roof bed with it's tent material. We had a lovely few hours more sleep. A massive plus for the ultra versatile Cali compared to our old A-Team van.

The day dawned with high grey clouds, good visibility but cold. A good day to explore the mountains we were in. We drove up and up and up into the mountains with some spectacular views. It was chilly in the winds but the sun would occasionally peak through and it wasn't raining.

We drove up a stunning glacial valley to the highest peak in Portugal - Torre which means Tower. It is so named because it stands 1993 meters high and some numpty thought that by building a 7 meter tall tower on the top that would make the peak 2000m high. Only in Portugal. Also only in Portugal can you drive to the top and there find a supermarket selling fluffy slippers. The views on the way up are breath taking. Craggy out crops drop off to waterfalls and jagged peaks and paths. The top itself is a massive let down - a roundabout, 2 supermarkets and a ski lift. The wind was whipping across the summit and wind chill left us freezing. There was snow on the top - not surprising in November I guess. But not much.

From there we dropped 1500m down and 100 miles south to Tomar a town at about the half way point of the country. This place is an ancient medieval town and the castle here holds the first seat of the Knights Templar - a visit for tomorrow. Down this low the temperature hit 24 degrees as the sun really broke through this afternoon. Bliss.

We did go to a campsite in the hills above Tomar but the place was a dive. Not something to bother us usually but we needed to do some washing and recharge the laptop. We skipped out of there and chanced our arm at a site in Tomar town centre as reported by the Caravan Club book which Mrs Blakey's mum and dad had lent us. What a massive result. This place is beautiful, quiet and the staff are hugely helpful. They've given us a run down on where to go in the town and what to see. They are going to do our washing for us tomorrow whilst we go see the castle and town. And we can leave the van here whilst we do. Superb. So thanks Mr and Mrs P!

We're camped up in the town now and as it's Saturday night it's time for beers and a curry in town I think!

Sent from my ZX Spectrum.