Yesterday was filled with the excitement of moving large amounts of money from A to B. It still leaves me in a mild state of awe. Sitting in the shade by a river in Portugal, liaising with my FX man in Leeds, and moving money where I need to with the click of a button.
How much time was wasted in a bygone time by actually having to be at the bank or wait for a letter. There are times though when I wish that society didn’t need the necessity of speed. The constant in-your-face of social media, of bad news, of negative environments, I am not sure this is progress. It feels somewhat duplicitous that at this moment in time I love the speed of the computer age.
As a counter to yesterday we are going to spend our day travelling through the Serra da Estrela mountains. We are going pootling in TUT. We want to visit the tallest point in Portugal and go to Covilha to get some groceries. The road winds uphill from Unhais, along the beautiful N339 road which takes you right to the summit. This is a road I truly recommend to you, sweeping bends, hairpin turns, up and down but wide enough to really enjoy the drive.
The temperature is dropping, to what feels like a cool 24C, which is most welcome as we have spent the last few days in the high 30’s or low 40’s. The wind blows fiercely as we continue up the Estrela to the visitor centre at the top. There is a small ski resort at the top, and a ski lift that people are getting on in high cross winds. I am sure it must be safe. I am certain we are not going to try it out.
The various photographic equipment has been in full swing on the drive up to the top. The iPhone, the GoPro, and the Nikon have all had a go. I am so pleased that Kimberley loves taking videos and photographs. They are fantastic, with some of them being truly outstanding. They will be a constant memory for us, and I wouldn’t have the patience to take or create them.
Visit to the summit over, we head back down to Covilha and, feeling a little bit hungry, decide to stop for coffee and cake. We really like Covilha as it is different again to Castelo Branco. It is busy and has a faster feel to it. An array of fantastic restaurants and cafes await us on our next visit. We find a lovely pastelaria (bakery café) and just take some time to stop moving. At the bottom of the hill, we can see a huge Continente store which is our supermarket of choice.
Refreshment and shopping done, we set off for our overnight stop. We find a lot of the places we stay on the Park4Night app and I hope we have found a good one for tonight as we need electric. Sure enough, we have. Eric and Aurelie who own Limites Nomadas are lovely and have a great area for campervans. Electricity, a hot shower, chemical waste, everything a modern campervanner needs and a view of the Gardunha that is spectacular at sunset.
We decide we are going to have an easy day tomorrow and just vegetate. I need a day off driving and this seems like the perfect place to take one. It is midway between Castelo Branco and CasaBo and we can charge all our devices up. A day chilling whilst listening to Test Match Special and doing some admin awaits. Got to love this journey!