We have to move from the café and leave Valenca to head for our overnight stop in Vila Nova de Cerveira. We’ve started our trip here in the far northwest of Portugal just on the border with Spain because we’re meeting with a potential house builder – Rusticasa – whose head office and factory is based here. We had noticed whilst sitting and planning that our route would take us straight past the offices of Rusticasa.
We had found Rusticasa online in February when we first started this whole project. They are experts in building wooden houses, and we would like a wooden house. At least we think we want a wooden house. I guess we will know more after Friday morning’s meeting. When you are stuck in a lockdown, and just browsing online, the internet makes it hard to discern what is genuine and has substance and what is just a good website.
We decide to recce the joint as we go past. We are not disappointed. It looks like the type of operation that you would expect. After all they have been building wooden houses for 45 years. We carry on into Vila Nova de Cerveira and find a great municipal car park that positively promotes campervans to come and park. They have chemical waste facilities, grey waste, about 200 spaces, a toilet and, best of all, it is free. They truly understand how to generate additional revenue into their town by encouraging visitors. The exact opposite of what we have often found in the UK.
So, a little bit about this lovely little town right on the border. It is described as a town of the arts. It has an amphitheatre, museums, a wonderful little fort area, and a welcoming, relaxed feel. Overlooking the town, which is nestled between the hills and the Rio Minho, is the most wonderful twenty-foot statue of a stag. This is the town where the stag is the big legend.
Now stags have already played a large part in my life. The first car that I truly fell in love with was the Triumph Stag that my Mum owned. It went like stink and with the lid down, it brought a massive smile to my face. Then when Kimberley and I were looking for a campervan, the one we fell in love with was made by Sussex Camper Vans whose logo is – yes you guessed it – a stag!
Now here we are in Vila Nova de Cerveira looking to create one of our dreams which is yet again connected with a stag, so I decide to look at the importance of the stag. A general list of symbolic meanings given for the stag or deer are as follows: vigilance, swiftness to change direction quickly, regeneration, rebirth, shape changing, graceful and magical. The shedding of the horns is often taken to symbolise the shedding of the old life to embrace the new.
So here we are on our first visit to lay the foundations for the next phase of our lives in Portugal, in the town of the company that might be going to build our dream house. We are overlooked by the stag, a symbol that has already had some significance in our lives, living in our campervan – which is our favourite place on the planet right now.
Are we excited? You bet we are!!!