Today is our first real curney (curly wurly journey). We have to get from Vila Nova de Cerveira to Chaves, a journey Google maps tells you takes 1 hr 55 mins. Well, Google maps had better buckle up because we are going on a curney. We are going to take two days by following the border with Spain and then we will pootle south down through Gavieira and Soajo into Ponte da Barca where we will stay overnight. It takes us through the Parque Nacional Peneda-Gerês which is supposed to be staggeringly gorgeous.
Chaves is at the start of the N2 which is the old spice trail and runs from the far north all the way down to the Algarve. It has been called Portugal’s Route 66 and rather than flying down autoroutes or motorways or whatever you want to call the fast roads that run through every country, it is often so rewarding to just say no. To say, ‘I am going to take my time and take it all in’. To stop and take pictures every few miles or just stop on the top of a mountain and close your eyes and breathe. To stop at little towns and villages and have a coffee or buy something for supper. We know we can’t see all of it, but we also know that we are blessed with that most precious of commodities. Time. We are going to use it for slow and fun shared experiences.
The route we have chosen should take around 2 hrs 41 minutes to get to Ponte da Barca which is just half way to Chaves. By the way Chaves is not pronounced Chaives or chavs or even chav-ess, but Shev-ush apparently. Herein lay a hurdle that may take some time to overcome but is one that will definitely need to be addressed fully if we are to maximise the opportunity of living in Portugal. That of the language. I digress.
It takes us all day to cover the trip. In fairness if we had got up early that might have helped. Also, we realised there was a market at V.N de Cerveira and we had to go and have a look. It was a big market and sold everything from chickens (no intention of buying any) to axes (thought an axe would make a useful addition to the van, but Kimberley wasn’t having it). It was a truly old-fashioned market, a place where the whole area come together on a Saturday and trade wares, sell stuff and put the world to rights. I loved it.
After all that walking, we have to go and have breakfast brioche and cafe mei laite (latte) and it is a little after 12 before we set off. We get as far as Valenca 17km in before we realise that we don’t have most of the component parts for supper, so we stop. Then we get back on the road and follow the Minho river across the very top of Portugal. I like rivers. They always find a way to get to where they need to go following the path of least resistance.
We head south through the mountains. Ladies and gentlemen, if you have never been to this part of Portugal, then you really really need to!! It is now one of my three favourite areas to drive through, the other two being the west coast of the far north of Scotland and the million-dollar highway in Colorado. Of course, there are lots of others I still want to do, so don’t worry if I haven’t mentioned your favourite. On this journey we had lots of cows in the road, a group of heavily pregnant horses and a bike race to contend with, which are all things we would not have experienced if we had rushed the trip.
I like going slowly. It is always well invested time.