Birds, beer and BBQs...in Spain and Portugal

[Gonestravaiging]

I'm a bit late in posting this, as we're one week into a month-long round trip through Spain and Portugal after taking the ferry from Plymouth to Santander. In my defence we're travelling in record temperatures. It's been 34C for several days, but now we're in Nazare in Portugal where it's a mere 29C, and much cooler overnight.
Our route so far is thanks to helpful funsters on here who have recommended stops including the aire at Santillana Del Mar, Camping Don Quijote at Salamanca and Camping Caceres.
Santillana is a brilliant place to stop over, just 30 minutes from the ferry, and a short walk into a beautiful medieval village. We travelled south to Salamanca the following day across the colourful high campos - fields of wheat and rape against a blue sky with black kites wheeling overhead - on an almost empty motorway. Pic below of the amazing Plaza Mayor in Salamanca.
Don Quijote is an excellent site with incredibly friendly and helpful reception staff and a good restaurant. Very easy to cycle into the city and nice walks from the site along the river.
On south on more empty roads, through the cork oak and holm oak prairies, to boiling Caceres and its medieval monuments.
So hot in Caceres, where azure-winged magpies kept landing on our private sink, that we took a taxi into the town for a mere €9.
Also spent a day out bird watching on the open steppe lands, spotting a European roller, hoopoes and lots of white cranes before visiting stunning Trujillo during a crazy cheese festival. Thousands of people packing the main square. I'm not convinced it was entirely about the cheese!
From Caceres we took another quiet and beautiful road west to the very attractive village of Castelo de Vide, just inside the Portuguese border, before spending for two nights at the hippyish, rural, relaxed and Dutch-owned site of Quinta do Pomarinho. Highly recommended. Once again it was too hot but we did manage a dip in a nearby lake and a morning walk on a medieval road through cork oak pastures. Golden orioles zipping overhead but refusing to be snapped.
Enough for now, I'll add more and report on our sites/aires etx. Not sure if there's a way of inserting photos in the middle of your text. If so, I've not discovered it!
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[Rapido925M]

Glad you are having a good time. I hate to say this but if you had gone Salamanca, Trujillo, cacares you could have gone through Montfrague Natural Park and seen the vultures

Gordon

 

[Gonestravaiging]

Hah, thanks Gordon. Found out about Monfrague too late from a birder outside Caceres. Seen plenty of Egyptian vultures. But not the eagles he listed!

 

[RobbyMClark]

Keep up with the posts it looks a great trip.

 

[DBK]

Many thanks for the report - good photos of the birds!

It's easy to insert photos in the text. After you've written something press enter a couple of times so the cursor is on a blank line. Then click the attach files button and upload the image you want. Then select insert full size and press enter a couple of times so the cursor is on a blank line below the image.

Alternatively, and is what I usually do, select multiple files when you click the Attach files button then just insert them where you want in the text. The advantage of doing this is the thumbnail image makes it easier to select the image you want compared to the tiny image I see in the file managing app.

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[Wingingit#1]

Sounds (and looks) great! Have an fantastic time .

 

[bobandjanie]

We love Portugal and will be back in August and September, we went to the cheese and wine festival atTrujillo last year, parked by the bull ring, but not to wish our lives away we have alot of kilometres to do before then. Bob.

 

[Gonestravaiging]

Keep up with the posts it looks a great trip.

Thanks Robby

 

[Gonestravaiging]

Thanks Robby

Many thanks for the report - good photos of the birds!

It's easy to insert photos in the text. After you've written something press enter a couple of times so the cursor is on a blank line. Then click the attach files button and upload the image you want. Then select insert full size and press enter a couple of times so the cursor is on a blank line below the image.

Alternatively, and is what I usually do, select multiple files when you click the Attach files button then just insert them where you want in the text. The advantage of doing this is the thumbnail image makes it easier to select the image you want compared to the tiny image I see in the file managing app.

Many thanks for that! Now in Nazaré.

It works!

 

[Phil Spectrum]

What sites are available at Nazare?
Planning to visit October so looking for tips.
I will have Luna dog.
Thanks

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[The black dug]

I'm a bit late in posting this, as we're one week into a month-long round trip through Spain and Portugal after taking the ferry from Plymouth to Santander. In my defence we're travelling in record temperatures. It's been 34C for several days, but now we're in Nazare in Portugal where it's a mere 29C, and much cooler overnight.
Our route so far is thanks to helpful funsters on here who have recommended stops including the aire at Santillana Del Mar, Camping Don Quijote at Salamanca and Camping Caceres.
Santillana is a brilliant place to stop over, just 30 minutes from the ferry, and a short walk into a beautiful medieval village. We travelled south to Salamanca the following day across the colourful high campos - fields of wheat and rape against a blue sky with black kites wheeling overhead - on an almost empty motorway. Pic below of the amazing Plaza Mayor in Salamanca.
Don Quijote is an excellent site with incredibly friendly and helpful reception staff and a good restaurant. Very easy to cycle into the city and nice walks from the site along the river.
On south on more empty roads, through the cork oak and holm oak prairies, to boiling Caceres and its medieval monuments.
So hot in Caceres, where azure-winged magpies kept landing on our private sink, that we took a taxi into the town for a mere €9.
Also spent a day out bird watching on the open steppe lands, spotting a European roller, hoopoes and lots of white cranes before visiting stunning Trujillo during a crazy cheese festival. Thousands of people packing the main square. I'm not convinced it was entirely about the cheese!
From Caceres we took another quiet and beautiful road west to the very attractive village of Castelo de Vide, just inside the Portuguese border, before spending for two nights at the hippyish, rural, relaxed and Dutch-owned site of Quinta do Pomarinho. Highly recommended. Once again it was too hot but we did manage a dip in a nearby lake and a morning walk on a medieval road through cork oak pastures. Golden orioles zipping overhead but refusing to be snapped.
Enough for now, I'll add more and report on our sites/aires etx. Not sure if there's a way of inserting photos in the middle of your text. If so, I've not discovered it!
-Broken Link Removed-
View attachment 746920View attachment 746934View attachment 746930View attachment 746931View attachment 746940View attachment 746941View attachment 746957

Great pics and really good writing , maybe do a lot more!

 

[Peregrinator]

If you are planning going further south, this place is great, we were only stopping for a few days ,but we are still here, I put the info on the Fun site: https://www.motorhomefun.co.uk/forum/threads/algarve-motorhome-park-falésia.282714/

 

[Gonestravaiging]

Trujillo was a beautiful and historic little town to visit, and very quiet, even on a cheese festival day, as soon as you left the crowds in Plaza Mayor.

If you are planning going further south, this place is great, we were only stopping for a few days ,but we are still here, I put the info on the Fun site: https://www.motorhomefun.co.uk/forum/threads/algarve-motorhome-park-falésia.282714/

Great thanks, we'll have a look.

 

[Peregrinator]

I see your into the Birds, maybe you can tell me what Bird is this, sorry about the quality, its from a mobile.

 

[Gonestravaiging]

I see your into the Birds, maybe you can tell me what Bird is this, sorry about the quality, its from a mobile.

View attachment 747281

It's a hoopoe. Beautiful birds.

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[Lenny HB]

It's a hoopoe. Beautiful birds.

Everywhere in Portugal you even get them in the UK occasionally our neighbours had one in their garden. They do look lovely.

 

[Gonestravaiging]

Bird spotting on the steppe land outside Caceres

Last night at Quinta do Pomarinho before heading for Nazare.

 

[Gonestravaiging]

What sites are available at Nazare?
Planning to visit October so looking for tips.
I will have Luna dog.
Thanks

We're staying at the Orbitur Valado site for a couple of days. Sandy pitches among the pine trees. It gets mixed reviews, but is fine if you pay for a better pitch. Small pool and bar, a 35 minute uphill and downhill walk to the beach. Took a taxi back for just four euros.
There's also a big, open aire, not far from the beautiful but windswept north beach. We didn't go there however 'cos it was so hot when we arrived that we were desperate to park in the shade.

 

[Gonestravaiging]

Great pics and really good writing , maybe do a lot more!

Thanks, much appreciated!

 

[jumartoo]

I'm enjoying this. It's been some years since we crossed the border over into Portugal. We're hoping to go down through Portugal in early September when we head south from Galicia, after our summer away, on the way back, to Murcia.

I'll be looking for good places to park, both free and paying.

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[Yorkshireimp]

Looks great, going to do France, Spain and Portugal early next year so nice to see what you and other funsters have done, keep the pictures coming

 

[Gonestravaiging]

We spent our second day in Nazare exploring the old town, Sitio, high above the main beach, and visiting the famous lighthouse that features in many of the incredible surfing videos I've been viewing on Instagram (my insta account: gonestravaiging) in recent years. The world's biggest waves (los gigantes!) are created by an underwater canyon that runs towards the shore. But the big waves are usually confined to the winter months so the ocean was looking pretty benign this week.

The view from Sitio over Nazare and it's amazing beach.

Hitting the town beach.

Our second day in Nazare also marked the end of the recent heatwave. The temperature fell to 19C following two hours of rain. Almost like Scottish weather - apart from the warm temperature and the fact it only rained for two hours.

We left Nazare today to move a short distance up the coast, visiting the amazing beach at Paredes before wild camping overnight above the pretty little village of Sao Pedro de Moel. Yet another incredible Atlantic beach.

No birds to speak of today.

 

[Gonestravaiging]

Our first night of wild camping in Portugal, where there are hefty fines for doing it in the wrong place (though mainly in the summer season) passed peacefully, in the company of two Dutch vans, in an empty car park overlooking the beach at Sao Pedro Da Moel.

View from our free camping spot.

We then returned to the beautiful beach at nearby Parades, where we visited maybe the best beach cafe in the world for the third time! I say maybe, but there seemed no doubt about it at the time.

Then a short drive to the busy medieval village of Obidos for an excellent lunch...

...before moving to our first overnight at an Easycamp Portugal site, a vineyard in the hills.
Unlike France Passion, the Portuguese system allows you to book, but requires you to buy a "welcome pack". This is often two or three bottles of wine, for 20-30 euros. In our case it was 26 euros for a good bottle of red (according to my wife) and a bottle of flavoured salt produced on the same organic wine estate.
They vary in price but quite a few are more expensive than a decent campsite. On the other hand we're currently the only vehicle parked in the middle of vineyards overlooking a quiet valley.

Who knows where tomorrow. Aveiro, and its canals, perhaps. If anyone has any recommendations for central Portugal they'd be very welcome.

Thanks for viewing!

 

[Grianan]

Thank you for posting this thread. Your photos are beautiful and the writing is interesting. I’ll be following this.

 

[Gonestravaiging]

Thank you for posting this thread. Your photos are beautiful and the writing is interesting. I’ll be following this.

Many thanks Grianan! Good to hear.

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[Gonestravaiging]

Lovely evening light in our one night vineyard stay, and our very friendly host Madalena even handed us a bowl of newly picked mulberries as we left this morning!

After some rare early morning rain we left to head north into central Portugal, stopping for an excellent lunch in Tomar, the original home of the Knights Templar. They were said to have been disbanded hundreds of years ago, but they seemed to be after us.

About 40 minutes further north we arrived at a weird and fairly wonderful little campsite carved out of a steep valley by a friendly Frenchman named Julien. He's still creating pitches and developing the place with the help of a handful of international volunteers. It has spectacular views, a very cute little honesty bar and even a small pool. Also goats, a cat and a friendly Russian girl. Nobody mentioned the war. We were planning to stay for one night but I think we'll extend our visit.

The view to the village of Penela.

The pool and the bar terrace.

The bar, middle of the picture, and the goats. You can even see the white back of our van on its rustic pitch in the trees above and to the left of the bar.

 

[jumartoo]

That site looks a lovely place. I've just checked it out on P4N. How did you find the access road? It seems it's concerned some visitors.

 

[Gonestravaiging]

That site looks a lovely place. I've just checked it out on P4N. How did you find the access road? It seems it's concerned some visitors.

Hi Judith, it is a lovely site. It's quite a long access road, a fairly smooth but narrow dirt road. The owner Julien sent us a message to tell us to arrive by the church Santuario de Nossa Senhora de Conceição. We stuck that in Google Maps and it was then very easy to follow the blue signs to Uxa Paraiso campsite. We're 6m, I wouldn't want to be a lot bigger, but there's a 7m Dutch motorhome parked nearby.

 

[Lenny HB]

That site looks a lovely place. I've just checked it out on P4N. How did you find the access road? It seems it's concerned some visitors.

Some people are just wimps when it comes to taking Motorhomes up tracks.

 

[jumartoo]

Some people are just wimps when it comes to taking Motorhomes up tracks.

Definitely not you!

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