Month: <span>January 2020</span>
Month: January 2020

Month: January 2020

It has been some time since we were last able to sit out in the sun for Apéro #wp #gastrovanner #gastrovanners #apero

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Stork’s nest in Cazalegas this morning. That gazebo came in handy for shelter from the rain. Nice looking town, so I wish the weather had been conducive to mooching. Too late now, we depart in the a.m. #wp #spain #cazalegas #stork

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A dreadfully wet start to the day today but we are now going where the weather suits our clothes… Look over there – there’s a break in the clouds and we are pointing ourselves at it. Bought an infeasible amount in Carrefour, so we shouldn’t starve out in the sticks. Now very damp after unloading the trolley in the rain. #wp #livereportingfromtheroad #spain

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We walked over to Carrefour today and this was the result: Tagliatelle with Asparagus and Mushrooms in a Cream, Manzanilla and Parmesan sauce. Slightly Fusion, very delicious. I used Persillade for added character. So, a bit Italian, slightly Spanish and a with a touch of French flair. We washed it down with more Manzanilla… which had also accompanied the first course of Croquettas. It took about 40 minutes to walk along the river to Carrefour. It could be done quicker but Mr Snail has injured his back and we were taking care. It was a good Carrefour. How I have missed that experience! We forgot to buy the Postres. Dash it! With dog walking etc added in, today was over 19k steps. I am feeling them. #wp #gastrovanner #gastrovanners #pasta #carrefour

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Gone agley again

I had been eagerly anticipating a few days in Évora, a UNESCO World Heritage site and apparently the Portuguese town with second best quality of life, it also offers some good restaurants. Jolly good.

We planned to take three nights at the Orbitur site there and then extend our stay if we liked it.

In the event, it was all a bit of a disaster. The site is situated close to the outer edge of the ring road. There was nowhere to walk the dog. Mr Snail has injured his back so walking into town for dinner or sight-seeing was off the agenda and getting the bikes out, completely impossible.

It was all a bit of a shock to the system after the peace and quiet at Markádia. The traffic noise was horrible and the air quality not at all good. Nell had to be walked around a derelict building site (again).

We stayed one night and saw nothing of Évora at all.

It wasn’t all bad. When walking Nell we stumbled across a good pet shop, where we were able to purchase Nell a new bed ( her old one being now in a very disreputable state of repair and quite disgustingly malodorous.) She also acquired a bag of three balls to play with.

This morning the weather was atrocious and water was running all over the site. The showers were cold. We just got ourselves off site asap and off to stock up at Pingo Doce, knowing that our next stop was to be miles away from anywhere.

So, we made it back into Spain! We find ourselves the sole guests on what must have once been a very elegant campsite indeed. However, it has been closed for some time. Now reopened but showing all the signs of neglect in the interim.

The man who runs the place has little English but was welcoming and helpful and he lost no time in turning the hot water on for us. Good man. Intriguingly, he handed us our very own toilet roll… Also, very unexpectedly, the restaurant is open daily from 08:00. Who are they serving???

The scenery is awesome, with some wonderful geology and Griffon Vultures flying over the ridge that looks over the campsite.

That ridge does however block signals. We have no WiFi, but some phone signal – hence the emailed post with no images.

Catch up later.

We will probably stay here two nights at least. I have plenty of food on board.

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