From Nagozela to Viseu, Quinta de Padrela vineyard & Braganca - Days 189 to 191

Big Ted in Viseu Aire

We knew Mike was on the ferry Sunday afternoon, landing Monday lunchtime. He reckoned it was 12 ish hours, so not to wait up, and not to leave the key in the lock..! However Tuesday morning, still no sign.... I had told him to stop if he needed to, and we knew his phone had been playing up, but we were still a little concerned, not panicking or anything, but we didn’t strip the bed...

Waiting in the funicular train to go 400m up a slight incline to the town centre. Not sure it was worth it really, but it was free and a bit of a giggle

Viseu cathedral

He rolled up about 09.30, looking slightly phased, little van and trailer, and that was the problem, he’d stopped before dusk to check the trailer lights only to find they weren’t working, nor was his phone. He found somewhere to eat, but not to sleep and no public telephone, so after a night in a recliner on the ferry, a night in the van, no wonder he looked a little phased.... but all was well, and Baby was pleased to see him, once she was close enough to sniff as neither seeing or hearing are actually her strong suit.....

Rui Dirieta in Viseu - the street to be in apparently

Steps to a Miradouro (viewpoint)

Lots of chat and an early lunch and finally the moment had come, would Ted start? Constant arming and disarming of the alarm does him no good, would he get off the by now soggy grass? Would he make it up the hill? And would the trees have grown lower? Knowing Mike was available with the tractor, none of these were really an issue, but as Mike said “didn’t Ted do well, sailing up the hill”

We didn’t sail very far, 45 minutes to be precise, Viseu a UNESCO town north and east. (Aire location: 40°39'53.6"N 7°55'02.6"W) (Aire facilities with photos: click here then on item 79 in list) It was interesting enough, with a spectacular cathedral, but perhaps we just weren’t in the mood.... we found the funicular, though couldn’t for the life of us work out why they have bothered, but they have, and it’s free, so we sat on it, and waited, and waited. We could have walked up and down, twice, in the time we waited, but hey, it was a laugh, as the 40 or so other people that squashed onto it thought too...

Lots and lots of steps

To a statue of a smiling monk (for some reason)

After a good nights sleep, we set off in the rain, the plan had been Peso de Regua, on the Douro river, maybe a little detour along a short scenic section of the river, maybe a boat ride.... talking to the guy in the next van, they were also going north, maybe the same detour, but they were going up the motorway (toll, and we haven’t paid anything yet) and maybe to Mateus. We went up our wiggly, windy, slow, scenic road, veered off towards the scenic drive (the rain had finally stopped) and I looked up Mateus on Park4night, (one of the many Apps with places to stop.) 

Big Ted coming back into view on the way down

However what popped up was a vineyard and olive oil farm, on our route, free, free WiFi, free wine tasting and more 5 star reviews than we’ve ever seen. It’s not quite as far as we wanted to go, and it’s not on the river, but we’ve been living by the most beautiful river for a fortnight, so were actually scared of an anticlimax anyway, and it sounded wonderful.

Just then we came upon some stairs, and parking by the side of the road, instant screech to a halt and trot up the stairs, only I wish I hadn’t trotted quite so fast, there were a lot of stairs.... a lovely view, and a jolly little monk at the top, but what it was all about, no idea...

Big Ted in the parking area at Quinta de Padrola vineyard

Big Ted a long way away

Tried emailing, tried calling the farm, but no response, probably working then, well it’s hardly a detour, we’ll go look, though we did study the route through Tabuaco carefully after reading a review of having to reverse down 2m wide streets with cobbles and balconies.... Doris did us proud though, but we were pretty confident as we seemed to be following signs to “bombieros” fire station, so if they can do it... (Vineyard parking location: 41°07'41.1"N 7°34'59.0"W) (Parking facilities with photos: click here then on item 80 in list)

The Rijomax clock in Tabuaco

Lovely welcome on the gate, park up, here’s the WiFi, we’ll come and say hi. Just having lunch and Pedro popped by, said hi, would we like a wine tasting? He really wanted to do tomorrow, probably hoping it wouldn’t just be us, but as we wanted to be on our way tomorrow, we settled on 17.00. He suggested we walk into the town, through his land, 2.1km to the tourist information, to see the clock. The clock was amazing, built by one man, over nearly 30 years to tell everything, time, date, leap year, phases of the moon, signs of the zodiac, saints days, the list was endless. It looked wonderful but sadly it had “Stopped short, never to go again, when the old man died” in 2002 at the age of 90. Here's a link to an online pdf document that explains the whole think (it's really interesting - honest! file:///C:/Users/User/Downloads/RIJOMAX%20EN.pdf)

A close-up of one of the clock faces. It's all a bit 'Heath Robinson' but fascinating

Our private free wine and olive tasting with Pedro

It didn’t look like we expected, stuck on pictures, and old fashioned dymo tape, but we were so sad it no longer works. We spent ages in the tourist information, talking to the lady, and with the clock, so we really only had time to walk to a mirador in order to ensure we were back for our hour wine tasting session. It wasn’t an hour of tasting, it was explanations start to finish, from a lovely man with so much enthusiasm. Two hours later we came away with a bottle of white and a bottle of red, costing far more than our norm, but really very reasonable. Just as well we’d prepped dinner before we went, and that we’d persuaded him 17.00 was better than 18.00!

Tabuaco from the highest viewpoint we walked to

Wasps or bees had started to build a nest overnight on Big Ted

It was only us, so beautifully quiet, except for a lone woofer, who did go on a bit... Woke to fog though, so did a shorter version of the scenic drive, more wiggly windy roads, before hitting a free motorway, what a novelty, and a much more relaxing final hour, to arrive at Braganca.

We had a little (overpriced) tapas and a beer and a really interesting walk around the walls of the citadel. Two friendly cats and back for tea and blogging. Tomorrow back to Spain. (Braganca Aire location: 41°48'12.1"N 6°44'46.7"W) (Aire facilities with photos: click here then on item 81 in list)

Here it is after we removed it. It's amazing how intricate and quickly built they are

Here we are on the Aire in Braganca with the castle behind. Our last stop in Portugal

And a nice tapas lunch and beer in the castle grounds

This insect decided to join us at the table. Not sure what it is

This is one of the oldest buildings in Braganca, built in Medieval times. Apparently gentlemen used to meet here to discuss things and underneath is a water reservoir

Interesting buildings inside the castle walls

Up onto the walls. I'm sure this could be used for a filming location - it's fabulous (perhaps it has)

More bits of the castle, it is so photogenic

Down the bottom there is another staircase leading down. It was really dark and damp down there, even with the torch on my camera on. We went so far down then turned round as we were a bit worried about slipping on the wet, muddy steps

There's Big Ted down there, spotted as we walked the full circuit of the castle walls

And finally, we mentioned in the last blog that we have applied to take part in the next series of Race Around the World and, as part of our application we had to submit a 1 minute video. I didn't post it last time as Jackie told me not to, but so many people asked to see it, here it is. Would you pick us?