After a day’s rest we were itching to leave. But first, Bertie decided to attack Mike. It’s funny how he was worried about the horses the other day, when it was actually Bertie who gave him a little kick. The cupboard snapped back and got him in the forehead. Just a cut, and apparently he’s fine.

It was a much cooler day, with a forecast high of 16 degrees. We were driving along a fairly main road, quite busy. Well, it had a centre line and a few trucks. But I decided it would be better to turn off and take the longer route.

We followed a beautiful winding road alongside a huge reservoir. There was a lone cyclist on this road and we managed to overtake him four times! Who said things were faster in a campervan?

We were obviously on the old road, as on the other side of the reservoir was the motorway, with trucks and cars barreling along.

Then we went under the motorway and back up into the mountains. It was up and down and squiggly driving all day. And when I say all day, I mean it. We’d left just before 10am, and by 5pm we were struggling to find a suitable spot to camp.

There was one spot high up in the mountains with a gorgeous outlook, but Mike didn’t like it. So we continued to the next town, A Fonsegrada. But on the way it was more up and up and up, even above the tree line, with incredible views over the mountains below.

Then I got excited when I saw Fonfria coming up on my map, a place we walked to on the Camino. It was hard to believe we’d hiked all the way up there, although I do remember the uphill being brutal. I tried to look for the funky-shaped albergue we stayed at but couldn’t see it.

So we continued on to the town of A Fonsegrada with the hope of finding somewhere to sleep. But when we got there it was hideous. Such an ugly old town that all we wanted to do was get out of there.

We stopped while I looked for somewhere else. It was almost 7pm by this stage and Mike was really tired from all the squiggly driving and the potential head injury (although he insists it’s fine).

I found a place 40 minutes away. Thankfully the road to get there was a bit more main (as in wider), but still quite squiggly. It was probably close to 8pm by the time we arrived, and it was almost full. But there was one spot left just for us.

It’s actually a popular spot, especially for campervans and motorhomes, and it’s free to stay there. It also has free electricity, water and dump facilities.

We’ve noticed a few places in Spain doing this, realising that motorhome tourism is an actual thing worth encouraging. Other places charge you to stay, which we’ve never yet paid.

And while I was looking at the route into Portugal, I saw Fonfria on my map. I thought, oh no, we have to go back the way we came. But it turns out it’s the actual Fonfria we walked to on the Camino, not the one we drove through earlier.

O Cebreiro is there too. I remember the relentless uphill to get there. The Pyrenees had nothing on those hills.

So that will be exciting for next time. And we’re also not far from Sarria, which we’ll pass through because there’s really no choice in the direction we’re going if we want to avoid motorways.