Today was… interesting.

It started off with a morning grocery shop where we couldn’t find anything, followed by a nice drive. But as we got into the hills, I started feeling claustrophobic. It’s hard to describe, but I just wanted to get out.

We were driving through a glacial valley with mountains surrounding us, and it was that closed-in feeling.

So we headed up. I was reluctant to go up the road as the map showed it was extremely twisty with extreme switchbacks. But Mike said, ‘Let’s go for it.’

And the road didn’t disappoint. It was ridiculously squiggly with steep drop-offs, but at least it was wider than the scary road we were on the other day. It was still a little scary.

At the top were amazing views over the town below, and I instantly felt better being up here. But then, the road I wanted to go on was a dirt track. I saw a couple of cars go up there and a hotel sign, so I thought maybe it was just for a short stretch. Mike didn’t want to go up there, but I didn’t want to backtrack.

So up we went. And it wasn’t just a dirt road. It was steep, twisty, potholed and simply terrifying. In places the surface was so rough we were bouncing along, hoping the bikes didn’t fall off.

Every time the road disappeared over a rise I wished I had’ve listened to Mike. But it was too late. We couldn’t have turned around if we wanted to.

It was so steep that if we’d stalled, we would have been stuck, as I doubt we’d have got started again. Mike was taking it in his stride though, i’m glad he’s a confident driver.

But after about 30 minutes of driving, we made it to the top, where there was indeed a hotel. And the road turned to tarmac. It looked like the road had been washed away and this was just a temporary road over the farmer’s paddock!

But the drive from here was incredible, through fields of giant rocks. I couldn’t stop taking photos of them balancing like they were about to tumble onto the road in front of us. It was freaky.

And the views out over the valley were amazing. But it was 7pm and time to find somewhere to sleep for the night. We deliberated over which way to go before finally choosing a town called Gouveia down in the valley where there was a free spot for campervans.

The drive down was also beautiful. We arrived in the town and drove through the narrow streets while everyone stared at us. This is normal. We wave, they continue to stare, but they never wave back.

We arrived at the freedom camp, and it was perfectly fine, near the centre of the town. But neither of us wanted to stay there. So we navigated to another one about 30 mins away. This one was even worse. It was just a huge unkempt car park on the outskirts of town. Both of us said no to this too.

So we found another place another 30 mins away. That would make it 8.30pm by the time we got there. We wanted to find somewhere before it got dark, and it gets dark at 9pm.

On the outskirts of town was a giant factory, which didn’t look promising. The town itself was ok, and we found the car park. There was a barrier and pay stations, and I didn’t realise we’d have to pay. But the barrier was up.

A local came over to us and told us it was free, so phew. It wasn’t the greatest spot, surrounded by apartment blocks. We were the only ones here, but it felt fine.

We decided on having an early night as we were both shattered. So at 10pm we crawled into bed and had just dropped off to sleep when a banging sound came from outside the van. 

I woke up and looked out the window. On the street above us some men were walking around with sticks. For a second I wondered if we’d chosen a terrible place to park for the night.

I had absolutely no idea what was going on.

Then the drums started.

‘Something’s going on out here,’ I said to Mike, who was softly snoring away.

‘Mumble, mumble, snort,’ he replied.

And then the music started.

‘Come look,’ I said.

So Mike crawled out of bed, rubbed his eyes and peered out the window.

By now, some women in traditional dress were dancing in the street.

I googled what was going on to see if anything special was happening. Turns out 10th June is a special day in Portugal. It’s their national day.

So we both got dressed and went outside to watch. It was a pretty cool way to end the day. I think we finally got to sleep around midnight.