Portugal: Serra da Estrelaz (4/28)

We disembarked the ferry in Cherbourg, and headed for Mont-Saint-Michel — remembering to drive on the right! We’d seen it’s counterpart walking the South West Coast Path, and thought as it was only a short detour from our route we might as well pay it a visit.

We took a short, pleasant walk along the canal, and across the bridge, stopping at the dam to read the information sign. The new dam allows the river to wash away the sediment after high tide, preventing the tidal channel from filling up and thus preserving the island.

We continued driving for a while, before stopping just outside of Rennes, in the small town of Bain-de-Bretagne, with lots of other motorhomes. 

The next day we drove to Spain. One of the downsides to this venture was always going to be that there’d be a lot of driving. We stopped in a small, sleepy town for lunch; and again at a supermarket for some supplies. By avoiding the toll roads we occasionally had some slightly more interesting views, but mainly it meant navigating many more roundabouts.

We stopped in a little hilltop car park outside of Zumaia; and woke up to some lush, green scenery — not what I’d usually associate with Spain.

We visited the beach in Zumaia to see the interesting rock formations. It also happens to be where they filmed a scene in a recent Game of Thrones episode. 

We then headed on towards Portugal, with a stop in Salamanca on the way. We had a stroll round the old city, admiring the interesting, sandstone architecture. 

We spent the night just across the Portuguese border, outside a sleepy, walled village. In the morning, we set off in search of a café and some Portuguese tarts, or pastel de nata (cream cake) in Portuguese.

We then set off for the National Park, but soon we accidentally strayed onto an electronic toll road, and then had to pull over to work out how we should pay. The toll system seems remarkably fragmented and convoluted, at least to us as outsiders. 

 The highest point in Portugal, Serra da Estrelaz, actually has a road all the way to the top. We’d decided to make it a little more interesting and found a short walk to the top. However when we got to the start, the ski center, and saw the walk was through piles of rock, ski run fences and between chair left poles we gave up and drove up to the summit; parked and walked the 10m to the tower which marked the top. 

A pretty underwhelming achievement, but we were rewarded with great, panoramic scenery. 

We stayed the night here, to take advantage of the cooler air, and then headed back in to Spain and towards Mulhacén — our next peak.