Chi's Travel Log - Celavisa, Portugal 08-12-2008

Portraits of some people I met on tour

adventure@chi11.co.uk

20081208 = Week 2 = Celavisa, Portugal

Week 2

20081208 Rose at 8 quite a nice day mist hanging in the mountains to start the day. A public holiday today in Portugal so all was pretty quiet, we got breakfast sorted and headed out to Gois it was really beautiful here, Patrick and I walked round for hours taking 100s of pictures, generally having a laugh had coffee and a bun in one of the local cafe bars. The village reminded me of Knaresborough very quaint but very peaceful with lovely riverside walks. Also did a bit more exploring off the main roads and a small village in the middle of nowhere with some nice views. When we got back it took us a couple of hours to view all the pics, I'm only sending a few today. Watched a movie with dinner and walked the dogs again before a few notes and retiring at midnight.

20081209 Rose 8 in Celavisa breakfast walking the dogs then off to Lousa, arranged to meet Nigel and Anne their for lunch, had a coffee and a lazy afternoon with a few beers chilling in the cafe bar their. Later we returned to Celavisa for dinner caught up on the email, viewed the pics of the day, and had a few more beers seemed quite nice in Lousa will have to organize a night out their. Got back to the van to find the gas had run out, so I changed the bottle to find it was butane and not propane gas, wouldn't normally be a problem but it was a different connection, will have to try and change it in the morning back in Coja.

20081210 Rose Celavisa 8 van was freezing because had no gas last night and this was the first morning we had frost. Patrick and I had a quick breakfast then drove to Coja to change butane for propane and get a Portuguese rectifier. The skies were blue and it was warming nicely, got back and sorted the van out put the central heating on then went to Gois on a bar crawl with Patrick and Dougy. Had a good laugh back to Patrick's about 7 then dinner a few more glasses of wine tried to watch a movie but both of us fell asleep. Got to van about 1am and found batteries had run down so had to run the engine for half an hour to recharge the batteries before going to sleep. Take Care :-)

20081211 Arose 7 Celavisa wrote up my notes for the day and concluded that the alarm and central heating blower were using too much power from the leisure batteries. Had breakfast a little fiddle on the computer then drove to Arganil it was quite cold again with an early morning frost but was nice in the sun. We visited the weekly market met Sarah, Shaft, Jen and Doug, made a few purchases then made for a popular bar where we chatted and had a few beers. Later we went back to Shaft and Jens house for bacon butties in French sticks coffee and a few more beers and a really good crack. Drove back to Patrick's at 6pm to made dinner and settle down for the evening. Got back to my van at 11:30 and got the engine going for another 30mins to recharge the batteries again. Will have to get the generator running and replenish the batteries. Got a few early morning pics of the mountains and clouds along with Shaft and Jen. Take care :-)

20081212 Arose 8 slight rain we had breakfast and set off to Arganil for some food shopping, decided to go off road on our return trip over the mountain which was fun because Patrick was unsure of the route. Fortunately we landed where we wanted unlike Patrick's last 2 attempts, where he ended up back in Arganil. Had lunch and a walk out and about with the dogs, did a few tasks around the house then a few wines and a chill. Patrick prepared dinner while I pottered writing my notes and a few more wines, local wines are very good, going to stock up before I more on. After dinner we headed for the local bar where we met Nick and Gabriele and a group of locals, the beers were flowing well. Had a great crack broke out the gammon and mustard flavored nuts and the captain Morgan again. I sampled the local fire water aguardente which was very coarse, ended up quite intoxicated before retiring.

20081213 Arose at 9 after a heavy night got a bit of a hangover this morning, raining as well, never mind we had a fairly steady chilled day watched a bit of TV pottered about on the computer and recovered generally. watched the x factor final then went out to one of the village bars had a few laughs with Jorro and a few of the locals. missed the village club, it was closed when we arrived so had an early ish one, supper at Patrick's about midnight, listened to some tunes then retired.

20081214 Arose 8 ish had fun this morning trying to sort out Patrick's electric that was off, got him up and running but had a problem with a few of the sockets so no TV, DVD or computer today, managed to use other sockets after spending the afternoon drinking in a bar in Bordeiro with Dougy and a few locals. Also played a local game similar to skittles with round steel discs. Made a veg chili later and relaxed in front of the fire and watched a movie before retiring.

adventure@chi11.co.uk