Just done a two day hike round North Wales in perfect conditions in good company. That will take some beating but Spain can rise to the challenge. Dodgy back stood up OK so we are good to go on the new to me Vstrom.
There was some rain this morning which abated by about 11. The girls then went out for an exploration of the city, including the cathedral which was hosting weddings, the grand station with amazing tiled walls and a fabulous food market with beautiful produce that we hadn’t seen before. In the afternoon M, R and C went off on a wine tasting tour while Mgt did some more exploration. We discovered that the city on the other side of the river is actually called Gaia and is completely separate from Porto with quite a lot of competition between the 2. We managed 10 different wines and ports and were well edumacated on the subject. It might have been a good idea to have had lunch first. We got the water taxi back across the river to avoid negotiating the higgelty piggelty cobbles. A jolly fine afternoon…..hic! Some views of the city Our flat is just over there at the waterside Who drank all the wine?
After brekkie in a quiet Chaves, we took our leave, heading for Porto. The decision was to take the slow road, not the toll road. This took us through the hills with spectacular scenery and twisty roads, some more challenging than others but very, very quiet. Ross is navigating with google maps instead of the garmin satnav which is working well. The directions for finding the Air bnb were complex and after our previous experience of Porto traffic we were very worried, however we quickly found ourselves driving along the river side. We had to park up and walk the last wee bit, finding ourselves in a pleasant apartment just set back from the river. There is a lively vibe outside and a lot to explore.
Holed up in Ponferrada in a lovely Air BNB curtesy of Colin's "Genius" status. The plan is avoidance of bad weather at the minute and to head into Portugal along the Douro Valley tomorrow at Chaves then onwards to Porto for two nights hopefully avoiding some rather nasty weather that is in the offing. Ponferrada has undergone a transformation from industry to tourism over the the last 40 years and is quite small, in the centre but perfectly pleasant, a fortnight here might be a bit of a drag though. Today has been a down day with no motorcycling and some sightseeing my personal preference was to visit the radio museum whilst the others ventured to the castle and managed to get lost or something. Thereafter we had some lunch in the centre involving beer and then a much needed sleep. Hoping the weather holds although the end of the week may be a little challenging, looking at previous blogs we seem to travel at the wrong time!
Just done a two day hike round North Wales in perfect conditions in good company. That will take some beating but Spain can rise to the challenge. Dodgy back stood up OK so we are good to go on the new to me Vstrom.
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