Northern Portugal

After driving into Portugal we stopped at a Petrol Station as a storm settled in for the night. We were fine and just got rain.W e found the next morning while trying to find a Goat farm in the mountains that it snowed higher up. We discovered the farm on HelpX and hoped to go learn about their cheese and lifestyle of self-sufficiency. The problem was, we emailed them and didn’t get any reply so they didn’t know we were coming and we didn’t know where they lived exactly.


In the morning we started our search. We drove west and got off the motorway and started going though some small villages on the smaller roads. We saw quite a lot of locals walking in there towns, something we don’t usually see. Some were even leading there little herds of sheep and goats down the road and though town which was neat. We stopped for lunch on an empty road and met goat Shepherd who we didn’t think really understood us but it was fun trying to talk to him. We then drove up to a pass which had lots of snow and ice on the road we wanted to take. So we talked to two men and then showed us where the farm really was but we still had to turn around and go around the mountain to the other side. So we did and the road was really scenic. It went along a river through a national park with lots of old stone houses and old dams. Just before dark though we decided to stop and maybe try looking in the morning but then a lady stopped and offered to lead us to the farm. The lady was the HelpX hosts ex-wife and Mum said our ‘Angel’. At first we were on the tarmac, which was fine but then we turned down a small dirt track not suitable for motor homes our size. It icy and had no barrier to keep us on the side of the mountain. We managed to turn around and park at a junction of driveways. Afterwards we all felt very shaken so we ate some chips and caught our breath. We were also hoping the lady would ring and warn Mr Thomas of our arrival. Have I mentioned he didn’t know we were coming! Then Mum and Dad took Tom and Anneke to see them, we didn’t want to shock them turning up as a group of seven in the dark.



We walked past a rushing stream and could hear the whining of a hydro-generator. We got to some sheds with barking dogs and were about to go down through a manure heap (though we didn’t know this in the dark) but managed to find some steps to the house. Inside looked like Hagrid’s cabin off Harry Potter with a wood stove and cast irons pans hanging from the ceilings. Mr Thomas (the farm owner and help host) wasn’t as shocked as we thought and welcomed us in. We spent the next hour telling him our story of how we found him and asked if we could see how he made cheese. Mum and Dad drank home made wine. We almost forgot about the other’s at the camper and went back before they got worried where we were.



The next day we went down to the house to see the farm and see what was going on. It was interesting seeing everything now in daylight. When we got to the house Maxine and the boys (2 and 4) were home so then the ( our ) girls stayed at the house and the us boys went out to find the goats and Mr Thomas. We found him on top of a frozen hill heading back for a coffee. After chatting on the hill he showed us his simple little cheese room. Which was made from recycled materials and not in use anymore. Mr Thomas moved from Germany to Portugal 20 years ago and set up his farm here. But Portugal is changing being part of the EU government and it’s becoming too difficult to live the lifestyle Mr Thomas moved here to live. All the locals are leaving the villages and moving to apartments in the cities. So Mr Thomas and his family will probably have to leave so the boys can go to school. Maxine cooked us soup and rice pudding on the wood stove and we all managed to fit around the table. We had to decide whether we stay and probably get stuck in more snow or leave before we get snowed in for possibly weeks. The weather wasn’t normal for this time of year and area. We had to leave while the rack was clear so we went back down the mountain. It was an interesting 24 hours.

We drove to the coast past lots of apartment high rise buildings. We stayed in Figueria da Foz with 40 other campers. It rained hard all night and we were glad we didn’t stay and get stuck.

The next day we walked on the beach. The waves were very big and the beach itself was a long distance from the buildings to the water. It rained all day so we did more Christmas shopping in a huge shopping complex with double story parking and a mall out front. We liked the ‘Shop China’ because it had lots of little bargains and things. The road nearest to the carpark had a blocked drain and some police blocked the flooded stretch because it was quite deep. Some how, while we were inside ‘Shop China’ a car went past the barricade and got stck in the middle of the puddle with the water above his tires.