Duoro River

27th February

One of the places we have always planned in has been the Duoro valley, home of Port. Ideally we would have started further up the river but this would have meant more mountain driving so a compromise has been made and JC has liaised with Jane to come up with a solution. Hence the stop at Amarante, on the Tamega river which meets the Duoro about 10 miles down river. We joined the Duoro at this point. It is magnificent with lush, green slopes mostly formed in terraces for the vines. The slight mist has upset my photography plans but managed to get a few pics later on as we approached Porto.
































All the books say 'Don't take a motorhomes into Porto'. So ok we won't but how do we get to see it. Take the bus? With the dogs. Non, they are not allowed. We plump for a site about 4 miles away from Porto on the south side of the river hoping to get some advice or info. It is an Orbitur (not very quality chain) site near the Madelene beach in south Vila de Gaia. My 3G sim card helpfully ran out this morning. The one day when Jane Tom Tom, Jc map reading and even the old fashioned art of asking people seems to not work. We drove round and round and tempers got more and more frazzled. Finally a British couple flagged us down to explain that the road that we had already driven up and found virtually impassable because of road works is the only way into the site. The Orbitur people couldn't care less and whilst we were going to stay 2 nights we opted for one. It was the largest site ever, full of pine trees!!??? And Eucalyptus and we both slept really badly. Because it was so hot. Presumably from the trees.

The helpful British guy really just wanted another motorhome owner to talk to or at. He had bought a transponder!!? For the autoroute toll system, and wanted to bore us rigid with his efforts at getting it, trying to pay and all. We explained we were lawless, couldn't care less, or give a damn about the totally disorganised motorway peage. Unlike him who had bought the transponder but decided against using the motorways in case he couldn't find the right person to pay, we admitted to doing hundreds of miles on it. We also discussed the fact that he had been told that the cameras didn't read the car registration but just the transponder so if you didn't have one, the cameras would not spot you using the road. BIZARRE.

He turned up at the van later that evening, talked his way inside, let the dogs out who chased a cat, and finally left us alone and exhausted. No. We have not been very sociable on this trip and now I know why.

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Location:Madelena beach. Vila do Gaia