The Douro Valley, with it’s dramatic scenery, steeply terraced schist vineyards and winding roads that follow the river was just gorgeous.  We joined the river at Pinhão, driving down toward Porto, through Peso da Regua, Lamego (where we stayed the night) Ancede, leaving again at Santa Leocadia to cross over the mountains and to the north of Porto.

At Lamego, after checking into our site, with a panoramic view over the valley and being shown a cave full of the proprietors unlabeled mystery wine of which we were obliged to purchase a couple of bottles (rather tasty, but with the potential to fuel a rocket), we went for a wander through a park to the baroque Santuario Nossa Senhora dos Remedios.  With over 600 steps leading from the town up to the sanctuary, we were pleased to join about half way up.

Heading on to Porto, we stayed at Vila Chã, a charming fishing village with a sandy beach which we rode to and where William learnt to skim stones.   After spending the late afternoon in the sunshine, the next day dawned wet and cold but we headed into Porto regardless and wandered the small alleys before retreating under a restaurant umbrella with blankets and a heater to have a rare lunch out.  I tried the local dish of Francesinha – a croque monsieur on steroids which certainly kept me going all day!

Would have been rude not to go to the Port Lodges in Porto, so we popped into a few, including a tour of Taylor’s which after 300 years remains a family owned business – and which provided a fine white, ruby and tawny port for Deane and Bron while Quevedo provided Will with a lovely rosé to try…..

Driving down toward Lisbon, we stopped at Praia de Mira for lunch, popped in some sand duning and tried in vain to send a message in a bottle – the wild sea had other ideas and returned it to us time after time.  We are now in search of a quieter beach with an outgoing tide to act as our salty post office….

The rain (and some vigilant guard geese) has us tucked in our van today catching up on some admin tasks, school work and housework before we go into Lisbon tomorrow.