Thursday 13 March Abrantes to Sao Pedro do Sul

Yesterday was a do nothing day, with only a few showers so we managed a couple of decent walks with Jamie along the river. The old town looked nice but it was a longish walk and then a steep climb so we pleaded laziness and stayed at home! Watching the weather forecast is a bit depressing as there appears no respite and indeed the southern part of Spain, and by default Portugal, are forecasting quite severe weather including appreciable amounts of snow! But there is little we can do about it for now.

So today our plan was to continue along Rota Nacionale 2, once again discovering that it didn't always stick to the N2 but occasionally went off "the pretty way". We did however learn to anticipate it and left a few very short bits unexplored, the whole route anyway being a very pleasant drive. Nature also starting to wake up with heather and magnolias blooming early. Stopped for lunch by the river at another pretty town of Gois, having to do an about turn when we came to a weight-restricted and narrow bridge. The N2 is a bit hit and miss along this section and several times we found ourselves apparently going the wrong way so eventually we dropped onto the IP3 which more or less parallels the N2. Although not yet desperately in need, we spotted a service area selling LPG and also topped off the fuel tank whilst we were there.

Time, a little late actually, to start site hunting and the largish town of Viseu had several P4N spots but unfortunately they were all full or entirely unsuitable - it didn't help that it was now pouring with rain. Castro Daire looked promising and it was a very nice looking spot - but again full. Now getting dark we were starting to get a little, well, frustrated and cast our net further. A park at the small town of Sao Pedro do Sul meant backtracking around 25km but was more promising so we took the decision to give it a go and arrived in the gathering gloom to find a large empty carpark with one other van parked up. Success! (We always manage to find somewhere).

It now being late teatime we settled and got ourselves some nourishment before it once again started raining quite heavily, forecast until midnight but then clearing, promising a cold night.