We were so lucky with the weather for our visit to Coa
yesterday – it rained overnight and was raining constantly before we left
Moncorvo. We think that the aire has good views over Moncorvo and the
surrounding countryside but as it was dark when we arrived and very misty when
we left, we can’t be sure.
We had planned to visit the Roman gold mine site at Las
Medulas in Spain, about 4 hours north of here but we decided that it would make
the rest of the trip too rushed. Las Medulas is a definite visit for our next
Spanish sojourn.
Instead we had a longish trip east to Castrojeriz, close to
Burgos in Spain, the majority of which was completed in the rain. The route to
the Spanish border took us on roads marked as scenic by Michelin and indeed it
was but so was the road, not even shown on the Michelin map, that took us to
Bemposta. We crossed over the Douro on a dam below Bemposta and climbed steeply
back up to attractive scenery on the Spanish side. This is very a very stony
with large boulders and many drystone walls. This scenery soon gave way to the
typical Spanish plain countryside with its large, borderless fields put down to
pasture or cereals. It was difficult to get used to not seeing a castle every
few miles! We were going to use motorways to speed up the journey but our
destination meant that there was no benefit, so it was quiet, good quality
smaller roads instead – much better!
We arrived at Camping Camino de Santiago (yes, we are on the
pilgrimage route) before five o’clock and found a pitch with a great view of
the Templar castle above Castrojeriz.
Photos: The Duoro dam below Bemposta; Spanish drystone walls
with an interesting construction - large upright stones are set in the ground
and the gaps filled with smaller stones.
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