Blood, sweat and almost tears

Hi everyone!
There's been so much going on in the last few days that I've really only just found time to blog so I warn you it could be a long one!
When Caroline and I arrived on Thursday afternoon we were shown around the house and the land and got to know our hosts a little bit. There are two adjoined houses that have already received a lot of attention - one is virtually finished and the other is getting there bit by bit. Mandy and John also want to turn some of the outbuildings into small rental blocks too. They've been trying to do a lot with the land in the time they've been here but due to unpredictable weather many of the plants are really struggling. After the tour we had dinner and I discovered that Mandy's mother actually lives in Orkney - I just can't escape!! We didn't stay up too late because we were working in the morning but we bad a good chat and watched the sun set from the terrace.
On Friday Caroline and I were quite happy to have a lie in and got up at 7.30am to start work after a quick breakfast and a mug of coffee each. Our mission was to paint as much of an outbuildings outside wall as possible. The wall joins with the white boundary wall so we wanted to make them match and make it look like someone actually lived there. We had a nice morning working away with a quick break for home made grape juice (made from home grown grapes) and we finished our working day at around 1.30pm.
After a nice lunch with salad and quiche Caroline and I opted for playing tourist in the town. She was only there for the one night and was leaving that afternoon so we made the most of out time and headed to the Convento de Christo (Convent of Christ). It was build back around 1160 and was the home of the Portuguese sector of the Order of the Knight's Templar for two hundred years before Order was dissolved and the Portuguese section became the Order of Christ. It's one of Portugal's most important historical monuments and is really is impressive. Looking up at it from the town you get a good idea of it's size. As we wandered around it was difficult to even work out what part of the castle or convent we were in. Old dormitory rooms filled three or four corridors, cloisters are to be found here , there and everywhere and despite the fact that the main church was undergoing restoration work from the outside you could see huge paintings covering the walls and ceiling with intricate stone carvings at every corner. We walked around for a good couple of hours before we finally decided we much have seen everything so we drove down to the town and went and explored the gardens below the castle.
We didn't spend long there however since we were both suffering from the heat a little and Caroline thought an old ear infection had returned - it was causing her some serious although slightly humerous balance issues. We drove back to Carril afterwards and I got dropped off at the have before Caroline drove off for some goat festival she'd agreed to go to.
The evening was spend chilling out chilling out and swapping travel and helpX  stories mostly since Mandy and John have done quite a bit of both.
Saturday started off with breakfast and the mandatory coffee fix before getting to work. Mandy and I spent the morning in the garden, first clearing weeds in the flower beds and the vegetable plots and then planting. We put in some coriander, rocket and spinach and had a rummage for what else could be planted next. We finished up then got a quick lunch before Mandy and I headed out for some time away from the building dust. We drove down to the lake nearby for some downtime. We spent most of the afternoon swimming - well I swam, Mandy thought the water was too cold - and reading on the Head in the sun. We got home around 5pm but we didn't stick around long. There was a living statue exhibit going on for a few days all around the town so we went into Tomar for a look around. The statues were brilliant, I felt sorry for the people having to stand around all painted up under the hot sun but they were really interesting and represented real statues and moments in Portuguese history. As we walked around looking for each one we also found examples of traditional folk music and dancing. I think we spent about an hour looking around before we returned home for dinner and another quiet evening at home.
On Saturday I returned to my painting mission. We'd gotten just beyond the half way mark last time although there had been two of us then. But I thought I might still be able to get finished so I stuck my head phones into John's iPod (since he wasn't using it), turned UB40 on to full volume and got to work. I managed to get almost all of it done although when i got called in near lunch time i still had a large chuck at the top to finish. However I needed to get scrubbed up and get ready to go since we'd be invited to Mandy and John's friends in another village. Wendy and Will are also expats and they invited another friend of theirs too. Our 'lunch' actually went on almost 8 hours! We ate, talked, laughed and drank (all in quite large quantities) and all had a great time. But eventually it was time  to leave - after all, the plants hadn't been watered yet!
We just had a pizza for dinner since we'd eaten so much already then I wandered off for a lovely Skype call from back home before bed.
Monday started of in the normal fashion then it was into my painting clothes to do some more work on the wall. I managed to get it all finished and still had time to draw up and paint some nice yellow borders around the windows and paint the metal work on the mains water tap box since it was next to the path outside the land and looked pretty grotty. After a few busy days I decided to stay home for the afternoon and evening in an attempt to find some helpX projects for October...no luck yet though - maybe cause I slept through half of that time!
Our work plans for Tuesday were a little different to normal. We were up bright and early to arrive and start work at a local vineyard - Casal das Freiras. We were shown to the field were we would be working however nobody had thought to tell us to bring our own secateurs... when the other pickers heard our situation you could tell they thought it was pretty funny - this silly English folk haven't even brought anything to work with! Luckily one old guy just happened to have three spare pairs so under his guidance we got to work. We worked for the first couple of hours before heading for a quick break then we realised that everyone else was parked right next to where we were working...we were on the other side of the field. However we hurried off for a drink and a quick snack before getting back to work. During this second stint I managed to find a young Portuguese guy who spoke English so we chatted when we were working on the same row of vines. We thought lunch would be provided for the workers but we quickly realised that we were fending for ourselves. Luckily we did have some more cake and some bananas in the car so we made do with that and relaxed a little before heading back into the field. When we got back I ended up working by the guy I talked to before, Tiago, and we ended up just teaming up and working along the rows chatting as we went.
Around 3pm however I was starting to feel a bit funny. I hadn't been wearing a hat and the portion size at lunch probably didn't help. I kept working despite it until I tried to cut a rather awkward bunch of grapes. Not only did I finally manage to cut through the vine, I also sliced right across the top of my finger - ouch! Definitely the most painful injury I've had in a while and it was gushing blood - nice. I was feeling dizzy before and, despite the fact I don't have a problem with blood, this pushed me over the edge and I had to carefully sit down before I fell down. After a bit of fussing and staring from the experienced workers, a couple of cups of water and the offer of Tiago's hat I got back to work - with my shirt wrapped around my head instead since the hat wouldn't fit over my hair.
Just before 5pm Mandy shouted over that she had to leave. She'd managed to cut through her thumb and was suffering even more than I had been. We drove back to the vineyard's owner's place so she cut get her hand seen too properly since the grape pickers hadn't done the best of jobs with the first aid but as we were finishing up the truck arrived with the grapes. We watched the grapes getting taken off their stems by the machine and had a look around the production room before being handed a box of wine for our efforts and heading home.
The evening was spent redressing work wounds - Mandy got hers properly cleaned and dressed it to my standards - then we all had an early night.
Today's work load was a little lighter after 8 hours in the field the day before. Mandy and I cleaned up some more of the garden and planted pak choi, carrots and beans before digging out around the fruit trees so that water would stay by the tree where it could be used instead of just running off  to other parts of the land. We also spent some time picking figs and by the time we had all those jobs done it was lunch time once again.
After lunch we decided to go on a little field trip. First we drove out to see the aqueduct which originally supplied the convent with water. It's still in almost perfect condition and the view from the top is pretty spectacular. After this we drove out to the Grutas de mira de aire - the largest caves in Portugal. They were first discovered back in 1947 and the cave system stretches along over 11km (although only 600m is open to the public) and over 230m deep in some points. The caves are amazing, they're huge! There are some brilliant examples of stalactites, huge caverns, flow stones which look like waterfalls made of rock and loads of other impressive geological structures - brilliant! Unfortunately the tour guide only spoke Portuguese during the tour but we still got a lot out of the trip and I really enjoyed it.
We got home around 6.30pm and had a nice quiet dinner, except for the dramatic moment when I apparently had a mouse by my foot. Since then I've just been super busy getting this written. However I've now told you all about my adventures so far here and I really should decide where I'm going after the Algarve next week.
So, until next time!

Emergency Exit!

Hi everyone,
Been getting a little behind with posting at the moment due to lack of facilities and/or time so this one should cover the rest of my time up in the hills and maybe a little bit more if I get time tonight. Sorry for the irregularities but that's just part of being on the road.
On Monday afternoon I spent some time sitting reading a bit more of Sherlock Holmes and chatting to the other helpers mostly about past travel and adventures - the usual topic. In the evening though we lost running water. The tap water is pumped from the river every 3 or 4 days but the switch is in the boss' house and the boss was still away. However after all the work in the field a proper wash really was necessary so I wandered up the riverbed looking for a bit of water. I did find a big puddle a fair way up which I could and did use although it was overflowing with pond skaters and tadpoles. So after getting kind of clean I returned back to the quinta but was sent straight out again to collect water from the spring back up the river - never mind.
We ended up having a sort of duck stew with rice, melon and orange for dinner although the whole kitchen smelt very strongly of goat cheese and I think the smell had contaminated the duck stew cause it did have a bit of a wiff...I mostly kept to the rice and fruit - nice overall though.
After eating and clearing up it was time to move out to the 'patio' to "enjoy the ambience" as Fredrico loves to say. We sent the last of the electricity time power went off at 11pm - watching The Real Dirt on Farmer John. It's a film documentary about the history of a Midwestern American farm and what happens when the extremely eccentric son becomes the owner. Some parts are a little slow but it's a pretty interesting documentary.
Tuesday morning started much the same as Monday, up at 6.30, stumble around in the dark for half an hour until the power comes on, breakfast, off to the field. We spent the whole morning sickling once again although the progress seemed to be a bit slower than the previous day. By the end of the 5 hours work I was suffering quite a bit so I ended up spending most of the afternoon resting - after I'd stunk the room out with deep heat for my back and threw down a couple of painkillers of course.
Over the evening I got a bit of studying done and tried to talk trees with Caroline but I couldn't give much input as she knows way more than I do on the topic. After dinner Fernando eventually arrived although our first meeting was pretty short - just a "hi nice to meet you" sort of thing then off to bed...oh well maybe there would be more conversation the next morning...or not.
I got up and followed the usual routine but my back was unbelievably stiff and painful. We went out to the field and got the first two hours done before Fernando arrived on his tractor to come and collect the cuttings.  Unfortunately it seems he was allergic to the grass cuttings - hayfever - so he left the work to us three girls while he watched from the tractor. I kept cutting  while Caroline and Elizabeth put the grass on the trailer. It took a good hour to fill it but once we'd finished we headed back to the house for a snack. During this time Fernando discovered my back injury and thankfully put me on light duties. I spent 2 hours peeling cloves of garlic.  The idea was to preserve them in salt, paprika and oil, but first the whole bag needed to be peeled. I think I managed about 30 overall and it wasn't a bad job, better for my back at least, although I did smell of garlic for the rest of the day.
We had lunch then all sat out on the patio for a bit discussing loads of organic farming and sustainable living ideas although Fredrico and Jerome had to go and see to the goats every so often. In the evening Fernando offered to take a couple of us into the nearest town so me and Elizabeth went along - I needed to find an internet connection and Elizabeth needed to restock her fruit and veg supplies. We were meant to be meeting a new volunteer there, an American backpacker, but since we couldn't find him or contact him we gave up and went back to the quinta. As soon as we returned he called but luckily he was only at the end of the dirt road so Fernando went back out to collect him with Caroline. It turns out she had been at the same place with the American, Alex, before! Neither of them had enjoyed the previous project since the guy was really weird (in a bad way) but they both knew about this quinta and ended up meeting up once again.
Now, Caroline was leaving on Thursday and after a bit of discussion I decided to go with her. I can't stand giving up but I needed to give myself a bit of recovery work and I wasn't going to be able to do that there. Caroline also wanted to check out my new project and see a bit of helpX variety so we decided to stick together for a bit. It's a bit of a shame that I couldn't stick around because the other volunteers were great people and the location was beautiful but I nowadays I know when to call it a day and be sensible with my health.
Before we set off we went for a bit of a wander up the river. There was an abandoned house a little way along that we wanted to explore. Building regulations are much stricter within the national park and it turns out the owners had used concrete in the roof which was illegal. Instead of altering it they just abandoned the place so now it's sitting there, half renovated and half furnished but totally abandoned.
After walking around a bit we finally got ourselves organised and after saying good bye to the farm residents - the humas, the pigs, the gorgeous and very friendly young Siamese cat and all the other animals - we finally got on the road around 11.30.
En route to the new project in Carril we stopped off at a lake near Castelo Branco for some photos and a snack. Although it took us about half an hour to find the place the view was definitely worth it! We spent a little time there before carrying on up the road with windows wide open and Bunny Wailer blasting out of the CD player.
The location of this new project is a little village called Carril, near Tomar which is about an you north-north-east from Lisbon. We arrived around 3pm to meet our new hosts and find out what we would be doing.
Look forward to finding out what the work plan was in my next post. I'll be updating again very soon then hopefully we'll be all caught up and up to date - I'm confusing myself with so much backtracking at the moment!
Until next time!

Deeper into Rural Portugal!

Hi everyone,
So I actually wrote this on Monday but I couldn't get online until now. After this will soon follow the post for the last few days.

it's been a while since I last wrote but things have been relatively busy yet unexciting
Tuesday morning consisted of a couple of hours at the grandmother's coffee shop followed by cutting and collecting more branches and bracken for the goats. After a typical lunch of kale soup, salad and salted cod we drove over to a nearby village and spent the afternoon collecting apples from their orchard - again for the goats. The evening was spent milking before heading back to the coffee shop for dinner - basically the same as lunch but the fish was made into fritters.
During the night there was a huge lightening storm which lasted for hours. We were all kept up by it - me because I love lightening storms and everyone else because the thunder was so loud it was almost impossible to sleep.
In the morning all was calm again but it was a pretty quiet day with not a lot of work. Just milking, refilling water buckets, distributing some more of the food we'd cut the day before and organising bailing twine...I think we spent an hour winding lengths of it onto a long stick before we gave up and milked again. By this point it was raining again so there was nothing else to do but finish up and eat.
On Thursday after milking we helped moving breeze blocks to the new little shed Agnostiho is building to cover the well. The breeze blocks are used for the first part of the roof so we spent a good amount of time hauling wheelbarrows of blocks around as well as doing the usual  feeding, refilling water, etc. Nothing exciting but lots of good hard work.
Friday was day off number 2 but it was about as eventful as any other day. My morning was spent getting ahead with reading for Uni, learning some more from Mr Holmes and generally pottering about. I made a salad with some food I'd been given the day before then I got on with some more productive things - sewed up a few holes in my clothes, did some washing, swept the floors stuff like that. Around 5pm I was able to go to the cafe with the internet and had a nice walk down while it was still hot. I spent about an hour online before a new lightening storm appeared. It was fine until the storm was right over the village, afterwards though things went a little down hill. Lightening struck the power lines the the backup generator wasn't working so well either. The internet obviously went off and after about 20 minutes of waiting j decided to call it a day and head home. Unfortunately the storm was still overhead and with no jacket I started out to brave the weather. As I got to the door the bar owner insisted I take his umbrella but I still kept up a fast pace on the way home - being caught in a lightening storm with an umbrella isn't great either!
By Saturday morning the weather had improved but it still looked a little dubious up on the hill. Instead of driving lol the way to the normal spot for the goat food we just drove to their nearest other bit of land with only the small trailer - much better than taking the big one and having it only half full as the rains start. We ended up making two trips since the weather held out despite the constant tears from the daughter - some were deserved after getting scraped and scratched by branches and sticks but I couldn't even figure out what the problem was half the time. We ended our second trip as the wind started to pick up and headed back for the house. It was nearby an since Agnostiho had the petrol strimmer he decided to walk and carry it while Anita drove the tractor. Since Kiara stayed with her I had the trailer to myself so I spent the ride lying on top of all the branches trying not to bounce out but enjoying the tearless, peaceful drive back. We finished up for the day with milking and dinner at the grandmother's before parting for an early night.
Since I was leaving that day Sunday morning was spent packing up my stuff then returning the borrowed umbrella to the cafe with the internet. Typically nobody was there but Figueiro is the sort of village where it doesn't matter so I left it at the door before heading to the grandmother's cafe for coffee. Anita and Agnostiho arrived with Kiara around 11am and after saying goodbye we headed east. They had offered to drive me to my new project since it wasn't too far away and they hoped to swap ideas and knowledge concerning goats with my next hosts who have about 120. We stopped for a snack in the supermarket then headed off to our meeting point. It turned out the projector wasn't actually around and he didn't mention the proposed knowledge swap to the worker who picked me up so they missed out there but I think they enjoyed the slight change of scenery and when I left they told me to contact them if I didn't like the new place - they would come and bring me back!
I did have a good time with them although the language barrier was a bit of a strain sometimes since Anita had to translate everything from her third language - English - to her second language - Portuguese - and visa versa  but considering how I was the first helpXer they'd ever had they managed pretty well.
So, I arrived at my new project on Sunday afternoon after a bit of a meeting point mix up - we stopped a junction short of the place the worker, Fredrico,  had stopped. The quinta is a few miles up a dirt track, really up in the hills. It's totally off grid and runs on solar power and drinking water is collected from about half a kilometre up the currently dry river. The goats are walked up and down the hills during the day and guarded by traditional Portuguese shepherding dogs, one of whom is apparently rather aggressive and only subdued when Fernando - the owner - is here  which he isn't... it turns out he's away seeing family for a couple of days or something like that.
Staying at the quinta at the moment is Jerome who I'll mention first since he's currently snoozing on a rock nearby. He wants to try shepherding here first before possibly returning to France to take up a proper job working with goats in the alps. Next is Caroline, a forestry student from Brighton who's here getting some hands on experience for a while before driving her van back to England and returning to her coursework. Then there's Elizabeth (although the German spelling might be somewhat different). She's studying linguistics near Berlin but she seems to be quite interested in sustainable living too and is here to work on her knowledge of that as well as Portuguese. Since I haven't met Mr Boss Man yet the last person to mention is Fredrico. He's been here a year but working properly as opposed to volunteering. He's travelled a bit but still has some pretty impressive travel dreams to achieve such as travelling from Portugal to India hitchhiking - now that would be one amazing trip...although I think there's a couple of countries which could make it veeeery difficult to complete. If any of the above read this I hope you don't mind the very brief, first impression descriptions!
Anyway, yesterday afternoon was mostly spent meeting the people, goats and dogs and giving Elizabeth some dreadlocking tips before a pasta salad dinner, some time 'enjoying the ambience on the patio' and an early night.
This morning we were up at 6.30 - it turns out its pretty cold here in the morning - and started work around 7.30. Jerome and Fredrico headed off to the goats while us lasses spent the morning cutting the long grass with sickles. Rural Portugal really does seem to have been lost in time - crops and grass are still cut with scythes and sickles, water is often collected from the village fountain or a local spring and no one seems to know or care about the outside world. But I seem to have gone off topic...again. We worked until around 1pm with a half hour break before finishing for day which is the general schedule around here. So this afternoon I've  just been chilling out, wandering around a bit and writing. But now I'd better go and see if I can connect to this WiFi network or all this writing will have been in vain!
I shall tell you more about this interesting little place soon so until next time!

Stepping back in time

Hi everyone,
I hope you've all recovered from reading my last post - it was a bit of a novel! Don't worry this one promises to be shorter.
Well between writing posts and actually getting the chance to send them things are getting a bit confusing but let's see what I can remember.
After I had finished writing my last post I was relocated to my new home. After spending the previous night in their daughter's room I significantly upgraded into Anita and Agnostiho's little holiday cottage in the village. While they live a few miles out of the village I'm staying next door to Agnostiho's mother and her donkey. Unfortunately the donkey isn't in great condition - it's awful to see it with its hooves overgrown, its back sagging and the animal just looking generally sorry for itself, I'm definitely going to be feeding it up a little if I can too.
Anyway, I arrived at my new digs late in the evening and with no other entertainment and an empty house I settled down for a night reading some Sherlock Holmes (so if my writing suddenly seems to turn more old fashioned that would be why).
I woke up a little early on Sunday since I still wasn't used to the time difference but after a bit of pottering around the house getting rid of old cobwebs I wandered down to the mother's bar in search of coffee and food. With that mission accomplished I waited for the others to arrive.....3 hours later. I'm sure they had said to meet at an earlier time but I've quickly learnt that time has little influence around here.
By this point it was meal time again so we sat down to soup then salad and a local speciality - salted white fish. I forget the name now but it comes from Norway and is dried with salt before being boiled up to eat.
With lunch over it was finally time to get to work. With me and Anita standing in the back of the trailer and the other two in the tractor we headed up onto the mountain (personally I'd categorise it as a big hill but apparently it's a mountain). The family have a piece of land there with a derelict house and plenty of bracken and trees to be harvested for goat food - which is what we spent the afternoon doing. We cut and hauled branches into the trailer for a good few hours before the trailer was full but even when we'd finished around 5.30pm it was still blazing hot. We had dinner at the bar again - more soup, salad and fritters made with the leftover fish - before I finally had the chance to get online (when I uploaded the previous post). It seems the only place with internet access is about 1.5km from the cottage at a cafe on the other side of the village, and it's only open for a few hours a day. Luckily though the local mayor was passing and offered to walk me there. She was pretty surprised to hear about my travelling but wished me luck for my next adventures and told me to speak to her if I need anything around here - didn't quite expect that that afternoon!
After getting my internet fix it was home time and a chance to catch up with Mr Holmes once more.
Monday started off much the same as the previous day although Anita and Kiara came to retrieve me a little earlier, so we could collect the fallen apples from the mother's garden - the goats love them like so many people like chocolate. I've never seen them move as quickly as when they saw what treat we had for them. We ate lunch at the house (provided by the mother of course) before doing getting back to business. The afternoon was spent watering the goats - or collecting water for the goats, personally I prefer the image conjured by the first version, unloading what remained of the food collected the day before and trying to get all the goats on a sugar-high by mixing molasses with some of the water. This was all followed by milking - something I am gradually getting better at - it doesn't take me quite so long to milk an individual animal now, although I couldn't match Anita or Agnostiho for speed. Once we'd finished it was back to the bar for dinner before parting ways and once again I spend my evening with Mr Holmes - I can see us becoming great friends soon...
This morning I was working to my own schedule. The others were busy so I took the opportunity to wander up from Figeuro (or however they spell the name of this little village) to Linhares Da Beira a little further up the mountain. I guess it was only about 2-3km away but in this heat it felt a good deal further away than that, and it didn't help how I had left my freshly filled water bottle on the table in the house! However I made it to the village with just enough time before dehydration set in and good a nice long drink at the local watering hole - and by that I mean an actual hole in the wall where the water comes out (originating from a spring up in the mountain), not the pub. I had a look around he village and found about 6 people, only one who looked to be anywhere under 70. A few chickens were wandering around but otherwise the place was fairly deserted.
I made my way to the castle and wandered around others for a short while but it was pretty small and you can only spend so much time wandering around it - I'm actually certain I've been in cathedrals bigger than that castle. However it was a nice little trip out and the view was pretty decent.
Finding no other signs of life I decided I might as well head back. The family figured they would be free around lunchtime so we were going to meet up for food. Anita called when I was about ten minutes from the house saying they could come get me so I had just enough time or a quick shower before lunch. We drove a little way down the road to a petrol station with a cheap restaurant and ate, while Agnostiho continued talking with the engineer they were meeting in the morning. After lunch I got dropped off back in the village with the idea that Anita would contact me when they wanted/needed to meet me again...and that was about three hours ago...oh well.
On a final note - this place really does make it feel like I've just stepped out of a time machine and landed at least 100 years in the past. Donkey carts are still used everywhere, today I saw a woman of at least 65 walking along with a sythe in one hand walking stick in the other and a basket on her head. The men spend their mornings sitting in the street watching the world pass them by and evenings are spent the same way with a few added games of hoop-la. The rural life here really hasn't changed at all.
Except for one place -the local cafe and giver of internet, which should be just opening now so you should actually  get to read this today.
I'll let you know more soon! Until next time,
Ciao

Hiking in bear country!

Hi everyone, sorry this has taken so long - I've not had the time or enough internet connection to post until now. So be prepared this is going to be a long one because I've been on the road and I'm now in Portugal.
Now, the original plan was to leave last Monday and head to Burgos to meet up with an old friend from when I we both worked at a kids summer camp in the USA. Her friends however had other ideas - they had kidnapped her and taken her on a camping trip so I could not get a hold of her until later in the evening and she still hadn't made it home. By the time I found out it was already afternoon and too late to just set off so I spent the day doing some last minute gardening, learning how to make chicken croquettes and teaching myself how to crotchet ( I carry a crotchet needle for my dreadlocks anyway and we had wool so I figured I might as well give it a go). I also said my goodbyes to Martin and Fatna because I wouldn't get chance to see them the following day when I would definitely be leaving. The final part of the evening was spent talking to two Italian guests who had been travelling in the area. After I told them all about helpX they very kindly left me with their email address in case I need help finding work when i get to Italy at the end of the year.
Tuesday soon came around and after getting packed up and waiting for the car to be patched up (it's been having a hard time getting going and it was finally time to get the mechanics to fix it) we had a quick mid-morning snack then Pedro and I set off.
By this point I still hadn't managed to organise anything with my friend in Burgos so instead I changed my route for a faster one and headed straight for the mountains. Pedro was driving up to San Sebastian anyway so he offered to drive me to there so I could just head along the coast then down a little way to get to the Picos de Europa.
In a little town called Orio (I'm not sure of the spelling)  to the west of San Sebastian we said our goodbyes, although it won't be for too long. I will hopefully be back at least briefly on my way back to France. After spending  whole month with this family I really am going to miss all of them - including the donkey. I have had a wonderful time at all of my projects but so far this is the one I want to go back to the most, they treat me like part of the family right from the start and they are all such wonderful people. But now I must carry on with the tale or they'll all start thinking far too highly of themselves!
It only took a few short minutes to find my first lift to the next town with a couple of young lasses with their mother (I think). They dropped me off at the toll and I acquired my next lift in under a minute - literally only three cars had passed before a young guy stopped on his way to work and said he could take me another 25km up the road. He seemed intrigued by my adventures and clearly wanted to know more but we both had places to be so he left me at a petrol station and carried on to work.
After being quizzed in french by an older couple who it turned out were going the wrong way I soon found my next lift - a good day to hitch so far! The two women were going almost all the way to Santander  and were happy to share car, food, drink and - if I actually smoked - cigarettes with this new passenger of theirs. They didn't speak any English but when it came to drop off time they called a friend to act as translator so I didn't think they were abandoning me somewhere obscure.
Next came the English speaking, Pink Floyd loving driver who offered me a lift before I'd even set up on the correct side of the road. He was going right into Santander and said he could drop me near the outskirts on the west side of the city. To be fair he tried his best but he dropped me off in a truly awful spot and even when I found the right road west there was still nowhere to stand.
It was also almost unbearably hot and I was starting to feel my bag weighing me down. After 10 minutes looking at my map, possibly hoping it would zoom in and show me the way to go,  I asked the first person I saw to point me in the right direction. The older woman pointed down the road then beckoned for me to follow her - a new form of hitchhiking perhaps: I ask how to get somewhere and I am walked there in small stages by people heading the right way... it was only when she pulled out her car keys that I realised what was going on - she wasn't showing me the right road, she was driving in that direction herself! She drove me about 15km out of the city to her village then dropped me by the roadside wishing me good luck as she left.
After about 15 minutes a young lad pulled up and said he could drop me off in the next town so off we went. This was quickly followed by a lift to Torrelavega - the next big town from an expat from the south of England. He dropped me off at a petrol station certain that I would find a lift all the way to Potes (my mountain destination) from there.
Half an hour later I found a lift - two English speaking Spaniards bound for a nice little rock face nearby for a spot of climbing. I couldn't believe my luck when they, upon hearing of my love for climbing, offered for me to join them and use the spare harness and rock boots they had with them!
We spent a good couple of hours trying some pre-bolted roots. Not wanting to risk injuring myself at this point in my trip I kept to having a top rope (where a rope is rigged from above with no real chance of injury) but the other two - Santi and Herman (I don't know how to say or spell the name but it sounded like Herman so we'll stick to that until I'm corrected) went without.
Anyway, after the climbing it was pretty late so off we went in death of somewhere for me to sty. They suggested Herman's brother's house but his wife wouldn't allow it (although I did get to see their beautiful little village which was lime stepping back in time - the animals even still lived in barns within the village). I ended up staying in Santi's daughter's room for the night which was pretty kind of him.
Next morning Santo had work east of Santander so he dropped me off at the petrol station they'd picked me up from where I quickly found a lift to a better spot a few kilometers away. This lift was from a girl determined to visit Scotland mostly for the music. She plays the bagpipes herself but it's the Astorian  pipes instead and she wants to know more about the 'Scottish version'.
Once she dropped me off I quickly found a lift with a delivery man called Dani who, after a couple of other stops was heading right into the mountains. Off we went, calling in at a couple of other towns in route. We got a quick coffee in Unquera - the last town before the mountain roads - before continuing on our way. He told me about his love of canoeing on the rivers here while I tried to explain (in Spanish) about my love for climbing and hiking. At this point he suggested I would be better going to Feunte dé instead of Potes. I had heard about the place but thought it a bit tricky to get to, but Dani was going all the way there - brilliant! As we meandered through the mountains I admit I spent most of the time sitting with my mouth hanging wide open gaping at the mountains. They were beautiful, these magnificent rugged rock faces reaching up to the sky, home to all kinds of interesting species, towering over the narrow valleys and rivers. If that place doesn't live you speechless I don't know what will - I hope you all realise that soon you will be overloaded with photo after photo depicting the drive and the rest of my time there.
We arrived at Feunte dé to find its main attraction pretty busy. This was where the cheats route up onto the mountains began - the cable cars set off from here. After setting up camp off I went. If I could I would have hiked from bottom to top and back without even considering the cable cars;  with no ski pole, no knee supports and with a full knowledge of bow my knees would respond to such a mission I waited patiently amongst the holiday makers for my lift to the top.
I spent a good two or three hours on top hiking about, chatting to the goats - as practice for my next project of course - and gazing around once again at the wonders surrounding me. I also tried to take a few photos of the local bird life but they were a bit camera shy. Instead I just watched as overhead flew Griffin vultures, Egyptian vultures and Golden Eagles - perfect! I hiked up to the snowline - that's right there's still some snow in Spain in August - before turning back. The mist was coming down fast and I wasn't going to be stuck out in it. I was also feeling cold for the first time in long time and was overly keen on this fact. It was still over 10 degrees but that's 20 degrees less than I've been used to lately!
I got back to the valley floor and went to check out Feunte dé's other attraction - the bear exhibit. It told all about the local bear population, the relationship between bears and humans in the area through history and what conservation work is being done to protect them - all very interesting and I'm definitely going to have to do some more reading on the subject.
I spent my evening in the campsite bar waiting for my camera to charge and drinking a very bizarre attempt at tea - frothy hot milk and very little water - but at least it was warm. I can't say as much for the night in the tent - the ground was hard, the winds were strong and the air was freezing. I haven't had such a bad night camping since a camping trip to one of Orkney's other islands in May when it snowed for half the trip.
Thursday morning therefore got off to a slow and painful start. I did however manage to find a lift right out of the campsite. Two Australian guys were heading back towards Potes and I needed to go back there to get on the road south. They had planned on heading for Madrid originally - and I could have joined them if they had - but they were staying an extra day in the mountains and unfortunately I had to get moving. It turns out I could probably still have managed but the camping and the cable car had cost more than expected and I didn't want to spend more than I had to - I'm still working my way through the first 200€ I left the UK with and I don't want to have to use the cash machines unless absolutely necessary.
Anyway we left the campsite and after a brief driving faux pas from Dave who momentarily thought he was still in Oz and started cruising along the left side of the road we got to Potes. I wished Dave and Adrian good luck with the rest of their trip and visa vers then I went to find a spot to stand.
It took me about 20 minutes to find a lift but i finally got picked up by a mechanic and taken about 20km down the road - unfortunately most people there only tend to travel between villages so it takes a while to get anywhere, especially on the windy roads.
Next I was picked up by a couple heading about half an hour along the road and they dropped me just over the border into the Castillia y Leon part of the mountains. From there I was picked up by a second couple - Carlos and Carmen (quite funny considering my name in Spanish - Carlotta starts with the same first three letters and those three letters explain how we met....). They drove me to a town about twenty minutes further on but then examined that after that town they would be continuing on the road so they would pick me back up if I was still there.
Instead a woman stopped not ten minutes later and said she could drive me another 15km up the road to Riano. Once there I finally got around to getting some food despite the fact it was already about 2pm. I sat by the road eating my biscuits, jumping up with my sign whenever a car appeared. About 10 minutes later, to my surprise came Carlos and Carmen! Thy had to go to the supermarket first but if I was still there they would pick me up after.
20 minutes later and they reappeared and once again I was in their car carrying on down the road. It turned out they were going all the way to Vigo and could drop me off almost on the Portuguese border! We stopped just south of Leon for food and they offered me some bread and meat. One thing they didn't tell me though until I had already eaten a good few slices was that the meat I was currently eating was horse....safe to say I returned to the regular salami afterwards.
After we'd eaten and gotten a quick coffee we continued on our way. We hadn't gone far before I saw my first big wildfire. Occasionally when I was younger there were fires on the hills near where I used to live in the north east of England but they where nothing in comparison. Fields and fields of crops, bales of hay, trees all sending smoke and flames high into the sky, and one of the worst parts is that it's basically normal here.
Around 7pm we reached Verin where our paths separated. I had planned on staying there overnight but there appeared to be no campsite nearby and I certainly wasn't going to chance wild camping with the fires. I realised I was only about 10 kilometres from the border and that was when I had a little bit of a Forres Gump moment and just started walking with every intention of just walking into Portugal. Unfortunately this brief moment of inspiration was halted by the existence of the motorway - I couldn't just go wandering a the way down the motorway, it simply wouldn't be allowed. I also didn't know another route to take so instead I just found a spot, stuck my thumb out and hoped for the best.
Within a few minutes I had secured a lift all the way to Villa Real! The guy's driving was a little scary at times - flying round hairpin bends at 120km an hour but he soon realised I was unimpressed and we arrived in Villa Real at a much more civilised speed. He drove me right to the campsite where I could stay for about 6€ and I went off to set up camp and finally get a shower - something I'd been looking forward to all day.
I headed out in search of food and found a cheap place nearby. It was late and there were no other customers except a friend of the owners and none of the them some English. Instead got talking in french and the next two hours were spent chatting, laughing and eating omelettes. The friend Osvaldo was definitely a bit of a flirt but I fended him off as best I could while he and the owners tried to convince me of how dangerous hitchhiking is for a young lass on her own -  many have already tried and failed there though! I finally left the place around midnight after they insisted I pick their next lottery numbers (since I've been so lucky with hitching) and went to bed. Luckily it was much warmer at this campsite although I do believe they build these in-city campsites on top of unused carparks.
It took me about an hour to get out of the city on Friday morning, mostly because of the long walk to the right side of the outskirts. A guy called Lucas then pulled up and pointed out how bad my spot was - like I didn't know  - and offered to drop me off at a petrol station on the right road instead which was much appreciated.
I quickly found my next lift all the way to Viseu which was where I was to meet my next helpX hosts. We decided to meet at a shopping centre on the outskirts which was easy to get to and my driver - George - took me right there. I had to wait a couple of hours because Anita and Agnostiho had a meeting but I sat and read so it was fine. Although I did get a bit concerned because I thought they were an hour late - what I didn't realise was that there was a time difference between Portugal and Spain...oops, looks like I'd been an hour behind all day.
When they arrived we got a few things from the shops, showed me where I would be staying as of the following night then went to agnostiho's mother's bar for soup and fritters before finally arriving at our final destination for the night. I was absolutely shattered by this point so while the two of them, and their 4 year old daughter went to see the goats I fell right asleep.
This morning I still hadn't adjusted to the time difference so after a bit of reading - I'm now working through The Complete Sherlock Holmes Vol. 1 - we had a late breakfast then went off to milk the goats. Luckily I wasn't a complete novice - I had some experience: milking a cow...once...about 8 years ago... Anita quickly showed me what to do and although I was nowhere near as fast as her I have gotten the hang of it now. Once we'd finished milking about 50 goats - they have about 180 overall but a lot don't get milked - we had another bite to eat before Anita, Kiara - the daughter - and I went to fetch clean drinking water from the village and some vegetables from the mother's garden. Once we returned there wasn't anything for me to do so I got some writing time before our proper meal time. The four of us plus a local lad who helps out and a dutch friend who's helping with some metal work all sat outside and ate before getting back to work or writing, although my writing has been frequently interrupted by Kiara wanting to play whenever the opportunity arises. Unfortunately since I can't speak Portuguese and she can't speak English I don't have a clue what she's saying but she doesn't seem interested - apparently I'm like a new older sister or something... oh well, there's a first time for everything I suppose.
Anyhow, I must go, you will all be seek of reading by now and I'm starting to get a headache from looking at the screen for too long! Now all I need to do is find some internet access...
Until next time though -
Ciao!