Pennine style rain and single digit temperatures is definitely not what we planned. The Met Office's 'Deep Dive' merrily informed us this was caused by a 'south shifted' loopy jet stream forcing the procession of Atlantic lows that usually barrel across the UK southwards, towards Iberia. Unsettled weather, storms, cold blustery winds for the foreseeable future - motorhome travel is really a fair weather pursuit - we decided we needed to rethink our plan.
After Lisbon we intended to stay at Markadia, a peaceful, slightly remote site next to a reservoir in the depths of the Alentejo countryside. From there we planned to head back into central Spain via Badajoz, ending up at Toledo. We haven't visited the city previously. Not only is it somewhere worth seeing in itself but there is a high speed train link from the city into Madrid. This would enable me to see two of my favourite paintings in the flesh - Velasquez's 'Las Meninas' and Picasso's 'Guernica'. For me this would have been the highlight of the trip.
However, this doesn't make sense given the forecast. Spain's central plateau lies between 800 - 1000 metres. Winters are bone chillingly cold with night time temperature habitually below zero. That is in a normal year, but given the current stormy outlook then you can add high winds, sleet and snow showers and potential flooding into the mix.
One of the other apps we use to weather watch is Met Eireann's animated Atlantic 10 day pressure forecast. It gives a really good inkling of what the 'flavour' of the weather might be over the next week or two, not exactly a forecast but better than a finger in the breeze. What it showed was a mixed picture all over Spain and Portugal but slightly better on the northern coast of Portugal and in Asturias, Cantabria and the Basque Country.
So the plan now is to stick with Markadia because the weather there looks 'ok' in parts over the next few days, then begin to slowly head back to Santander in a big arc taking in the Portuguese coast around Aveiro before heading to Asturias or Cantabria via Salamanca. It's a different plan! The site at Markadia is one of our favourites, remote, informal, lost in nature, more rabbits than people.
Clearly there'd been a lot of rain recently because the site was patched with pond sized puddles. One upside of this was the reservoir was full to overflowing. No lugging the paddle board across a wide muddy margin. I could launch it from the grassy bank.
Aside from Markadia's bucolic charms I was keen to return here as it's a great SUP spot. Last year it was very much a case of sit down paddle boarding, but a few lessons last Summer had got me to the point of being able to stand and paddle, though the experience still was edged with a nagging low level anxiety that at any point I would fall over. In the Autumn on Lago Idro in the Italian lakes I managed standing up for a while. So I was very annoyed with myself that somehow or other over the winter months I had lost the knack. It's a question of self belief, I know I can do it, but somehow my confidence fails when I try.
It is perfectly possible to use the board as a sit-on kayak and Gill bought me a strap on seat for Christmas that makes paddling the board while seated more comfortable. I need to buy some PVC adhesive to attach the D ring fixings. Using it this way will enable me to paddle about in breezy conditions when standing up is too challenging. Nevertheless I do want to be able to use it both ways so somehow I need to get my confidence back.
It was very much sunshine and showers while we were at Markadia and the outlook looked dismal.
We decided to head to the coast. Markadia really is in the middle of nowhere and getting from there to the area around Aveiro wasn't straightforward. If we wanted to use the motorway we would need to retrace our step heading south to the IP8 before skirting around Lisbon to pick up the motorway that connects Porto to the capital.
However there was a short cut cross country to Alcacer do Sal that saved 40 kilometres. It was an 'N' road- so technically a trunk road. However, we have been caught out before by roads in rural Portugal designated as main connecting routes which turn out to be somewhat hair-raising - bendy, narrow with tree routes bulging through the tarmac or traversing villages with single lane streets with no pavements.
That was a decade ago, we told ourselves, Portugal had developed since then.
It's true, it has, but not the N2 and N5-2 connecting Odivelas to Alcacer do Sal. The road conformed to all the stereotypes outlined above as well as attracting locals whose only opportunity to inject a modicum of excitement into their humdrum rural existence involves driving like maniacs to terrify visitors by overtaking them on blind bends.
We made it to Alcacer do Sal somewhat traumatised but unscathed. For once the hefty motorway tolls felt like good value, finally we understood, they are not taxes but a kind of voluntary life insurance that visitors are delighted to pay simply to avoid the hazards of Portugal's older main roads.
