We know what we have to to, we have a plan of how we can do it, but we are too ill to carry it out. I reckon Gill is on day five of being viral and I am one day behind her. So in four or five days time we should be clear of symptoms, much less infectious and able to safely socially distance on a campsite. We are going to head east to Los Escullos in the Cabo de Gata national park, stop there for a week or so, find some sunshine hopefully and a bit of R&R.
It's 570 miles from here to there, we've plotted a route in five hops using mainly motorways, staying in area autocaravanas with services so we can make the journey with as little human interaction as possible. It is a horrible bug, I would hate to pass the misery on to anyone else.
However, today we are going to stay put hoping an extra day of rest helps us feel less fatigued. I was taken aback yesterday by how difficult it was to concentrate when driving. The roads were quiet, but I would not have felt safe negotiating the peripheries of Lisbon or the ring road around Seville.
In all we spent two nights parked by the Baroque pile. Aside from the bug the weather kept us in the van too.
On day three I woke up feeling I had a truly terrible cold, but not in quite such a hallucinagenic state as yesterday, so I suspect I am slowly recovering. Gill is definitely ahead of me achieving the merest wisp of a second line on an antigen test.
We drove about 70kms from Mafra to Salvaterra de Magos using motorways mainly. They are quite pricey, the Portuguese avoid them so they are very quiet indeed. This suits my need to keep things very simple, even so, driving for just over an hour was enough to make me feel a tad feverish.
Still, we are seeing bits of Portugal that are definitely off the tourist trail. Mafra is situated at the seaward end of the range of low hills to the north of Lisbon, the same steep, wooded slopes that Cintra's famous palaces inhabit. This breezy location was chosen as a place to build summer residences by the nobility seeking respite from the Lisbon's stifling heat. The lumpy bumpy landscape forms a large arc to the north of the city and the Tejo's enormous estuary.
The motorway snakes its way through the green hills and steep valleys. The area now is densely populated with lots of light industry and small towns with recently built mid-rise apartment blocks spreading out along arterial roads. I suppose it forms part of the Lisbon city region and is a testament to how Portugal has developed over recent decades despite the debt crisis triggered by the 2008 banking crisis.
Suddenly the countryside changed from very steep to pancake flat, the motorway crossing the Tejo's broad floodplain and disappearing into the misty distance on stilts. Salvaterra de Magos lies a little to the south of the river and judging by the bovine themed roundabouts on the outskirts and the Praça de Toiros just down the road from where we are parked, the town appears to be famous for bullfighting. I didn't realise it was a thing in Portugal and well as Spain.
There is nothing wrong with the area autocaravanas, it's just very unlovely, despite the best efforts of the local council to provide picnic tables and BBQs. In the end it is a gravel car park surrounded by commercial buildings. For some reason the locals seem to think it's ok to let their dogs crap on it, very dispiriting. The road next to us seems to be a shortcut for trucks, noisy late into the evening and in the early morning.
Gill is a little better but I am still very fluey. It's a nasty bug, the only time I have felt so poorly was over two decades ago. Though the world's computer networks failed to keel over on the Ist January 2000, I did. I had a bad bout of flu over the holiday period so one of my claims to fame is that unlike the internet I did succumb the millennium bug.
Like then, this virus seems very determined to stick around, tricky to shake off and from time to time I simply have to lie down. So far I have managed to drive for a couple of hours most mornings, but then need a kip in the afternoon. Working back from when Gill's symptoms first appeared she should be much less infectious by tomorrow. I think we are going to head for the campsite in Evora, she can book us in and deal with reception. I will self isolate in the van until I am less viral.
We stayed at Evora for two nights. Things are improving, the first day I needed a couple of paracetamols every four hours and an afternoon siesta simply to get through the day. Today I managed without either. Gill is much better too, but disappointingly still showed positive on a lateral flow test. We took a walk up to the local Continente supermarket but did not go in, we will continue to self isolate up until day ten or until we test negative.
It is better here on a camp site even if you can't use the facilities, the place is pleasant, lime green leaves bursting out on the deciduous trees that shade the pitches. There have been a couple of light showers but some sunshine too, a typical spring day.
The centre of Evora is about 2km from here, just a bit too far to walk given how we are feeling. I can see why people have reported fatigue as a typical after effect of Covid. The slightest exertion makes me want to lie down, I hope I get over this soon because it takes energy and motivation to travel the way we do.
Today we headed to the area autocaravanas in Badajoz, less than a two hour drive, mainly by motorway. How Portugal's toll motorways survive I have no idea, they are expensive so hardly anyone uses them. At times, though the road we are on is the main route eastwards from Lisbon to the Spanish border, there wasn't another vehicle in sight. An empty motorway, in the UK that would be unimaginable. Empty road, big sky, rolling hills, the places we passed, Evoramonte, Estramoz - white hilltop towns each topped with an ancient stone fortress. It's a great drive.
Keeping it simple, taking it easy remain our watchwords. On Streetview the motorhome parking in Badejoz appears to be next to a park with a view of the old city across the river Guadiana. Now it's over a week since we tested positive and our symptoms have diminished I think we must be less infectious. We self isolate in the van most of the time, but try to get some fresh air every day in uncrowded places making sure we keep well away from others. A stroll in a park will be fine, but we will avoid the city centre.
It shouldn't really come as a surprise that Badajos looks exactly the same as on Streetview. The area autocaravanas is quite cramped but free and serviceable. It's close to the old fortified bridge which is now pedestrianised and takes you across to the old walls and the Alcazar on the hill.
We stuck with the riverside walk which we had to ourselves. Perhaps we will return one day and explore the ancient centre.
What next? Well two things are complicating our plans for the coming week. Firstly is how quickly we can self declare ourselves non-viral and begin to live normally. We only have three NHS lateral flow tests left, my plan is to check myself on the tenth day after my first positive result - that's tomorrow. If I am clear, then the chances are Gill will be too as she succumbed to Covid a day or so before I did.
All the while we are wandering slowly eastwards from one area autocaravanas to another aiming to arrive at the Cabo de Gata as Covid free citizens able to mix and make merry as we wish. What complicates things further is the weather forecast. It would seem four or five days of solid rain and wind is destined to envelope the whole of Spain just as we recover. Very annoying!
Irrespective of the lines on the test tab, I do seem to be improving steadily. We left Badejoz this morning with the intention of heading for the area autocaravanas at Monestario, a little south of Zafra, less than a ninety minute drive. We sailed passed its exit so headed for the next one at Las Pajanosos. Not bad for a lunch stop, but too much like an HGV park to be a restful place to sleep, we decided.
Our aim for tomorrow was to reach La Pueblo la Cazola, I was feeling OK so l suggested we carry on, it did mean driving around the outskirts of Seville. Yesterday I would have quailed at the prospect, today I was untroubled, Even when we managed to drive through the city rather than around it I only grumbled a bit.
As we approached the area autocaravanas in Pueblo la Cazola it looked familiar, this is the place we once drove into and reverse straight out because it was full of French vans, I recalled. So today we drove in, discovered again it had no spaces left, and reversed back out. History repeated itself, we continued on to nearby Osuna and parked outside the big hypermarket on the outskirts which allows motorhomes to stay overnight in its car park.
Having managed a 300km drive today there seems no point in going back to taking small steps. We've decided to head straight for Cabo de Gata with a single stop somewhere in the Tabernas desert. Even if the forecast is mixed, the chances are that the Cabo de Gata will be drier, warmer and sunnier than anywhere else in southern Spain, the climate there is almost desert like. Our plan is to stay in the area for a couple of weeks. By that point it will be time to start heading home.
Even though today has been somewhat chaotic, there have been memorable moments. The quiet road from Badajoz to Zafra - the emptiness of Spain, the epic scale, how its soulfulness makes your tribulations seem trivial.
Then just now, standing at the edge of a bland hypermarket car park looking over the the olive plantations towards the nearby hills I became aware of tinkling bells. Right in front of me, making their way across the fallow fields a small flock of sheep wandered by, led by a shepherd and his dog.
This is part of the magic of Spain, how it is simultaneously old and new - we sleep in a neon lit car park among fields crossed by herders. How long have pastoralists wandered across the high plains of Iberia? For more than 3000 years I would guess.
I hope tomorrow we test Covid free and can travel more normally, use campsite facilities and feel comfortable in social spaces. It's simple stuff I am hankering after, to have a drink in a cafe, a good long shower where I don't have to concern myself about the capacity of the van's water tank, and not to worry if people want to chat. The fact I am thinking this way tells me I am getting better; two days ago the only thing I wanted was to stop sneezing, no longer ache horribly from head to foot and need to crawl into bed and have a sleep.
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