Saturday 5th November 2022

This morning we serviced the van before leaving the aire and then visited the local Intermarche supermarket in Celorico where we bought a few groceries and paid for them with my visa card. We then moved our van to the on site Intermarche fuel station where we failed to notice a sign saying that they don't accept plastic cards for fuel purchases! After we had filled with diesel I went to pay and was told by the attendant that plastic cards were not acceptable. I explained that I did not have enough cash to pay for the fuel and the attendant directed me to a cash machine back in the supermarket. I drew out 150 euros and returned to the fuel station and gave this to the attendant to pay my 123 euros fuel bill. She gave me 7 euros change instead of the 27 euros I was owed but I was so confused and annoyed by then that I didn't notice I had been short changed till we had moved on well away from Celorico. Who ever heard of a major supermarket accepting plastic cards in their shop and not in their fuel station? I suppose the attendant deserved the 20 euros tip in view of the amount of abuse she must regularly receive from irate travellers who belatedly discover they can't use their plastic cards to pay for fuel that they've already put into their vehicle tanks! I have left an appropriate review of this fuel station on Google: Intermarche Review

We travelled south east and climbed high up into the Serra da Estrela National Park.

It's been a beautiful day to travel up into the high country.

On the plateau at nearly 2000 metres above sea level the only vegetation is this dwarf conifer.

The highest point on the Serra da Estrela is called Torre for obvious reasons. At 1993 metres it is the highest point in Portugal but it was not considered high enough by a late 19th Century King of Portugal who ordered this tower to be constructed so that he could say he had a mountain over 2000 metres high in his Kingdom!

We stopped at Torre for the day. Here's the view from the side door of our van.

The place is perhaps a little marred by these two old radar domes.

This chapel is apparently dedicated to the patron saint of the Portuguese Air Force.

 A Swiss couple came and parked next to us. I spoke to the Swiss man in French. He wanted to know if we were staying the night. I said we were. He said he would like to but he didn't know whether Madame would. They had their lunch and then moved on!

The sun went down behind the radar domes.

The light was incredibly beautiful as night closed in.

The temperature is falling really rapidly now and I'm wondering whether I should keep the boiler running on a very low heat over night to protect against potential frost damage to our water system!

Today we travelled 49 miles (79 kilometres). We are at: N40.3220 W7.6121

Torre    Street View