Middle-aged flash packers

If you like a firm mattress, Hotel Berne is the place for you. I don’t, and I spent the night feeling as though I was sleeping on a door. Not since Cambodia have I slept on such an uncomfortable bed.

It took several coffees before I felt ready to attempt our walk of the day – a walk through the Zêzere Glacier Valley, billed as one of the 7 wonders of Portugal. I wonder what the other 6 are? Must remember to google that at some point.

The walk started from Manteigas so no driving required. It’s a linear walk which would eventually take you to Portugal’s highest point: Torre, 1993 metres. (I’m guessing that is another of the 7 wonders). This would be an 18 mike round trip so no, that was not on the agenda. I hoped to make it far enough just to see the mountain.

It was another beautiful day and we were both struck by the amount of butterflies around. Butterflies are sensitive to pesticides and apparently this is why we don’t see so many in the Uk anymore.

A little further along the track I found a tiny kitten, soaking wet and panting heavily. It was lying very close to some extremely fast running water swirling out of a pipe and I think it must have fallen in. Amazing that it managed to get out and didn’t drown. It was too exhausted to run away but still managed to hiss furiously at me so rather than touch it I left a bit cheese for it and hoped it would be ok. Annoyingly I didn’t think to take a photo. I could never have been one of those photo journalists who takes pictures of dying people and then carries on. At least I would have left them a bit of cheese!

There were flowers and what I think was wild lavender everywhere. The rock in this part of Portugal is full of mica so it glitters in the sun and made the track we were walking along look so pretty. A beautiful valley indeed.

As we started walking out of the valley and ascending, the path became overgrown and rather wet. Although I have found my trainers much more comfortable than walking boots in the heat, the one downside is they do let in water somewhat. I managed to completely soak one foot, and on the return, soaked the other one too.

We stopped at a point where there was a pool in the river and I rinsed my trainers and socks. It was very tranquil with just a wagtail and a few water-boatmen skimming about.

By the time we got back to the hotel we’d completed around 12 miles.

Sadly I didn’t get to see Torre but it was a stunning walk.

What was left of the afternoon was spent swimming and sorting out what we are going to do next. Then it was off into town for a beer and some food.

While we were there, Joe rang to say he and Nat had just summited Mount Fuji. This hiking lark must be in the genes.