Wonderfully peaceful night overlooking the water. Woke up to some drizzle, and the whole morning was pretty damp as we continued our journey Eastwards.

First stop was my plan B spot for the previous night, the elevated parking area for the centre point of Portugal. The view must be amazing, but we couldn’t see anything today.

We then meandered through an awful lot of pine forests, after which we were pleased to return to a more open scenery. We stopped for poached eggs on toast at a riverside Park4night, then decided to aim for the popular mountain-top town of Monsanto.

Closing in on Monsanto, Sophie caught sight of the ancient town of Idanha-a-Velha and so a visit was required. It was actually a lovely old town with some serious history. Walking around all the backstreets was a bit like being in a living museum, with the old folks pretty much dressed as if time had stood still.

My objective when visiting a town is to cover all the bases of the key sights, and in the case of a small village like this, I’ll ensure Sophie has walked every backstreet. That way I can say we’ve done it all, so please can we go now. Sophie came up with a new one today. Despite my explaining that she’d seen everywhere, she suggested that if we now do it in reverse, she might get more photograph opportunities 🙄.

So after that visit, I was keen to track down a really interesting Park4night that was up an obscure road, but promised a great setting overlooking the plain below and set within lots of massive boulders. It was amazing. Unfortunately, another wild card risk reared it’s head today, a baby. Babies, of course, are lovely things, but generally if you want to be sure of a beautifully quiet night, then you probably don’t want to park near one. The baby in question has been persistently exercising its lovely baby lungs and vocal chords, reaching pitches that could shatter glass. It looks like this young family will be overnighting without us tonight.

So we’ve found somewhere in the tiny village of Relva, a close neighbour of Monsanto, and they have decent parking for motorhomes, which is just as well.