I’m sure you have all been very worried about the lack of birding news. Well I have some good news for you and some bad. The good news is that yesterday I took my new binoculars for a long walk up the coast to what Google maps assured me was a National Ornithological Reserve. The bad news is that when I got there there were no birds.

That’s not quite true, I got a good view of hundreds of Sandwich Terns diving for fish just off the beach. They are spectacular, rather like Gannets, because they fly higher than most terns and then when they see a fish they fold their wings in and dive, arrow like, straight into the ocean. Disappearing for a second or two and then emerging with a fish, which the Gulls then try, usually unsuccessfully, to steal. There were also masses of Stonechats in the reserve, but nothing else.

The heat was high yesterday, into the low 30s centigrade and we stayed in the shade reading and planning the next part of our trip.

Today we headed for the original capital of Portugal – Guimaraes. SatNav said there were only 35 miles to drive but it would take one hour fifty minutes – slow slow slow. The problem with what we’ve seen of Spain and Portugal is that if you avoid the toll roads the side roads are no worse than any other country but the villages seem much closer to each other, sometimes never ending. The result is that you are constantly stuck at 50kph (31 mph).

We finally arrived in Guimaraes at lunchtime and have parked Basil in a large dusty carpark (41.440356, -8.285382), along with a number of other motorhomes. There are filling and emptying facilities adjacent and it’s free, but its not the best place we’ve stayed. It is currently 32 degrees and so we will be leaving it until later in the day to explore the town.

As you can see, not the world’s most salubrious overnight spot!

I have strange feeling we might have visited Guimaraes before. About 10 years ago Sarah, I and our youngest son did a 3 week tour of Portugal using a hire car staying in heritage hotels called Pousadas. I can’t specifically remember staying in Guimaraes, but the name rings a bell. When we look round perhaps something will jog my memory.