This morning we urged Basil from his riverside slumbers and weaved our way through the far too narrow cobbled streets of Mertola and onto the open road.
The initial part of our journey was along a very poor highway through the Guadiana Valley Natural Park. The only nature we saw though were more storks. Storks on various poles, storks in trees and storks on the ground. We have never seen so many Storks, although we have seen them all over Europe, their familiar “clacking” of their large bills making their presence clear.
We were heading for the town of Serpa but before we arrived I had a stop in mind: the Minas de Sao Domingos. This is the location of a large deposit of various metal ores. Originally mined for gold and silver by the Romans, large scale mining started in the mid 19th Century under the British company of Mason and Barry.
Initially it was an underground mine but soon became open caste. Copper was the first product to be mined but as the demand for sulphuric acid grew the mine produced pyrite which was smelted and purified as sulphur. Unfortunately the combination of sulphur with the large amount of water needed for the process resulted in the whole area becoming contaminated with sulphuric acid. This led to workers suffering from acidosis and almost any surface they touched could result in chemical burns! Not surprisingly the Portuguese government shut the mines in 1966.
Much of the mine area has been cleaned up and turned into an attractive lake, but another large portion has just been left to decay, presumably too expensive to regenerate. It was this part I was keen to see.
We spent some time following various marked walking trails around the remains of a once huge industrial complex, with signs explaining the various buildings and mines we were seeing.
The final part of our journey was on an equally inadequate road, but before we went to our stopping place for the night we managed a quick shop in LIDL.
Serpa has a smart little Municipal Campsite (37.941797, -7.603246) which is great value at €12.50 including electricity. It had been our intention to stay here two nights and explore Serpa tomorrow but some very knowledgeable British campers have told us about a cheese festival in the town this weekend which includes groups of shepherds from surrounding villages singing traditional songs. They have visited before and assure us it is worth seeing so we will probably stay at least until Saturday.
Team Basil is keeping a weather eye on the Coronavirus epidemic. Our campsite here has a sign giving advice on reducing infection risks. If the virus becomes widespread in Europe we may head home early. I think we are both agreed that we would rather be ill, certainly seriously ill, at home. Watch this space.
