Reset search
Wanda’s First AdventureWanda’s First Adventure
Edit route

Wanda’s First Adventure

October – November 2021
  • Misadventures Of Wanda
This is our first road trip and test of Wanda in all weather conditions Read more
  • Misadventures Of Wanda

List of countries

  • Portugal Portugal
  • Spain Spain
  • France France
  • England England
Categories
None
  • 5.3kmiles traveled
Means of transport
  • Flight-kilometers
  • Walking-kilometers
  • Hiking-kilometers
  • Bicycle-kilometers
  • Motorbike-kilometers
  • Tuk Tuk-kilometers
  • Car-kilometers
  • Train-kilometers
  • Bus-kilometers
  • Camper-kilometers
  • Caravan-kilometers
  • 4x4-kilometers
  • Swimming-kilometers
  • Paddling/Rowing-kilometers
  • Motorboat-kilometers
  • Sailing-kilometers
  • Houseboat-kilometers
  • Ferry-kilometers
  • Cruise ship-kilometers
  • Horse-kilometers
  • Skiing-kilometers
  • Hitchhiking-kilometers
  • Cable car-kilometers
  • Helicopter-kilometers
  • Barefoot-kilometers
  • 69footprints
  • 54days
  • 435photos
  • 66likes
FollowCalendarShareBucket list
Newest first
  • Misadventures Of WandaMisadventures Of WandaWanda’s First Adventure

    Ruínas do Sanatório Albergaria Grandella

    November 1, 2021 in Portugal ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    We had a lazy morning as planned today. Ellie cleaned Wanda’s floors, I had a shower and then we filled Wanda’s water tanks. Just before midday we set off in search of an old sanitarium. When we found it on the edge of the village of lousa there were runners doing time trials and to our dismay the path ran right through the middle of it.
    We parked up and started walking up to the walls and could see the markers for the runners but there was no one there to stop us so in we went.
    It was an amazing building not only to photograph but just to walk around. Arched doorways and pointing walls, the whole place was like a maze and at one point I lost Ellie completely. During that time I found tunnels that led right underneath and they were like cloisters and I actually managed to get all the way through.
    As we were about to leave 2 runners came back from where they had run to and they were collecting the markers so as they left I got the drone out and done some aerial photography, it looked even better from the air.
    From lousa, we drove back to the car park at Mafra where we had stayed before. Made a cup of tea and chilled for half an hour before we went to the wolf sanctuary.
    There’s no way Wanda was going to get up the road to the sanctuary so we had to walk the last 3/4 mile uphill on a cobbled road and got there at exactly 4:30pm, just as the guide was starting.
    Sara, our guide was excellent. She first spoke in portugese and then English for us but she did stay with Ellie and I and we got to ask her lots of questions on the route, but to our utter disappointment we didn’t see any wolves.
    Leaving the sanctuary we walked back to Wanda in the dark and then returned to Mafra where we would spend the night for the last time. Tomorrow we will be moving area.    Read more

  • Misadventures Of WandaMisadventures Of WandaWanda’s First Adventure

    A night in a ghost town

    November 2, 2021 in Portugal ⋅ 🌧 7 °C

    This morning we had a very rude awaking by a lorry parked next to us in the car park in Mafra at 5am. Once the lorry had warmed up, got his air brakes running and left the binmen turned up and made a hell of a noise and from that moment on the car park turned into Piccadilly Circus. It was a nightmare so as we were up anyway, we sorted Wanda out. Had a few cups of coffee while we waited for the traffic to ease up and left Mafra at 9am.
    Our plan initially was to dump the toilet and grey water at Mafra but the dump station was full of vans so we just took it with us and hoped we’d find somewhere on route to dump it all off.
    We had a 260 mile journey today to move area completely and head to the north of Portugal, at first we were going to go straight to the waterfalls and hot springs but on route judging the time we decided that it would be better to head straight to a ghost town we had seen on a YouTube video because we could sleep there.
    On route we found an intermarchè and dumped all our waste and even managed to fill up the fresh water all free of charge. Then we continued the next 160 miles through the wind and rain to the ghost town.
    When we arrived we realised we were a little out of depth and comfort zone here. We were deep in the woods, the buildings were completely derelict and there was an eerie feeling about the whole place.
    We parked Wanda next to one of the buildings and started to explore.
    One building was definitely an old school because it still had the blackboard, there were 2 houses, both identical but one had a collapsed roof while the other was intact complete with basement and an upstairs and then there were several other buildings and there use is anyones guess.
    We settled back into Wanda, made dinner turned the tv on and the fire and then it got very dark, very quickly and the owls came out just to make the place even creepier.
    At 9:30, we were ready for bed and just as we turned the tv off so it was silent other birds started making loud screeching sounds which were truly terrifying. We both knew it was wildlife but the mind does like to play tricks on you and it was only the night before I was watching the walking dead.
    Sleeping here was definitely going to be interesting, and cold.    Read more

  • Misadventures Of WandaMisadventures Of WandaWanda’s First Adventure

    Mountains and Hotsprings

    November 3, 2021 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C

    We survived the night in Chã, our little ghost town but the noises we heard as we turned the tv off were enough to make your blood curdle. At 6:30am I was wide awake and as the sun came up we were both out exploring the buildings in daylight, which was far better but still creepy.
    Around 9:30am we left the the ghost town behind and headed for the peneda geres National park. The plan was to stop at 3 waterfalls so I could photograph them but that didn’t happen.
    TomTom kept on trying to take us down huge hills and we got further and further from our destination. Twice I had to stop and check where we were and in the end I decided just to stick to the N roads. They weren’t main roads but I was comfortable driving on them and I could turn around if need be.
    The park was beautiful, long winding roads with lots of switchbacks which did stress me out because Portugal is quite bad for road signs so if there was a low bridge or narrow road or really steep incline we probably wouldn’t be warned.
    Unfortunately we couldn’t stop at the waterfalls, there wasn’t a lot of parking and one we couldn’t even get near because the road was closed so we ended up driving all the way through the park and back into Spain.
    Next on the list was the lobios hot springs, and as we passed we could see the steam coming out of the river.
    We found a motorhome parking spot and quickly got changed, Ellie was really looking forward to this and I think it was number one on her list. We got down to try baths and they were empty. No people, no water.
    There was a small trickle of boiling water running into the river and it was that, that we had seen steaming from the road and I tried it but it was boiling on the surface and freezing below. We were well disappointed.
    I checked our navigation book and the next destination was 280 miles away so I plotted it into TomTom and away we went.
    15 miles from lobios, we came across a sign in Spanish that looked like hot springs, I opened park4night and there it was. A spot right next to some 2000 year old Roman baths, or hot springs. I set in the coordinates and it took us down a very steep hill but there at the bottom we’re 10 other vans and people were bathing in the Roman baths.
    We did a temperature check first and they were hot, so hot some of them were bubbling, so we put on our swimming gear and went in.
    Google says the springs are naturally between 36°c and 48°c and they were really hot. So hot infact that we were grateful to get out into the 10°c air temperature and also so hot that Ellie got back into Wanda, passed out and then threw up. But on a better note it does seem to have helped my knees.
    We’ve decided we’re going to spend the night at the hot springs, there’s no hurry now as the weather is turning and it will only get colder the further up we go. So we’re hoping for another quiet night here tonight.    Read more

  • Misadventures Of WandaMisadventures Of WandaWanda’s First Adventure

    Le Playas de La Catedrales

    November 4, 2021 in Spain ⋅ 🌧 12 °C

    Last night we didn’t get a lot of sleep. We were parked up next to camper vans and we’ve realised that vanlifers are a completely different breed. It seems that when they park up there vans explode and all there contents from within spread themselves everywhere. Not only that, they seem to have a private competition between themselves on who has the loudest doors when they close and how many times they can open and close them. Not only that, they also don’t have clocks or any knowledge of time because they were rocking up at the hot springs until 2am and then starting to leave from 4am.
    Also they are completely oblivious to others that may be sleeping because it seems that if your a vanlifer and your cold it’s alright to keep turning your engine on and running the heaters no matter what time of the night it is. And it’s also perfectly acceptable it seems, to get your tackle out in public and start urinating.
    Apart from that we slept fine, and I took great delight in getting up at 6:30 and trying to make as much noise as I could before jumping in the hot springs again before leaving on what was supposed to be another mega drive of 280 miles to the north of Spain.
    After a 100 mile trek we stopped for diesel snd 3 miles down the road there was a dump station for motorhomes so we pulled in there, emptied the grey and the toilet and refilled with fresh water. Then it was back on the motorways but we had chosen not to take the toll roads this time as it was only 5 miles longer and an extra 30 minutes on our journey compared to the toll roads. Another 30 miles along and we spotted a sign that said playa de La catedrales.
    I asked Ellie to google it quickly as we were speaking to a man from Belgium yesterday and he mentioned it.
    It looked awesome from the photos and a photographers dream so we turned Wanda around and headed back and a quick search on park4night led us to a great little car park with a few other motorhomers and unfortunately vanlifers, but we do have the best view in the house and having checked the tide table I seem to be the only one with any knowledge of when low water is, so at 11:30am tomorrow we are heading down to the beach to shoot the beach of cathedrals.    Read more

  • Misadventures Of WandaMisadventures Of WandaWanda’s First Adventure

    Alone in the mountains

    November 5, 2021 in Spain ⋅ 🌧 8 °C

    This morning again we had a very rude awakening by a vanlifer, rocking up next to us in the car park at 3:30am and then proceeding to bang every door in the van while they sorted themselves out. That just reinforces my beliefs that vanlifers are the entitled of the road.
    So at 6:30am when I got up I dropped the electric step, opened and closed the habitation door and then opened and closed the cab doors very loudly just because I could.
    Then at 9am much to our delight a bread van pulled into the car park beeping his horn like there was no tomorrow, that definitely woke the buggers up.
    At 9:30am we proceeded down the steps and into the beach to be greeted by sea caves and arches galore. We scrambled over wet rocks and rock pools to get to the 3 arches and we were one of the first there along with other photographers who had tripods. I didn’t take mine because I knew it wouldn’t be free of people long enough to do long exposures and it wasn’t but I did shoot super fast and lots of exposures so I can stack the pictures later. These other photographers were very frustrated and kept on shouting at people to move out the way.
    We spent about an hour in the beach and had a good break in the weather before we set off for a small car park in the Sienda National park to spend the night.
    When we arrived at 2pm it was raining hard so we made lunch and chilled for a couple of hours and as the rain wasn’t stopping we just decided to head out anyway. We took the famous Torres de osos route or the path of bears because in this region of Spain they do have wild bears. Off we went over a beautiful lake on a long wooden bridge and along the mountain path. It was a beautiful walk, even in the rain and we did get very wet but the walk spurred Ellie on to look for a place that might have bears.
    It turns out that tomorrow’s park up in Terverga is famous for the bears so tomorrow we will be going on a bear hunt. But tonight we’ll be spending the night alone listening to the rain and hopefully getting a full nights sleep.    Read more

  • Misadventures Of WandaMisadventures Of WandaWanda’s First Adventure

    La Senda Del Oso - The path of Bears

    November 6, 2021 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 7 °C

    We had a great nights sleep, no noise, no vanlifers turning up at stupid hour banging doors and no barking dogs. And we woke to a mountain view, a steaming lake and clouds winding there way down between the mountains.
    From our camp spot in the little car park we headed for the path of bears a little further away but parking was a problem so we turned around and headed for the motorhome parking at terverga.
    We arrived about 11am, bought some empilladas from a small shop on the way and ate them before exploring our surroundings.
    Tervaga and the small surrounding villages are beautiful, they are complete chocolate box hamlets surrounded by huge snow capped mountains and Ellie has finally fallen in love with somewhere.
    At midday we headed for a small mountain on foot, we didn’t take a lot with us as we thought we would be walking the path of bears which is flat so 3/4 of a bottle of water and 4 orange club biscuits were what we took, and I’ll be honest they were all by chance.
    As we approached the path of bears we decided instead to take a different path that led up the mountain, I read the gradient and height which was 19% at 850 meters for 8.5km but Ellie only read the distance which was 8.5km.
    2 hours later going uphill all the way on a road we still hadn’t come across another sign and we were still walking on the road and I was convinced this was wrong so I checked google maps, it looked to me as if the path should go from another small hamlet a little further up. We turned off the road and entered the hamlet and walked around a maze of tiny roads you would have trouble getting a horse around let alone a car and then a grassy and very rocky path appeared on a bend and we took it.
    The path was obviously hundreds of years old with huge cobbled stones forming the base of it and the gradient was incredible. I kept checking google maps for our position just to be sure we were still heading in the right direction because now our only landmarks were huge mountains and we so nearly gave up, but an hour later we arrived at the summit. It was a great achievement especially for Ellie as she hates walking uphill and we were greeted by wild horses, 360° views and a tiny little chapel.
    We decided to walk back down the road which probably hurt just as much going down hill as it did going up and by the end of it we were both walking like a couple of drunks.
    At 4:30pm we arrived back at Wanda, completely exhausted after almost 5 hours and 10 miles of hiking, we didn’t ever find another sign for the path we thought we were taking but the walk was beautiful and we will probably remember it for the rest of lives.
    I’m sure we will sleep well tonight.    Read more

  • Misadventures Of WandaMisadventures Of WandaWanda’s First Adventure

    The Road to Valdeon

    November 7, 2021 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 7 °C

    This morning we woke up at 8am, that’s been one of our longest lay ins yet, mainly because Ellie slept with her headphones on and I had earplugs in because there was a dog relentlessly barking all night. At 10am we left our camp spot with no sign of the much talked about bread lady and breakfast and headed 60 miles north to the medieval town of Cangas De Onis. We found parking for Wanda in a large car park that was rapidly filling up when we arrived and set off through the town to find the ancient bridge that I had seen in La Vuelta. It was a beautiful bridge, and very picturesque and I don’t understand why people have to walk over it and take selfies. Surely it would be better to stand on the new bridge and get a selfie of the old bridge behind if that’s your thing. It was comical to see people standing there trying to get shots of themselves with the bridge when they were standing on it.
    From cangas de onis we were heading for a park up further up the coast that had electric. Wanda’s leisure batteries needed abit of a recharge as we’ve only been doing small journeys and caining the power again. We set off and then Ellie mentioned that she would rather like to do the cable car ride in the picos de europa so we stopped and recalculated our journey, turned around headed back through cangas de onis and up into the mountains.
    We took the N-625 mountain pass which was one of the most scenic and beautiful drives we have done. The roads weren’t to steep so Wanda didn’t struggle, it was full of tight turns following the path of the river, we crossed over arched bridges and passed hundreds of waterfalls and there was even a mountain goat that jumped off the side of the cliff right into our path. We climbed over the summit which was 3ft deep in snow and headed down the other side on a 9% gradient and after 90 minutes of driving we arrived in the tiny mountain town of Valdeon.
    The airè we found is probably the nicest one yet with our own private electric supply and fresh running mountain water pumped from the tap. The only worrying thing is, we are the only ones here. There are snow boards 3ft high across all the doors and windows and the town is dead.
    We’ve checked the weather and it says 7°c and rain so we’re hoping to be alright, and the locals have been down to check that we had paid for the airè online and I’m sure they would have said something if the weather was going to be that bad. Either way, we have electric and we’re warm so if we do get stuck we should be ok.
    Tonight we’ll be sleeping listening to the cow bells and wondering if we’ll be going any further in the morning.    Read more

  • Misadventures Of WandaMisadventures Of WandaWanda’s First Adventure

    The Camaleño Cable Car

    November 8, 2021 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 4 °C

    We survived the night, there was no snowfall and even though we had the electric heater on it only got down to 7°c outside and 16°c inside so the heater didn’t even kick in.
    We left our beautiful camp spot at 9:30am and headed for the cable car in Camaleño. The drive took us down the most beautiful roads and we kept stopping to take photos because the scenery was so spectacular, and the 2 hour drive turned into a 4 hour drive. But that reminded us, it’s not always the destination that matters, sometimes it’s the journey.
    We got to the cable cars around 1:30pm, had a bite to eat in the coffee shop and then bought our round trip tickets for €17 euro each. The cable car ride was incredibly fast. Just 5 minutes to get to the top and it’s the longest single cable car in Europe.
    Getting to the top we were shrouded in cloud and at first couldn’t see anything at all. There was an icy wind aswell which made us think why did we come up here, but then the cloud shifted and the tallest peaks came into view and the sun came out for a few minutes. Whilst trying to get a better view from the edge of the mountain Ellie went down into some deep snow and got a shoe full of water which annoyed her, so almost straight away we came back down before she got frostbite.
    Back in Wanda we replotted our course while Ellie changed her socks and shoved her single wet shoe under the blowers in the front and then we set off. Another 80 miles of driving to get to our camp spot for the night in a free airè outside Parque de la Naturaleza de Cabárceno so tonight we have a lake view on one side and elephants and buffalo on the other side.
    All for free.    Read more

  • Misadventures Of WandaMisadventures Of WandaWanda’s First Adventure

    Le Parque de Naturale de Cabarenco

    November 9, 2021 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C

    Waking up to the sound of elephants while your in a motorhome in Spain is Bizarre to say the least, but that’s what happened to us at 7:30am this morning.
    We quickly got dressed and trotted down the little dirt track next to our camp spot and were greeted to an amazing site of elephants, buffalo and ibex roaming the field in the nearby safari park.Read more

  • Misadventures Of WandaMisadventures Of WandaWanda’s First Adventure

    Finally - Placa San Juan De Gaztelugatxe

    November 9, 2021 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 13 °C

    At 9:45am we left penagos, and drove 60 miles north to the coast and the town of Berango. I had checked park4night and apparently this place had everything we needed for a resupply.
    First stop was the repsol garage where we refilled with LPG and the helpful attendant told us about the repsol app called waylet that shows us where all there LPG stations are. Then it was round the corner to the erksil supermarket where they have a self service laundrette and while the washing was on we stocked up on fresh food. Then while the washing was drying we put the food away and 15 minutes later we were back on the road heading 30 miles north to the town of Bakio.
    This town has a major draw factor for me, and I specifically plotted this route to get to this place at this time of year as I missed it 2 years ago in our France trip and because it is so far over in the map I doubt I’ll ever get to come back, so to me getting here and getting this shot is a big deal.
    We arrived in Bakio around 2pm, stopped for a quick coffee as we’re the only ones in the top car park and Ellie done some research on our location.
    Placa San Juan De Gaztelugatxe is what I’ve come to shoot, but I had specific angles and locations I wanted to shoot from, now Ellie starts the research only to tell me it’s closed, and it’s been closed since January 2021 because of a landslide. But we could still get to a viewpoint. I was gutted, but I hadn’t looked yet to see what the angle was like so off we went, down a huge hill with a very steep incline and there was the viewpoint.
    It wasn’t quite the angle I was after but I got a few shots and if I get down further I might be in luck. Off we went, down a steeper hill and I could see the second viewpoint I wanted and then as we got to the bottom of the hill we were greeted with security fencing and couldn’t go any further. I was completely gutted, but I started scheming on the way back up to Wanda to see if there were any other secret paths or tracks on google maps and I thought I saw one up the top near Wanda, so that’s where we went.
    When we got there the track was 400ft up and although it did go down it was only about 8 inches wide and went down the sheer face of the cliff. If I was on my own I probably would have got my camera gear and chanced it for the shot I wanted but Ellie was with and she said no chance, but why don’t you try the drone?
    I’ve never dropped the drone lower than me before, I didn’t know what would happen. Obviously when the drone leaves me it’s at ground level, so what would happen when I flew it over the edge of the cliff, would it reassess ground level? Would it already be above the 400ft legal limit if it did reassess and drop down below? Or would I fall into negative ground level?
    I decided to risk it because, like I said this is possibly a once in a lifetime shot.
    I set the drone off, flew it out over the trees, angled the camera down to see what was underneath and then started descending, the drone fell into negative numbers. I kept on dropping until I was at the height I wanted (almost ground level), positioned the drone and camera angle where I wanted and then started shooting.
    The drone had no problems, infact I even sent it out to sea some 600ft up while I had the chance and shot some different angles. Getting it back in was a bit of a challenge guiding it inbetween the trees back to me at the edge of the cliff, but my pilots training kicked in, I knew what I needed to do and just done everything really slowly and without panicking.
    Getting back to Wanda and reviewing the images I was really pleased with the drone and myself for getting the shots and I can finally tick this place of my photography list once and for all.
    Then, we sat down for a chicken salad dinner and watched the sunset into the sea from our free camp spot on the top of the hill.    Read more

  • 2025© FindPenguins
  • Home
  • About us
  • Group Tracking
  • Press
  • Terms
  • Privacy Policy & Cookies
  • Help Center
  • Legal notice