Saturday morning walk

This morning we went on a nine kilometre walk from Fermoselle to Fornillos. We left the hotel and swung by the bakery to pick up some pre-ordered chorizo rolls for our lunch. The weather was a bit cooler this morning, with some cloud cover and less humidity, so I found the conditions much more to my liking. This meant I spent most of the walk up front instead of being the back walker.

As we left the bakery to start the walk we saw a sign that read “Atención Batida”, which means ‘watch out for wild boar’ as there was hunting in the area. Gabriele advised us that we should not worry, but we should stay together and stay on the walking track to minimise any risk to us if we did happen to encounter a wild boar.

We headed off walking up and down hills, through rocky and damp terrain. About 3 kilometres into the walk a convoy of vehicles appeared behind us. There were about 8 vehicles and they were full of hunters in search of wild boar. They tried to tell Gabriele that the walking track was closed today because of people being out hunting. Gabriele was having none of it and, after quite an animated discussion, it was agreed that about a kilometre ahead the hunters would be heading left and we would be walking straight on. Gabriele 1, hunters 0.

We did pass the hunters as they had headed left into thicker vegetation further down the track and we followed the walking path. We did hear the hunters later on shouting and making lots of noise but we didn’t hear any guns going off. Boars 1, hunters 0, hopefully.

It was a wonderful walk with beautiful scenery constantly changing as we headed towards the Duoro River and Portugal. The landscape at the 7 kilometre mark was amazing, with views down through the gorge to the river. The weather was also improving with the sun making an appearance.

We finally could see our destination in sight and less than a kilometre away was the village of Fornillos. A local bar was opening especially for us, providing us with cold drinks to go with our chorizo rolls, which were absolutely delicious. We also had some nuts and chocolate to share with the group and others had brought some fruit, so no-one starved.Read more