Portugal

Needless to say the WiFi in Portugal didn't work. Ian could get on it with his iPhone now and again, but nobody that I spoke to could get any joy out of it with a laptop/netbook. Hence the fortnight gap in posting.

The flight was uneventful, met up with Ian and Ruth easily and arrived on time. Picked car up which turned out to be a fantastic Peugeot 308, enormous for about 130 quid for a week. Mind you, with the extra charge for comprehensive insurance and the two extra drivers it finally came out at £230, but even that was reasonable. As it was diesel, we only paid another £15 a head during the week for fuel, in spite of the fair amount of motoring we did.

We got to Viseu in about 90 minutes, although the mysteries of the motorway tolls left us baffled. Some bits were with gates, some with electronic eyes and we decided not to stop at any of the gates and pay the lot at a Post Office later, as advised at the Europecar desk.

Viseu is a very pretty little town. We walked into it on the day of arrival, although the sun was setting, but the pictures still came out nice. (see above!) Lovely historical centre, pretty trees, fountains, flowers (in February!!)and a nice laid back atmosphere. The hotel was not nearly so lovely, a bit dilapidated, no central heating on, so I had the air conditioning on - operating as a heater - the whole week. Initially no hot water either, but if you let it run for about 100 years it finally came through. I can't complain, though, as the staff were friendly and helpful and it only cost 200 Euros for the week. It was also very central, so we could walk everywhere.

The first day we went on an outing to what looked like a National Park on the map. We had no idea what to expect, we just got in the car and drove. The countryside looked really beautiful all along, with big rocks, mostly pine trees (a bit like Scots pine) and villages with fields round them. We stopped in a town called Seia and then looked for the road on the map that would lead to the park. No luck! We could not find it. So we went more South and thought of trying what looked like a country lane, possibly without tarmac, later. Well, the EU must have coughed up for new roads in that area, because we found a brand new lovely wide tarmac road leading straight up into a bare, Moon like landscape of gigantic boulders and finally the highest point of Portugal with an operating ski slope. It was a magical trip, if only we could have enticed Ruth out of bed sooner, we might have even made it without being benighted at the end of it. Still, that day will go down in the annals of Grant family history as an impromptu, unplanned fluke of a day which ended up absolutely magical.

In the hotel we discovered another couple of orienteers whom I have known from the old days and having breakfast with them in the morning became a lovely pastime. They are retired teachers who live by mostly travelling the world, cycling, motoring, orienteering, bowling and having a great time. Both Alwyn and Val are very nice, lively and entertaining people, who are not only very good company, but have a world outlook which is quite similar to mine. Having them around was a real bonus, which made the week even more fun than it otherwise would have been.

Friday we went to the two Model Events, which was an eye opener to the rest of the week. Steep, enormous rocks, thick vegetation, steep hillsides and very technical orienteering were awaiting all of us. My physical shape is poor, so I was taking it easy, but its technical nature promised great fun.

Day 1 and 2 were in a forest very near Viseu, where we were staying. The longest course was on Day 1 where I had 4k with 185m of climb. I managed it in just over an hour and was 9th out of 30 in W60. I went rather steadily through some really nasty jungle, but enjoyed it. Day 2 was a middle distance race, so we had 2.5k and that was my best day in 6th place. On the evening of Day 1 we had a night sprint in Viseu itself, where I managed 4th place, but could have been possibly 3rd if I didn't have problems with seeing the map in places. In the afternoon of the second day there was a TrailO event which Ian had entered me for, but keeping to my promise to myself from 2009 I refused to compete. I did go, though and had a look at a few controls and felt really happy that I stayed right out of it.

Days 3 and 4 were about a 35 minute drive away and the first of them was a World Ranking Event. Some of the best in the world,Thierry Georgiou and Simone Niggli amongst them, were around. I was beginning to tire, so only managed 10th and 8th and ended up 8th overall. Not bad, considering and I was happy with it. Georgiou said in a speech that this was the best Portuguese terrain he ever ran on and I also thought that it ranked amongst the best I have ever seen anywhere. Val ended up second in W60, only beaten by an amazing Lithuanian woman who was pretty fast. There were some Hungarians there, two of which were on the podium in M/W21B.

We managed to pay the motorway tolls in the Post Office and during the week have also seen a few lovely Mardi Gras processions of both adults and children. Food was variable, but the last night with Val and Alwyn we found an amazing little restaurant where I had baked cod with an onion sauce, yum,yum! The previous night Ian and I ate a massive cauldron of shellfish with rice in another restaurant, which was also amazing.

We said good bye to our friends on the last morning, drove to the airport and got back with no hassle. Lovely week, good company, amazing orienteering and further insight into a country I have only ever been to once before and in a totally different part of it. Now for dealing with 200+ e-mails and other accumulated chores!!