Day 3 - A walk in the parque

We woke up feeling completely knackered. So we decided to go for a walk. Our landlady had an ancient Mayflower guidebook which offered a 16Km walk up the valley to visit a deserted village.

Roman road

If we'd wanted a lazy day, we made a mistake, because the track climbed steeply as though it was aiming at one of the summits. And much of the track was not just a footpath, but a Roman road made of massive granite slabs, and wide enough for a cart. 2000 years of wear had now made them unusable except on foot or horseback.

Deserted village	The only other walkers

We visited 3 villages, 2 deserted and one still alive. The determinant seems to be the possibility of using wheeled transport. The 2 deserted villages were only accessible on foot or horseback. Although the houses and gardens were falling down, there were still some vines, some apparently still tended. In the functioning village, we spoke with an old man chopping wood. As a youth, he'd worked in France, so he spoke French and we were able to chat. He directed us to a building that turned out to be a combined village hall, café and house, with a young Canadian (daughter of more emigrants who'd returned) to serve us a beer.

Roman bridge