About fifteen minutes after going to bed last night we were aware that a couple of cars had appeared at the end of the track that led down to where we were parked. After a few minutes one of them came down the track, saw the truck, turned around and went back. Shortly after that another car appeared and did the same, then a fourth. All of the cars were new-ish, clean and in good condition. None of the occupants seemed to be particularly interested in the truck per se, but is was evident we'd found ourselves parked up in just about exactly the dark and secluded spot where some people did something at an unusual time of day.
We neither knew nor particularly cared what was afoot but really didn't want the ongoing disturbance so did the only sensible thing available to us and set off in the pitch black further down the narrow track we were on and deeper into the Portuguese countryside with no clue as to what may or may not lie ahead.
As it happens, within a couple of hundred metres a twist in the track and some useful vegetation put us well and truly out of sight and mind of the place-of-shenanigans and luckily, not long after that point, there was a truck-sized pull-off that we made full and grateful use of. Within ten minutes we were back warm and comfy in bed and thereafter enjoyed an undisturbed night's sleep. We made a conscious decision not to break out the thermal imaging camera to see what we'd left behind.
Today's journey started off in extremely mountainous terrain in Portugal, which almost imperceptibly morphed into a spot-any-feature-at-all type straight line bumble through the seemingly interminable plains of central Spain.
Again, though, the featureless landscape is deceptive and our very random lunch stop threw up marsh and hen harrier, lesser kestrel, hoopoe, bee-eater, and black kite; as well as the more usual players.
All of the journey has been under heavily laden skies, rain showers and a bitingly cold wind. We're (purportedly disinterestedly) informed by family that it's currently gorgeous in the UK!
Tonight's intended overnighting spot is the place next to the Canal de Castilla that I used on the journey down. The weather's cheered up a bit since we arrived and we both had a pleasant (if weary) run.
I spotted an otter whilst running and we've both (again) spotted mink. Emma managed to take a picture of one and a bit more research indicates there's a good chance the animals we've seen are indeed of the endangered Eurasian species. An individual is just visible on the left hand side of the lock-structure (on the parapet) in the accompanying image. At full resolution the small size and comparatively short tail are apparently good indicators that this is a native.
This post was composed at 22:15 on Friday 4th April from our intended overnighting spot N 42.16378°, W 04.53248° / http://maps.google.com/maps?q=loc:42.16378%2C-04.53248