Driving Through Picos de Europa to Portugal

November 4^th-5^th, 2025 

After enjoying my meandering journey through France, it was time to get some miles under my belt in order to be in Lisbon for Naomi’s arrival on the 6^th.  I looked at Google Maps and chose a route that would pass through the national park of “Picos de Europa”, the Peaks of Europe.

A lovely morning sunrise.

The colour of the light was gorgeous.

The beach at a nearby town.

It was a nice drive, quite windy (as in curvy) through the mountains, where there seemed to be a lot of construction fixing parts of the road that had eroded away since it snaked along beside a river.

On the road at the start of the Picos de Europe...

There were some gorgeous views.

Some falls colours.

It was an awesome, windy drive up to a mountain pass.

Unfortunately, I could see a forest fire in the distance.

Zoomed in.

There's a cool rocky spire in the middle of the photo.

Starting down the mountain pass.  Just before I reached the summit, there were two cyclists, a couple, who most have slogged for hours to get where they were with their bicycles laden with saddlebags with their gear.  I rollled down my window and stuck out my arm and gave them a thumbs up as I passed by.  I saw the guy look up and smile in appreciation.  They would have been rewarded with not only the nice views, but a long ride down the other side, probably more than 10 kilometres of downhill riding.

The blackness of the mountain ahead was due to a forest fire back in August.  A huge part of this national park burned up.  I have to admit that I didn't hear about it until now, but it was in international news headlines at the time.

It sure came close to some of these houses.  It looks like the forest fire fighters did a tremendous job.

Lovely fall colours.

Getting close to a lake with mountains in the distance.  Turns out this is a lake from a dam that I would soon drive over.

Through a tunnel and over a dam.

On the first day, I reached a small town called Verdiago where I had a camp spot to myself which was quite nice.  I booked this campground online a few hours before arriving.  It is the first one that I'm paying a fee, the rest have been free so far.  I received a code to enter an automatic gate and I was the only one there, I didn't even see the owner/manager.  It was a nice spot with a kitchen/dining room building (behind Octi) and a super nice hot shower!

The campground only has 8 spots.

This was my dinner, some chicken and potatoes that I cooked in my air fryer, and a simple salad.  Not bad for my first real attempt and making a meal in an air fryer (I reheated some gyozas a few days prior, but that doesn't really count.

The following day I continued my journey and crossed the border into Portugal.  For the first fifteen minutes into the country, I didn’t see a single person or vehicle…it was slightly strange as I was passing through some small villages.  The countryside consisted of rolling hills covered primarily in green bushes with the odd clump of trees…quite lovely.

The next day, almost into Portugal.

There we have it.  My 46th country that I have visited.

Octi's 4th country!

Some nice windmills by the highway.

I pulled into a camp spot around 4:30 pm in a village named Lajeoso de Mondego.  Unfortunately, the 4 parking spots were full and there was even a small van parked to one side.  I grabbed my laptop and started to search for an alternative spot but then saw a couple of older men walk towards each other and start talking.  I stepped out of Octi to say hi and one of them, a German, told me that the other guy who was Portuguese thought that I could park at the other end, at right angle to the other motorhomes.  Sweet.  The spot was right beside a little river and there was a washroom that even had a hot shower…and the place was free! 

Octi by the river.

 A nice introduction to Portugal.