Mountain of the stars
Things you might think about when you think about Portugal: the beaches of the Algarve; the ancient streets of Lisbon; the vineyards of the Douro Valley; Cristiano Ronaldo. Things you probably wouldn’t think about when you think about Portugal: pine forests; ski resorts; boulder-strewn mountains; rain.
And not just any rain, but the kind of rain that is so hard and persistent that gutters on rooftops turn into a mini-Niagara Falls, and people dashing from their cars to the hotel are drenched by the time they make it to the foyer. As I look out of the window, the buildings across the road are invisible, obscured by thick mist and a veil of water. The temperature has dropped into single figures and I’m beginning to regret my lack of warm clothes.
Like most people visiting Portugal in late summer, I’ve come well prepared with shorts, sunglasses and factor 30, but the Serra da Estrela is not like the rest of Portugal. It is a mountain range in the northeast of the country that rises to almost 2,000m, dominating the flatter countryside surrounding it and generating its own weather systems.
As I peer out at the tempest engulfing the hotel car park, I just have to accept the truth: there will be no riding
