May Expenses... right on target!

Usually when I make up the budget for the next month, I do so with a best case scenario... to try to give us something to shoot for. That's why we generally go over budget. It's not that we absolutely need to stick to the budget... it's just a guide. And provided the annual expenses don't often go over $40,000 CAD ($30,000 USD) or so, then we're doing just fine. And even if they do go over that amount, we're still doing just fine!

Anyhow, it is odd when we do come in under budget... and even more odd when we pretty much meet the budget bang on!

Boat cruise on the Sil River

We stayed home and relaxed until about 3:00pm when it was time to get going for our 4:30pm boat tour departure on the Sil River.

Oh, but before we get to that, I have to show you a video of the drive we have to do to get to our accommodation here on the side of the hill...

Viewpoints over the Sil River Valley

We are in what is known as the Ribeira Sacra... a spectacularly beautiful wine region in the Sil, Miño, Cabe and Bibei river valleys in Galicia in the northwest corner of the Iberian peninsula in Spain. 

There are many miradors... viewpoints that are made overlooking the valleys. Yesterday, we decided to drive to some of the viewpoints.

Day trip to Pontevedra and Spain's west coast

We got a fairly early start, hitting the road at just after 9:00am for the two hour drive to Pontevedra. 

Pontevedra itself is only about 83,000 people, but the built up areas continue all along the coast and as you reach the beaches, it's quite busy. 

Day trip to Montforte de Lemos

The nearest grocery stores of any size are located in Montforte de Lemos, about 25 kms (15 miles) away. 

We had already been there when we first arrived as we needed to stock up, but we never explored the city itself at the time.

We are going to rent a house!

No, we're not "settling down". 

However, we do want to have a home base. A place where we can be part of the community. Somewhere that we can just lock the door and leave, and come back to and find things exactly as we left them. Somewhere close to a major international airport, because of course the travel will continue!

And we think we have found that place.

It was a good test of my new boots!

Ruth packed a lunch and we set off walking directly from the house. We were headed to two different viewpoints.

Into the city of Ourense, and a wine tasting evening!

I only had one pair of shoes with me so far on this trip... the new Sketchers that I had bought in Madrid. I learned the other day that I need some hiking boots! Those Sketchers are fine for walking on flat paved surfaces, but they have zero support for anything more than that. And, I knew I was going to have to buy hikers soon anyhow. 

So, we headed into the city of Ourense (pop 109,000) to see the sights and buy some hiking boots.

Well, the time has come

But let's face it, it had to happen eventually.

A fun hike, right from our front door!

We decided on an 8 km (5 mile) round trip hike that leaves right from our door. The destination was the deserted hamlet of San Cosmede.

We kind of thought we might get some nice views of the Sil Canyon, but unfortunately not. However, there were a lot of other interesting things to see along the way! In fact, it turned out to be a really good hike!

Day trip to Ribadavia, and the Melon Waterfalls

There are so many choices of things to do and places to see, it took us a while to decide!

We chose to go to the town of Ribadavia, about a 45 minute drive. Then, Ruth found an 8 km (5 mile) hike with some waterfalls a few kms past Ribadavia, so we went there afterwards.

Hike to a beautiful viewpoint

Once again, we woke up to fog that doesn't seem to totally burn off until after lunch. And there's no point in hiking in beautiful scenery if you can't see the scenery!

So we didn't get out walking until about 2:00pm.

A few photos around the village where we are staying

We woke up Monday morning to thick fog. We couldn't even see the mountain on the other side of the river valley!

Our schedule has been pretty hectic for the past while, and it was nice to just relax for the morning. It was after 11:30am by the time we hopped in the car to go find a grocery store.

Our home for the next two weeks... what a great area!

We headed out of Valladolid with plans to make one stop... at a big Carrefour grocery store on the outskirts of the city. 

Good thing it wasn't much of a detour... because it was closed!

A busy day as we explored both Segovia and Valladolid

We took the metro (subway, underground) from the north part of Madrid to the Atocha train station. We had used up our original ten ride purchase at €0.61 a ride, and it didn't make sense to buy another ten ride package so we had to buy individual tickets at €2 ($3.12 CAD, $2.23 USD) each. 

Arrived at Atocha station a half hour early for our 10am rental car reservation.