Shazza and I have been together as a couple for the best part of twenty years, married for eighteen of them and, as you will know by now if you have read my rambles from the beginning, we have been virtually joined at the hip for the vast majority of our lives together, especially living in a Motorhome, on a full time basis, for ten of those year’s. We have always done everything together, although we do have our own individual interests, but they don’t involve us spending any lengthy periods of time away from each other, other than perhaps separate rooms, which, for some reading this, may seem a little bit of a claustrophobic relationship, but it continues to work for us. So, as you may well imagine, we know pretty much everything there is to know about each other, our individual likes and dislikes, quirks, habits, irritations, the ability to read each other’s non-verbal communications like body language and facial expressions, and certainly when one or other of us is not quite firing on all cylinders 🤔
For several days now I have known that Shazza hadn’t been quite herself, some things were blatantly obvious, her lack of appetite was the most obvious and most concerning, Shazza would normally eat Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner and would certainly let me know in no uncertain terms, especially when we were living our mobile nomadic lifestyle, if we went past any of those key timelines in the day, although more recently, since living here in Spain, with her enjoying a more leisurely start to most days, Breakfast and Lunch have become combined into ‘Brunch’, although she would still normally have a light snack, usually a piece of fruit, in the afternoon, just to put her on until Dinner 🤭 Another thing that had concerned me was that she became ‘fatigued’ much quicker, Shazza is generally a bundle of energy, always doing something, never sitting still for a moment but, on this trip, she has run out of steam very quickly when we have been on our walks, although I had put some of that down to either some of the uphill walks we have undertaken, Shazza isn’t good with long steep ascents, but also the heat and sometimes the distance we had walked which were probably also contributory factors. Shazza has a tremendous amount of personal grit and determination, driven primarily by the fact that she thinks that because she is nine-years my junior that she should be able to match, or sometimes, even better, whatever I can manage to do physically, silly woman, she should know by now that she could never outmatch a Super-Hero like me 😂
Anyway, as you know, on this trip and for several days now, I have been consistently asking her if she is okay, knowing something was obviously not quite right with her, and that wasn’t down to just a gut feeling, but because I know her so well (cue for a song there somewhere 🤷♂️), but she kept insisting that she was fine, I could tell by her tone of reply that she was beginning to get irritated with me continually asking the same question every single morning, afternoon and evening, but of course, that didn’t deter me from keep asking the question on a daily basis 🤭
So, when she said to me, “Before we plan a route I need to talk to you”, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up on end 😳 The long and the short of it was that Shazza finally admitted that all was not well with her, in my mind I heard myself saying, “No shit Sherlock !”, however I refrained from saying it out aloud, and after she had told me the issue I certainly don’t think it would have helped matters if I had have done 🤔 Although she said that she did not actually feel unwell, as in she did not have cold or flu or any other immediately obvious condition. She explained that she had not only lost her usual regular appetite, but to make matters worse, when she did eat anything substantial she could not keep it in 🤮💩 So that explained why she had not been wanting to stop and eat when we were on our long drives, and more recently on our walks. Even when we did go out and eat in the evenings, she had been uncomfortable and glad to get back to the room, knowing that the contents of the meal would not remain in her stomach for very long. Additionally, she had not been sleeping well most nights and so had been waking up tired, so she had been quite happy when the rainy day we experienced kept us confined in our room for the majority of the day. She said that she thought that it was just a stomach bug she had picked up at the start of the trip and that it would resolve itself after a couple of days, but so far it hadn’t, and the combination of things had started to leave her quite fatigued.
I have to confess that I was a little annoyed, not angry, perhaps more a case of irritated rather than actually annoyed, that she had not said anything on all of the occasions that I had asked her 🤷♂️ Had I have known I would have just amended what sort of activities we did and ensured that we were never too far away from the ‘facilities’ she may have required at short notice, or to be honest, just cut the trip short and done it another time 🤷♂️ She said that she was hoping that by not eating for a couple of days that it may have passed, quite literally I assumed 🤭 and that all would have been well in her world again. However, she also didn’t want to spoil the trip as she knew that I had been looking forward to it for quite some time. I could sympathise with her, we have all been there at some point with a ‘Delli Belly’ and, when we have, the best place to be is close to bathroom facilities, and preferably our own. My immediate reaction once she had finished her ‘Confession’ was to place my hand on top of her head and say “Bless You My Child”, and then send her away to say seven Hail Mary’s, but I really didn’t want her anywhere near the ‘font’ in her current condition.
However, in all seriousness, my immediate reaction was to get her to a doctor, just so she could get checked out and to make sure that it wasn’t anything more serious or complicated, and to perhaps get her some medication to relieve the symptoms, but she was having none of that. Shazza has always been an obstinate so and so when it comes to going to Doctor’s, in fact the last time she went to see one was when we lived and worked in Ilfracombe in Devon, when she had a ‘Thyroid’ issue, we left there four year’s ago. So my next suggestion was to get her straight back home, we could be there within 8-10 hours, I would do the driving and we could stop whenever she needed to, but, she was also extremely reluctant to do that, saying she would probably be okay in a couple more days 🤷♂️ She also said that she would feel guilty about bringing our road trip to a rather abrupt end, especially if within the next day or so she got better. I told her that Galicia, Asturias and the Picos de Europas were not actually going to go anywhere in the near future, well to the best of my knowledge that was, unless we get a stray drone from Russia or missile from Iran 😂 But neither were they at the other side of the world, but within only a relatively short ten hour, or even less, drive away, so in all reality we could come back here anytime we wanted, there was no ‘Use By’ date on when we could, or could not, do this particular road trip. In the end I decided to let her make the decision for herself, to tell me what it was that ‘she’ wanted to do. She suggested that rather than head any further North, we could make a start East, the way we had come, back towards home, but depending on how she was feeling, maybe even stopping at the Picos, if the weather was good. “Are you saying that you would risk doing a hike in the mountains ?” I asked, already knowing what her answer would be, “Probably not” she sheepishly replied, “Well I don’t want to go on a hike in the mountains without you, we have always had our adventures together and I am not changing that now” I said, in a tone that told her that the subject was not up for debate. She must really have not been feeling that well as she offered no argument, I must remember to also put that verbal ‘victory’ in my diary 😂 I told her to go and drink her coffee and read her book and I would sit down and come up with a plan for her to consider and agree.
Although I may have sounded a little unsympathetic, even flippant, in my earlier comments in this ramble, in truth, I was really quite concerned because Shazza rarely takes ill, it is me that is generally the ‘Sick Note’ in this relationship, what with recurring Kidney Stones and the Detached Retina, although, in my defence, I have been trouble free, well medically speaking at least, for over two and a half year’s now, so let’s just hope that the ‘Dark Forces’ are not currently within listening distance 🙄 So when I planned the route, which was certainly going to be heading in a homewards direction, a mere ten and a half hour drive away, in the knowledge that we have covered these sort of distances many times in the past without any problems whatsoever, although that travel time was not taking into consideration any stops en-route, but I also wanted to take into consideration Shazza’s comfort, a long drive in a car is not ideal at the best of times, if only we still had the ‘Little Fokker’, I thought to myself, which as you know, was not for the first time on this trip 🙄 Not only could Shazza have spent the journey in the comfort of the rear double bed, if she so required, and yes !! I do know, that that would be illegal by the letter of the law, but what the eye doesn’t see and all that stuff and, the unwritten rule of ‘you do what you have to do’ in such circumstances 🤷♂️ Plus, we would have had the added convenience, if you will excuse the pun, of having readily available, our own on-board bathroom, although come on, I am not that sympathetic, as I would have made her be the one to empty the toilette cassette at the end of the journey 😂
However, and being the eternal optimist that I tend to be, and based on the fact that she was more ‘Uncomfortable’ with her situation, rather than being at death’s door, there was the possibility that in fact she could start to get better if it was just a tummy bug. I knew that if she did, she would have felt really guilty at cutting the trip short, so I looked at potential opportunities on the route where we could perhaps stop, either for a night, or perhaps a little more. The problem was of course, that sticking to the fastest main routes, all ‘Toll Free’ motorways, meant that the places we would pass where locations we had previously visited 🤷♂️ The more I researched the route, the further South I began to look, that meant the longer that leg of the drive would be 😤 How many times have I said in my rambles over the year’s that patience is a virtue, and well okay, although even the route I had planned may have involved driving a little longer than I would really have liked for Shazza’s sake, six and a half hours, and would involve a thirty or forty minute detour off the main route, but, thinking positively, if Shazza were to start feeling better then, the place that I had found, would be of interest to the both of us and actually would probably also be a great way to end this rather unexpected road trip 🤗
Day 8 – Vigo – Trujillo
Trujillo is a town in the Province of Caceres in Western Spain. The Castillo (Castle or Alcazar) a medieval stone fortress, sits atop a hill overlooking the town centre. The ‘Coria Museum’ has displays on the regional links between Spain and Latin America. The life of conquistador ‘Francisco Pizarro’, who conquered the Inca Empire, is traced at the ‘Casa Museo de Pizarro’ his former home. An equestrian statue dedicated to him stands in the Plaza Mayor.
Thank you for the above Mr Wikipedia 😴 Actually, looking at numerous on-line images of the town actually got me quite excited, this looked like a really old historical place, narrow cobbled streets and alleyways to get lost in, a large central Plaza Mayor with a wide assortment of Cafe/Bars and Restaurants, Lots of Churches, Museums and this time, an impressive ‘Alcazar’ that actually looked worthy of looking around, even though this one had an admission fee, that fact alone probably was a good indication of it being very worthwhile to visit, but you can be assured that I will let you know if it wasn’t 😁 And for those of you reading this who are Motorhomers, there is a serviced Aire located at the Bullring and within easy walking distance of the town which also has, two Supermarkets, ELequerc and a DIA.
Shazza was still awake by the time I had finished making my plan and so I briefly ran through it with her, she gave me her nod of approval and asked if I wanted her to seek out some nearby accommodation. “Aha” I said, in a smart ass sort of way, “I have already found somewhere, it is within ten minutes walking distance of the ‘Plaza Mayor’, it is a former Convent and it has a small splash pool with sunbeds. The only downside though is that each day at 6am you have to attend morning prayers and an evening mass at 7pm” 😂 She grinned, “I am sure you will enjoy being amongst all those dirty habits” she said, with a chuckle 😳 humour huh, she can’t be feeling all that ill, I thought to myself. She went on-line and pre-booked the hotel for a three night’s stay, without any why’s or wherefore’s, so another ‘victory’ entry for my diary me thinks, best I take full advantage of this situation whilst I can 🤭
I awoke early and having packed my bags the previous evening, apart from my wash bag, I was raring to get going after my morning coffee. Shazza didn’t look so good though, probably the worst she had been on the trip so far, she looked quite pale and gaunt in her face, I guessed that the lack of nutrition was beginning to take its toll, I was actually quite worried about her, so much so that I suggested perhaps going to reception to see if we could stay an extra night and to enquire as to the location of the nearest Doctor or Health Clinic, at least we were covered these days under the Spanish State Healthcare system, however, Miss Obstinate was still having none of it, “Give me half an hour to get myself sorted and then let’s get off” she said 🤷♂️
Our timing to depart Vigo turned out to be just right as the weather had turned, no sunshine, just a sheet of grey everywhere, so it would likely be a slow journey out of Galicia, fortunately at Trujillo it was forecast to be between 27-30 degrees( c) by the time we arrived later that afternoon, but I had already decided in my own mind on a Plan B, if she kept deteriorating, and that was to just head towards home in the knowledge that the Costa del Sol public hospital, our main local hospital, was on our route 🤔
In all the time we have been together, and all the road journey’s that we have been on together, short or long, in a car or the Motor Home, Shazza has never once fallen asleep whilst being the passenger, or whilst being the driver I should perhaps also hasten to add 🤭 So I knew she was not feeling at all well, for as soon as we had driven out of Vigo and had got on to the Motorway, she reclined her seat, curled up and fell fast asleep, I did mention she was actually not driving didn’t I 😂 The roads were, as usual, generally very quite and the miles just passed by, my head was full of thoughts, wondering what could be the cause of Shazza’s sudden turn of bad health, could she have contracted the new strain of COVID ? That was very possible and we know that it is still out there, throughout Europe, although nowhere near as bad as during the pandemic, we have been using elevators in hotels and we don’t know how well the hotel rooms are being cleaned these days 🤷♂️ However, it could also be a bad case of Gastroenteritis ? The general symptoms are pretty much the same. But then again, I was okay, so surely, as we had been together, eaten much of the same, I too would have suffered similar symptoms ? My mind then wandered into a thought where I didn’t really want it to go, the worst case scenario, there was a history of Cancer, Shazza’s mum, having suffered twice with Bowel Cancer, the latest as recently as 2021, she had fortunately recovered, but I knew that this would also be playing on Shazza’s mind, and it was the sudden and quite prolonged periods of fatigue that were of concern, although neither of us had mentioned it. I attempted to clear such negative thoughts from my mind and attempted to focus on the destination I was heading towards, but that dark thought remained irritatingly at the back of my mind 🥺 We are both very conscious of the fact that we are ageing, and that in itself brings about the bodies own natural progressive deterioration, and reduced levels of immunity to bacterial infections, but we know that we cannot prevent that. However, these days we do try to maintain a healthy diet, although Shazza is much more disciplined at that than myself, we both try to keep ourselves physically active and relatively fit and just generally try to maintain a good lifestyle, although we also realise that no matter what we do, there is no magic bullet to prevent the natural ageing process. We also know that there are things outside our own influence that we just have to accept as a risk to our own health, we cannot wrap ourselves up in cotton wool, so normal everyday activities bring you into contact with other’s, supermarket shopping, having coffee’s or meals in public establishments, visiting public venues or events, so in all reality we just have no way of knowing who we come into contact with may be suffering, knowingly or otherwise, with bacterial infections, cold’s, flu, covid etc. I am smiling inwardly to myself as I am writing these words, for it is now many days since I had those silent inner thought’s in the car whilst I was driving, it’s amazing the directions that your mind can take you in especially when you are confined and have no other means of distraction, like a passenger chitter chattering away 🙄
Periodically Shazza would awaken, as she shifted to get comfortable in her seat, “Are you okay” she would ask me, “I’m fine” I would respond, and give her what I hoped was a reassuring smile, “But how are you doing ? Do you want me to stop at the next services ?” I asked, but the response was always “No, but, if you need to” before she drifted back into, what I was guessing, was probably only a semi-conscious state. I had left the A52 motorway behind, and had already travelled along the A631, passing the village Cafe we had stopped at on the way through to Vigo nearly a week ago, and then finally, after around three hours, I got on to the very familiar A66 motorway which would take us all the way South. So deep in my thoughts had I been, that I do not remember when the sun had actually come out, we were heading South, a little more inland now and running parallel with the Eastern border of Portugal towards Central Spain. The views of the surrounding countryside opened up and I could once again see for miles in all directions, it helped to give me other things to focus my attention on which I was grateful for, I made one stop for fuel and took the opportunity to take a brief comfort stop, Shazza also took the opportunity to use the facilities and stretch her legs, but she didn’t want anything to eat or drink so I just continued to drive on. To be honest I don’t tend to eat very much, I will have a Tostado when we make a stop on our usual morning walks when we are at home, but then I generally do not eat again until my evening meal, or, if we do occasionally have a proper lunch, instead of dinner, then I don’t generally eat anything else in the evening, perhaps a biscuit or two with my evening cuppa. Some critics will say that is not healthy, but I have been like that for many years, I eat generally only when I feel hungry, or if something really tantalises my taste buds and, so far, I haven’t withered away yet 😁 I had a bottle of water in the car so that I could remain hydrated, but all in all, I was quite enjoying the actual drive and, at times, it did take me back to the days that we did this very route, going both South and North, in our Motor Home, and that unlocked memories of the many places we had visited and parked up, places where we had wild-camped or stayed on Motorhome Aires, it all seemed an eternity away from where we are now and the lifestyle we are currently enjoying.
It was nice to see the appearance of the name of the city of ‘Caceres’ on the road signs, although still a good hour’s drive away, but I knew we were getting closer to our destination. Even though we would deviate from our Southerly direction to travel further East and inland, it would be on another toll free motorway, the A58, which would take us to within 2Km of Trujillo.
I remember saying ‘WOW’ out loud when I got my first clear view of our destination, Shazza woke from her half slumber and all I could say to her was “Look at that !”, she sat up and looked at the view, “Very Nice” she said, in a less than convincing tone. “Do you want to pull over and let me drive in to the town” she asked. I knew she would be a little concerned about me driving through potential narrow streets, “Well you have done all the driving so you must be tired” she said, I knew it wasn’t the tiredness that concerned her but more the slightly depleted vision in my eye. “I think I will be okay I said, I will just take it slowly and anyway I don’t think you are well enough to drive anyway ?” I replied. She said she was feeling a little better and that she needed something else to concentrate on, so I pulled over and we changed positions. As it was, traffic in the small town was quiet and the hotel was easy to locate.
The old gentleman receptionist greeted us warmly and got us checked in quite promptly before advising us how to get around to the rear hotel garage parking area, where we had pre-booked a space.
Although much of the interior had been modified for its use now as a hotel, it was still quite evident that it had been a former Convent, it had that old religious look about it, the rooms were not as modern as the one we had left in Vigo, but it was perfectly clean, their were two wide beds, side by side and we had a nice en-suite bathroom, a large window that overlooked the pool area, air-conditioning, a mini-bar with soft drinks, an LCD TV and free Wi-Fi, everything that we needed.
Shazza actually looked much better than she had earlier that morning, so I made us both a nice hot cuppa and whilst she checked her iPad for any Emails, or messages on her Social media accounts, I relaxed on the bed from the long drive, it had taken us just a little over 7 hours with just the one re-fuel and comfort stop, but now my eyes began to feel really heavy, it was 4pm, and I could feel a ‘Siesta’ coming on 😴 I only dropped off for an hour and when I awoke Shazza was reading a book on her kindle, she still looked gaunt and pale, but certainly a lot better than she had done, “You must be starving by now” she said to me, “I am getting ready for some dinner, but it’s a bit early yet, will you be up for going out a little later to find somewhere to eat ?” I replied. “I am a bit hungry now, but I still feel a bit cautious about eating” she said, “But I will come out to get some fresh air and I also need to stretch my legs, but you need a proper meal today”, she said. We agreed that we would not spend too long out this evening, just a bite to eat then back, and then, hopefully, after Shazza had got what I hoped would be a restful night’s sleep we would do some exploring of the town the following day, but we did now have two full days, so we didn’t have to rush around, we could just take things easy to see how she got on, and hopefully she would be able to start to eat something more nutritious and substantial again, even if it was a Coffee and Tostado to start with in the morning and then perhaps just something light for her lunch.
We both got showered and changed, the receptionist had given us a street map and given us directions towards the Plaza Mayor, although to be honest their were eateries all over the place, hidden amongst the maze of narrow streets, but the Plaza Mayor was where the majority were clumped together. Although when we first drove into the town it was along a modern street, our hotel was right on a corner that led directly into the old part of town and so, as we walked out that evening, we were soon dwarfed in the narrow streets by tall old stone built buildings, lots of the buildings in these streets were still residential houses, or apartments, but some of them had also been renovated and converted into modern day shops, but without losing that external ambience of that older period. Even with the aid of the street map we got confused, their were just too many alleyways and twists and turns which were not always reflected on the map by the person who drew it 🙄 I didn’t want to wander around aimlessly this particular evening for Shazza’s sake, as some of the narrow roads were on a bit of an incline and I could see her struggling, so I attempted to enlist the assistance of Google, but in these narrow streets the GPS was struggling to pinpoint our exact location, so I just stopped somebody and asked them which direction to the Plaza Mayor. It was literally a couple of minutes walk away from where we were, but had we have kept going in the direction we were headed we would have missed it as we needed to take a right turn 🤷♂️ the pavement Cafe/Bars and Restaurants were fairly busy, but not crowded, and after quickly looking at a couple of establishments menu’s we made our selection and were shown to a table. Once again though, there was little choice for Shazza’s palate, why do none of these places serve Vegetable dishes ? Of course she could have ordered another Salad, but where are the Jacket or boiled potatoes, the Broccoli, Cauliflower, Green Beans, Carrots etc. which are widely available from all the supermarkets and independent grocers, I mean Spain is a major exporter of all of this type of produce. Anyway she settled for a dish of Prawns cooked in Garlic and Olive Oil, I had a much wider choice and went for the ‘Beef Cheeks’ in a red wine sauce 😋😋 we also ordered a basket of bread. Whilst mine came with a side order of chips, although I would have preferred mashed or boiled potatoes, Shazza’s came with no side dish whatsoever, which, as it turned out, was a good thing on this occasion as she only managed to eat less than a quarter of her meal, about four smallish prawns 😲 I wasn’t complaining, I devoured my own course, and the whole basket of bread before finishing off her Prawns 🤭 Shazza had also settled for bottled water, but having seen her suffering over the last few days, I of course needed no excuse to maintain my strict regime of Anti-Covid Vacinnes 🤭🍷🍷 I of course knew that Shazza had only come out with me that evening so that I would get a proper meal, had she have decided not to, she knew that I would have just called in at a local shop and grabbed a sandwich, or something quick, to take back to eat in the hotel room, I could of course have gone out by myself for dinner, but who wants to eat out alone and be sat like a ‘Billy No Mates’ 🤷♂️
Shazza seemed fairly ‘chirpy’ as we wandered back through the streets to the hotel, compared to how she had been, so I was hoping that she was now coming through the other side of whatever it was that had made her feel so ill, so at least now she would be able to have a good couple of days rest here to build her strength up again before we decided what we were going to do next, we still had a couple of weeks in which to head elsewhere if we wanted to, that was if she was feeling much better. Now I have to confess that at this point, with Shazza looking and sounding a lot better, I couldn’t help myself, this ‘Going With The Flow’ business just does my head in, so that night whilst Shazza slept, I got my head back into the route maps and started formulating some alternative options 😂 There were lots of ways we could go with lots of places to explore, however, I decided on three options.
We could continue to head East, although that would also involve heading just a little North again, to the town of ‘Toledo’, somewhere that Shazza had previously said she would like to visit, from there we could stay on the Eastern side of Spain and just head South, through the Sierra Nevada National Park on our way home. Alternatively, we could head West, cross the border into Portugal and head for the town of ‘Elvas’, which is another place we have not as yet visited. After that we could travel South, following the course of the ‘Rio Guadiana’. The Guadiana is an international river defining a long stretch of the border between Portugal and Spain, effectively separating ‘Extremadura’ and ‘Andalusia’ on the Spanish side, from ‘Alentejo’ and the ‘Algarve’ on the Portuguese side. The river’s basin extends from La Mancha and the eastern portion of Extremadura to the southern provinces of the Algarve; the river and its tributaries flow from east to west, then south through Portugal to the border towns of ‘Vila Real de Santo Antonio’ (Portugal), which is a lovely town that we have stayed in several times during our motorhoming days and which looks across the river to ‘Ayamonte’ (Spain), another lovely town that we have visited on several occasions, you can take a small ferry between the two (15 minutes), then the river flows out into the Gulf of Cádiz. Following the route of this river would take us through some beautiful scenic landscapes, wine growing regions and a whole host of small Portuguese villages and, whilst we have done some parts of this route in the Motorhome, we had not followed it all the way South to the Eastern Algarve. From there we would cross the border back into Spain and head, from the Atlantic side of the coast, to our home on the Mediterranean side, only a couple of hours journey. The third and final option was the least appealing one, which was to just leave Trujillo and head straight home 🥺 I decided though, that for now it would probably be best to just keep all of these alternative plans to myself 😉
To be continued…………………………
Hasta Luego mi Amigos, La Vida Es Buena
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