Valongo, near Porto

After a long day yesterday we made a plan for today. Wanting to visit Porto we read that vans could park overnight in the Intermarche supermarket overnight, and during the day. From nearby you could catch a train which took ten minutes into Porto center. It all sounded perfect.

Before leaving we took a walk out along the boardwalk above the beach and back along passed the seafront shops. We called in at one that appeared to sell everything, and were pleased to see you could purchase refilled camping Gaz 907 bottles at a bargain price. As we needed one, it was perfect. Late morning, our pants that had adorned Margery's wing mirrors now dry, we readied to leave. Just one problem. The automatic barrier on the aire wouldn't rise. John thinking on his feet noticed a couple of the bollards next to us unscrewed, and we were able to maneuver slim Margery through, leaving the larger vans stuck inside.

As we drove towards Porto the traffic was heavy, much heavy than we'd expected. Wanting to stop for lunch, we couldn't find anywhere suitable. Unlike France and Spain, where there are lots of lay-by's and picnic areas, here there are none. Then a familiar beacon of light. The red, yellow and blue of a Lidl supermarket sign. That'll do. We've lunched in many a supermarket car park in the past, it doesn't bother us. Actually it was really quite convenient as we needed shopping. Inside the store we suddenly realized why the roads were so busy. The power outage we'd heard about this morning was obviously more widespread than we thought. As in COVID times, shopping trolleys were piled high with food and bottled water. Shelves were empty. People were panic buying. Suddenly we were a little concerned. Buying only what we needed, plus a little more bottled water than we would normally, we left driving straight into a sea of ​​slow moving traffic. Emergency vehicles with piercing sirens were all around. All businesses were now closed, including fuel stations. Suddenly there seemed something to worry about, we only had just over half a tank of diesel. We also had no mobile phone connection. Fortunately, our route map was still showing on our screen. It was now obvious just how serious the situation was. Arriving at the supermarket, many vans were already there, with no way of gaining information we sat it out. After a while a Polish couple in their fifties, retired and living in their motorhome pulled in next to us. That had no idea there was a problem, they'd just driven down from the mountains. They were however able to still connect to the internet for a while. Obviously, the situation being so surreal, accusations of how and why the incident had occurred circulated.

As darkness fell, the surrounding houses all in darkness, the only light showing, once again outside a nearby Lidl, obviously with German efficiency all Lidl stores have emergency generators. Our mobile phones showed emergency calls only, a short while later we had a very limited internet connection. Being in a foreign country,with a language we could neither speak or understand and no contact with the outside world had been a little unnerving.