Tuesday, 31 October 2017

"Over the hills and far away..."



Fans of the Sharpe TV series will perhaps hear an echo of the melody as they read that title. It kept sliding into my head during a recent visit to the wilds of north-east Portugal, in the Peneda-Geres National Park. The landscape of sharp [sorry] hills, winding roads and mighty rivers is breath-taking. 



                     View across the River Lima from the Roman bridge at Ponte da Lima


St Barbara's Garden in Braga

 and the main square with several sets of fountains








There are frequent festivals and feast days in Portugal. The picture above shows the square being prepared for the festival of Braga Branco, a 24 hour festival of dancing and music.

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Dolmens at high altitude in the Serra Amarela. A suitable landscape to imagine a troop of British soldiers scouting for signs of the French army in an episode of Sharpe. As we didn't see any such thing, here's a couple of pictures to fill that missing link.

                  Richard Sharpe and his faithful sidekick, Sergeant Harper





Related image


         All in all, plenty to set the imagination working on a new tale set in Portugal.

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