Thus endeth our dreams of adventure. Even though Bill’s test was ‘almost’ positive this morning (the second line was VERY faint), and we had dreams of rejoining the group on Friday, we were suddenly told we had to have 2 consecutive days of negative tests. So the chances or rejoining are now slim, nil and none. We are moving back to Porto today, and when the Aeroplan office opens (unbelievably they do not have 24 hr service and a regular Air Canada agent cannot touch an Aeroplan booking apparently), we will try to rebook tickets for an early arrival home.

So yesterday we had a couple walks and enjoyed the scenery. We watched “Boat Ballet” as a couple of the cruise ships changed positions at the docks. They are pretty manoeuvrable, and obviously had very skilled captains. Sad that it was the highlight of the day, but it was!

The surrounding hillsides are pretty, and the prickly pear cacti plants everywhere are blooming.

We will see the Douro valley again, from the train as we travel back to Porto, which is actually a really nice train ride. We will try to take some of those sights as good memories, and with time, we know that the disappointment of not paddling will fade, and the wonderful memories and good times we had together before this segment, will become much stronger. It will just take some time.