Wednesday 24 June - Rolica

We both slept well once we had dealt with the biting flying occupants who were unfortunately sharing our space and were ready to move on at a good hour. The van had become very dirty in store at Campinananda so we called in to the adjacant jetwash and gave her a birthday treat before heading further north to Rolica, the scene of Wellington's first engagement with the French under Dellaborde since his arrival in Portugal in late summer or 1808. It was an important battle (well celebrated alongside the Vimeiro battle on 21 August) as Wellington needed the engagement before French reinforcements arrived from the east as well as to demonstrate his winning ways. History shows it as a modest victory against an inferior force but an important milestone nonetheless. Vimeiro, just four days later was a more decisive battle but their collective impact reversed the fortunes of the French and improved allied morale no end.

Rolica is a very small village and we soon ran through it. We parked up, orientated ourselves then biked around, exploring the site. Our bikes have been a key ingredient to getting around narrow streets, tracks and buildings in search of our objectives. Firstly, we were able to identify the ridge which was the French first position, looking north from an elevated position towards open country and Obidos from where the British forces were advancing. Behind the French was a sharper ridge with three prominent gullies and they retreated to this to avoid being outflanked. The French had a strong defensive position, fought well but reinforcements did not arrive so Dellaborde was forced to retreat to the south but not before dealing a severe blow to the British centre when Col Lake (Nightingall's 3rd Brigade) took the 1/29th into one of the gullies unsupported with major loss of life. We were unable to find the memorial built to Lake in the village of Serranos which also seemed to have disappeared!

Lunch was taken with the added benefit of some juicy, ripe, red plums growing untended in a hedgerow. Even M2 couldn't resist a bowl full with yoghurt and honey. Was this living off the land we wondered?

We pressed on after lunch towards Peniche, an attractive looking promontory on the map, but this turned out to be a heavily populated beach/tourist area. We continued and found a secluded spot in woods on the way to the exclusive golf resort of Praia d'el Rey. No charges here but a good meal chez nous of coq-au-vin (one colour cooking as averything took on the dark hue of the red wine), a chat and to bed. However, our fridge gas fired option had failed to ignite so this will have to be sorted tomorrow. Just when we thought everything was fully serviceable!