Early in the day, we walked through some of the streets of Porto, admiring the varied architecture. The old houses are amazing – tall and narrow, crammed up beside each other in higgledy-piggledy rows of many colours and heights. Some have tiled fronts, others have balconies … and a few even have extra little rooms built right on top of the roof.



We climbed up steep cobbled streets to the 12th century cathedral, which also offered a fantastic view over the city. Then we visited the main train station, which features a famous tiled mosaic in the outer hall, telling the history of transportation.

In the afternoon, we went down to the River Douro, which is at the heart of the city’s rich maritime history. For centuries, trading ships have sailed from here to destinations all over the world, delivering the port wine that has made Porto famous. Grape juice from vineyards further inland is still carried down the river in barrels on the decks of traditional port boats. These can be seen moored beside the river banks and are very elegant, with their long steering rudders trailing behind them.



The brand names of famous companies can be seen on port lodges on the opposite sideof the river. There, they blend and fortify the wine before storing it in cool cellars to mature. Traditionally, port is sipped after a meal, often with cheese.

After lunch, we were all very sad to say goodbye to Dermot, who is staying on in Portugal for a few more weeks and will be going back to Lindoso to work with a group of teenage students at the hostel.

Tim went shopping, but the rest of us took a lovely sunny boat trip up and down the river to see the port boats, the city walls, and the five major bridges that allow cars, trains and pedestrians to cross freely from old Porto on one bank of the Douro to the suburb – once a separate town – of Vila Nova da Gaia the other. This is where the port lodges are situated.



We all said how different it was to our own river Mersey, which has only two very overcrowded tunnels linking Liverpool and the Wirral, plus a single bridge, miles away up at Runcorn & Widnes.

One of Porto’s crossings – the Dom Luis bridge – was designed by an apprentice of Gustav Eiffel, the famous engineer who built the landmark tower in Paris. You can see how alike it is in style! The arched metal bridge sweeps magnificently across the river, carrying two decks of cars and pedestrian pavements … but it does look a bit like something built from a giant Meccano set!



Then it was off to the airport for the flight home. We got there early and had to wait ages to check in.



We were all tired, but happy. We hadn’t actually seen any wolves, but we had got very close to them, and we had learned a lot about their history and how they are protected for the future. We had also enjoyed many opportunities to experience the sights and sounds of Portugal and her friendly people.

We said ‘Hola’ to Liverpool at eleven o’clock at night … in the rain. It was a bit of a shock after the sizzling Portuguese sun. But it was good to be home.

All in all, it was a fantastic expedition and we are glad you have been able to share so much of it with us. You made it all extra special with your enthusiastic messages.

So here is a big ‘CIAO’ and an even bigger ‘OBRIGADA’ from all your wolf-fan friends: Damian, Dermot, Nancy, Tim, Lucia, Elaine, Joe and Alison.

We woke up this morning knowing that today would be our last day in Lindoso, and our last day of broadcasting back to all you wolf-watchers in Knowsley. The week has really sped past!

After yesterday’s problems with the equipment, we were very nervous about the morning broadcast, so it was a huge relief that everything worked properly and the live link went according to plan. Big smiles all round!

After a huge breakfast – trying to eat up all the last of the shipping order of food we had brought with us! – we cleaned up the hostel and shoved all our bags into the car once again. As we drove down from mountain country we commented (and not for the first time!) that the roads here are just like roller-coasters, with lots of double bends and steep up and down hills. A couple of us ended up feeling a bit travel sick!

Once on the motorway, we drove quickly back to Vila Praia da Ancora. Maria (the sister of Damian, Dermot & Lucia – who also visited us in Lindoso) was spending her holiday with her husband and daughter in the apartment where Dermot used to live. She had kindly said we could make our final broadcast from there.

And that is when the chaos on the balcony began! Question: How many senior managers does it take to put up an umbrella? Answer: We still don’t know; we never got it quite right!! The sun was absolutely sizzling, so we had repeated goes at putting up a big umbrella to shade Joe as he set up the laptop. We nearly lost the brolly over the edge of the balcony twice, and it must have fallen on Joe’s head about six times before he ended up with it propped against his shoulder! Then there was nowhere to put the webcam, so we ended up taping it to the apartment wall with elastoplast from a first aid kit. Not very high tech, but it worked!



Then Damian stood up on a chair to re-position the satellite phone… and fell right through the seat. The phone slipped over the other side of the balcony wall and was only saved by Damian quickly grabbing the plug and hauling it back. As you can imagine, that really did make us laugh! Luckily, the phone was undamaged – unlike the chair.



Sadly, after all that, the software let us down again! We had a signal, but we could not launch the programmes we needed to get through to all our friends in Knowsley. Joe, Nancy and Damian tried everything possible – with lots of help over the telephone from the CLC team. We even called a helpdesk in America! But we just couldn’t get it to work.



It was a huge disappointment as we had all really looked forward to saying farewell to our junior wolf-watchers and their families. Still, we knew you would have lots of great things to do, even without our broadcast. And, unfortunately, there are lots of IT breakdowns in real life. You just have to work around them.

After a few hours on the beach we drove off again, this time to Porto, which is Portugal’s second most important city. (Outside of Portugal, the city is often called Oporto.) It is an ancient walled seaport with lots of narrow streets overshadowed by tall houses. Our hotel for the night is six floors high, with an amazing staircase that spirals down from top to bottom.



Oh – and you might like to know about a little bit of chaos outside the hotel! The streets really were very steep and bumpy, and the van was pointing uphill when we parked and opened the door to get our bags out. Yes – you guessed it! – the whole lot fell straight out of the back and went all over the road. We laughed so much that we had to sit down on some nearby steps before picking up all the luggage and dragging it inside the hotel.

It was great to get back to a decent shower! We took full advantage of the modern bathroom facilities in our rooms before setting of for a lovely ‘farewell’ meal in a jazz restaurant right on the grand colonial square in the heart of Porto.

The wild wolves of winter
swept through the streets last night. Hate glared
in their eyes like unexploded neon
the wind of their howling a thousand blood-curling moans
the teeth of their hunger endless fields of aching snow.

The wild wolves of winter
welcome nowhere, scratched at doors and windows,
ripped at roofs, tore at chimneys, kept us wide awake,
nervous in our warm, sleep-calling beds.

Then as suddenly
were gone, all was quiet. We turned a last time
in our beds and slept.

The Wild Wolves of Winter

Link: The Wild Wolves of Winter

Question: How many senior managers does it take to fix a laptop? Answer: We think it must be about twenty. The problem is that the other twelve are not here in Portugal with us!

As you already know, we have had major problems with communications today - which was very disappointing for all of us here as we really missed our daily chat with everyone back in Knowsley. We tried everything to sort out the problems, but with no success. Sorry folks! But we know you had lots of other great stuff to do. Using his Blackberry, Damian managed to send you some email answers to your questions, but here is everything else that happened during our day.

Tim and Joe were first up - before dawn again - and went into the hills to see whether they could spot any wolves. Joe got very excited when through his binoculars he saw a brown animal with four legs, walking up a hillside track. Unfortunately, that turned out to be a cow! Still, it was better than nothing. Tim and Joe went for a long run instead and came back for breakfast absolutely starving.

We soon set off for Lamas de Mouro and the National Park centre.



On arrival, we found they were having a Festival of Grandads - which is a very nice idea. There were hundreds of families there, all with their picnic baskets.

The warden at the centre - Abel - was delighted to be asked to join in our broadcast, and was very disappointed when the uplink did not work. However, he gave us lots of information regarding the three different wolfpacks and their home ranges. The centre works closely with the scientists that study the wolves.

One of the grandads at the festival was very interested in our wolf project. He told us exactly where to find a pack on a nearby mountain, and told us that he had seen one of the wolves recently - in broad daylight. He added that there is a pregnant female in the pack. Because of this, a local construction project had been halted to give the wolves some peace and a better chance to successfully raise their young. Unfortunately, because of the cubs, the site is protected and we could not visit.

After a brief visit to the schoolroom at the National Park, we had to set off back to the house at Lindoso because we needed a long time to talk on the telephone to technical advisers back in England about getting the laptop fixed.

Fingers crossed for tomorrow!



It took Nancy and Joe several hours to correct the technical problems and they spent the rest of the afternoon texting the CLC team in Knowsley and making various long-distance phonecalls to software specialists. It was a huge relief to all when they finally regained the connection that had evaded them for 8 hours! So you can imagine how grateful they were to sit down to another delicious evening meal cooked by Lucia.

After dinner Damian, Nancy, Joe, Elaine and Tim headed up into the mountains for a sight-seeing trip to the remote settlement of Ermida.


The white-knuckle ride took them up a narrow single track that stretched upwards towards the summit.



As the bus ascended, the bends got sharper and the drop either side more terrifying. To tackle the blind corners safely it was necessary to ‘beep’ the horn to warn oncoming vehicles of our approach!

The group arrived at a spectacular vantage point that overlooked the villages below and felt like sitting on top of the world.





The vast expanse of blue sky was a treat to behold in this sleepy place where even the moon was patiently waiting to add its special effect onto the night time scenery.



Driving through the tiny streets of Ermida it was easy to sense a community spirit based on reliance and sustainability. Even the mobile shop where the locals bought essential items didn’t seem out of place! Damian chatted to an elderly local man who advised us not to take our bus any further up the mountain as the track was unfit to travel. So the bus was parked by the town’s cemetery and the group continued on foot.



The girls opted for the sensible choice and stayed on the cobbled track while the boys decided to move off the beaten track and take a more direct journey to the top. Communications continued via a pair of Walkie-Talkies that Damian had brought along for the early morning wolf observations. Nancy and Elaine were fortunate to see the simple irrigation system in action as on their ascent they met a lady on crutches removing stones that unblocked water channels to release torrents of stored rain water into gullies that fed the surrounding fields and terraces.









The sun was dropping in the sky as the two teams met back at the rendezvous point so fears of the journey down were surpassed by the breath-taking sunset scenes all around.









The whole of the wolf-team was reunited back at the Association and rounded off the hectic day in a local café-bar for a spot of supper of tostados con queijo y presunto (cheese and ham toasties!)

We met the National Park ranger Abel this morning at Llamas do Mouro who explained that there were 3 wolf packs in the area. One as close as 500m above the centre where only a couple of months ago construction of the windmills on the hill had to be stopped because of them. Indeed, another local told us he had seen a pregnant she wolf in broad daylight at about the same time.

Abel also explained the seasonal agriculture and the effect it has on life in the region. It is mainly the older people that spend summer tending livestock in the mountains, just had we had seen on Tuesday.

He also explained how the dogs from Castro Laberiero were used as guard dogs againya the wolves. We also saw two female dogs whic we photographed.

Has the park ranger ever had to hand rear a wolf pup?

No he hasn't, but thechnically you could by using bottle milk and weaning it onto fresh meat. However, the problem would be that the cub would become too domesticated and not be able to hunt and be reintegrated back into the pack.

How many wolves are in the Peneda Geres national park?

The estimates place the numbers in the National Park at about 60 in about 6 packs though this may vary according to cross-border movements with Spanish wolves. The good news is that across the whole of the north of Portugal the poulation estimate of about 300 in 1997 remained the same when a census was taken 6 years later in 2003.

How badly injured are the wolves when they attack the dog with the spiked collar?

When we asked Abel at the NP centre this question, he said the purpose of the collar was nor to damage the wolves but to deter them from injuring the dogs because they couldn't get a grip.

How long would a wolf chase its prey for and when would it give up?

There are stories of wolves been able to run for sustained distances of over 20 miles on the flat sometimes in bursts of 25 mph +. However, their usual terrain is much rougher and these speeds are reserved for when they chase fast animals. If there are other prey animals in the area, they would soon give up and chase another animal. Usually, over long distances they when not chasing prey, they average 5 mph.

How do you train the guard dogs?

After they have been weaned at about 8 weeks old, they are kept with the livestock in a corral for 2 to 4 weeks to allow them to get used to each other. Then they are slowly introduced to young livestock. This prevents the young pup nipping and injuring the young stock. Then they are taken to the high grazing pastures where they are provided with a little stone hit until they are fully used to the flock/herd. It then takes a further 12 to 18 months to train them with the flock when they are constantly monitored by the shepherd. During this time thru contact with other dogs and people so it bonds with the flock/herd.

How are wolves different from foxes and coyotes?

Foxes are smaller in size, hunt small prey and may scavenge and live in a small family group. They are adapted to living in the vicinity of humans and are considered by some as pests. Coyotes are more dog-like and found in North America, particular on prairies where they also hunt in packs at night but are major scavengers frequently been found at the site of kills made by other predators.