The Blog


Week 26 - Going Home

Oh dear!! The ferry we were booked on, the “PONT AVEN" has broken down, one of the port propellor shaft bearings has failed and it will be in dry dock untill another can be sourced which will be several weeks. BRITTANY FERRIES suggested we transfer onto one of the other ferries but all others from Roscoff get to UK at silly o’clock in the evening so we elected to drive to ST MALO and get the MV BRETAGNE on the overnight crossing to PORTSMOUTH.

Sue’s predilection to seasickness is getting worse so we always book a cabin on every crossing short or long day or night so that in the event of feeling icky she can have a lay down. On this occation it worked in our favour as we had booked a “COMMODORE CABIN” for our day trip on the Pont Aven which was very cheap and our transfer to the night trip on the  Bretagne was at no extra cost to us including (the very expensive at night) posh cabin - result!!

On the day of our departure we were required to leave the campsite at noon for the , unfortunately the ferry timetable - checking open at 16:30, boarding starting at 18.30 for a departure at 20:30 - would leave us with lots of hanging about time. On the way to St Malo we received the following text message from Brittany Ferries: -

“We are sorry to inform you that due to a port workers labour dispute, tonights departure from St Malo will now be departing at 21h30. Check-in will open from 18h30 and boarding from 20h00. We’re sorry for this inconvenience and look forward to welcoming you on board Bretagne”

Oh Bugger!!

Arriving at the port there was just two motorbikes in the queue ahead of us, the riders of which came over to tell us about the hold up explaining that the lorry drivers were in dispute and blocking roads. They had been allowed through because the picket liked their bikes.

We showed them our text which they had not received and we settled down for a long wait. At exactly 18:30 the check-ins opened and we were quickly sorted and sent through to the loading lanes. At around 18:40 a bus containing pickets arrived and disgorged it’s contents of strikers, one of whom used a nearby fork lift truck to place a barrier in front of the loading ramp and each side looked at the other for the next hour and twenty minutes and I must say on the part of (most of) the passengers with humour and patience. On the stroke of 20:00 a whistle blew, the fork lift driver removed his barricade and all the pickets stood aside and the loading began.

Despite the late departure arrival was spot on and just five minutes after docking we were off the ferry, through customs and trucking up the M275 towards our home base at Little Henham. Our latest adventure over.

For the sad among you some statistics:-

Days away                            171
Distance travelled                12,586 km (7809 miles)
Fuel used                             1565 litres (344 gallons)
       cheapest         €0.91                    
       dearest           €1.07
Economy                              8km/l (23.4mpg)*
Wine - Cheapest                   €0.92 (£0.71 at the time)
           Dearest                     €6.00 (£4.62 at the time)
Eating out - Cheapest           €7.00 (£5.39 at the time)**
                  Dearest              €17.00 (£13.09 at the time)**

*  This may seem on the low side but many of those miles were covered towing the caravan, without which the consumption drops to less than 30 mpg
** All these prices include food, drinks, tip - everything.

Week 23, 24 & 25 - Goodbye Spain, Hello France!

Monday 25th April 2016
 had a drive out today to the small town of PUENTE LA REINA (The Queens Bridge). Few towns along the road to Santiago de Compostela evoke the past as vividly as here, taking it’s name from the graceful humpbacked pedestrian only bridge over the Rio Arga which was built by royal command (hence the name) in the 11th century. On Puenta La Reina’s narrow main street is the INGLESIA DE SANTIAGO (Church of St James) inside which, by the west door, is a guided statue showing the saint as a pilgrim, while on the edge of town another pilgrim church the INGLESIA DEL CRUCIFIJO (Church of the Crucifix) which was built in the 12th century by the KNIGHTS TEMPLAR contains within it a Y shaped wooden crucifix of a sorrowful Christ, said to be a gift from a German pilgrim in the 14th century.

Tuesday 26th April 2016
Happy Birthday Sue!!
After wanting to visit PAMPLONA for a number of years sadly it turned out to be less enjoyable than we hoped. We drove to a lively area where we tried to park, there was nothing to indicate any parking restriction but a local told us there was a fifteen minute limit, we eventually left the city and parked on the many carparks that circle the city. The walk to the city centre started well but when we climbed the steps into the centre with magnificent views from the top, unfortunately it all went downhill (metaphorically) from there. On our walk towards the CATHEDRAL through what should have been charming old streets the overwhelming impression was of decay and neglect, with virtually 100% empty shop units. Things improved close to the cathedral with the usual tourist shops and smart cafes, we had lunch in one (smart cafe) but were horrified at the price charged for a coffee, a fresh orange juice and two miniature filled rolls.

Wednesday 27th April 2016
We leave Spain today and travel into France our first visit since 2013 when we travelled with Dutch friend Dirkie from The Netherlands to Calpe in Spain. France has never been a favourite place for us as it closes early September and remains closed until April the times when we want to travel to Iberia. W e are hoping to spend a few weeks here and see it in a different light.

Our first site in France is a municipal site less than 100 km from the Spanish/French border, sadly we arrived at lunchtime so had to wait over an hour before we could enter what turned out to be a very lack lustre site called FLOWER CAMPING MUNICIPAL LE GALAN. The site was on the edge of town and after a cup of tea and a biscuit we wandered round the very pleasant CASTETS.

Thursday 28th April 2016
A drive to the seaside today, it seems ages since we have seen the sea but in reality it is less than two weeks. Sadly the place we chose, MIMIZAM-PLAGE, was very much a holiday seaside town, even to the “kiss me quick” type tourist junk - not really our cup of tea. We did however find a very pleasant spot on the way back to the caravan at LAKE LEON, still unashamedly out for the tourist, but much less “in your face” about it.

Friday 29th April 2016
Onward ever onward, today we have moved to FLOWER CAMPING LA VENISE VERTE a four star site that, as it’s name suggests is in the area of France known as Venise Verte (Green Venice). It seems a good site  - time will tell.

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Saturday 30th April 2016
The rain has been “persisting” down for much of today so a visit to Intermarche to stock up and then late afternoon it started to brighten up so we went of for a trot to a harbour near the town of CHARRON. The local boats although large were designed to float on a puddle, well very shallow water anyway, and their propellors/drive were mounted on hydraulics to raise them from the water. The area where the boats were moored and stored was very clean and tidy without the usual fisherman’s detritus so we were unable to discover what was being fished for but assume as the area is famous for its shell fish, particularly oysters and mussels, that was it.

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Monday 1st May - Saturday 7th May 2016
The weather this week has been very pleasant and we have been able to get out and about in the local area as far as LA ROCHELLE and the ÎLE de RÉ. Sadly on the day we went to La Rochelle I got a text from Lloyds Bank saying my internet Banking phone numbers had been changed and that if I had not done it I should ring them. I did and after a lot of backwards and forwards was told that they did not know why the text was sent and that no changes had been made to any of my accounts Hmmm! After that shenanigans we walked into town we me obviously still thinking about banks as I forgot to take my camera into what turned out to be a very picturesque town. It seems that the camera was not the only thing to get left behind, while shuffling in my wallet for the right card to respond to the text from the bank one of the cards got dropped and lost. It was a  credit card so not one we use when travelling (far to expensive with foreign transaction fees etc., etc.) so it was not missed for some days but fortunately we were able to cancel it and order a replacement.

The pitch we are on at Flower Camping la Venise Verte is without doubt the largest we have ever had, at just under 200 square metres it is “ginormous”.

We had a chat with the English couple in the pitch next door today, a very pleasant couple Lynne and David who have had an extended caravan tour each year for the last few years. We were a little taken aback to learn they already knew our names and something of our journeys. It turns out that when researching the life Lynne happened upon our blog and have been occasional visitors ever since - a very pleasant couple although I cannot ever forgive Lynne for being totally up to date on HER BLOG while as I write this we have been back in UK for over two weeks. Oh well we can’t all be efficient.

The Venise Verte  was one of the most pleasant areas we have visited in France and we hope to return soon.

Sunday 8th May
We are slowly making our way north and a move today has taken us to QUIMPER, just south of ROSCOFF. We haven’t decided where we will cross back to UK yet, Roscoff, ST MALO, CHERBOURG, all are possibles.

L'ORANGERIE DE LANNIRON, is a little strange, in that it combines a stately house, gardens, golf course and CAMPSITE. The campsite is a considerable distance from the entrance and like two other couples missed the reception completely - no matter we found a suitable pitch and set ourselves up then went looking for reception which turned out to be in the golf reception area.

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This site is within walking distance of the town of QUIMPER, and what a pleasant town. It is on the River Odet and has an interesting cathedral and medieval quarter. Unfortunately it must have been further than I thought as the day after I awoke with severe pains in the joint of my right big toe - GOUT? Well if it was it was, it was and (still is) bl**dy painful and effectively put paid to any sight seeing for some days. In fact on the first Thursday of what was to have been a two week minimum stay we booked a passage from Roscoff to Plymouth on the Pont Aven ferry and moved further north to within five miles of Roscoff to CAMPING DE TROLOGOT, a small site almost as close to the beach as it is possible to get and from the beach you can see Roscoff port across the bay.

Week 22 - Waterfall? What waterfall?

Sunday 17th April 2016.
We are off tomorrow so today was spent in those fabulous pursuits of washing, cleaning and packing - wonderful.

Monday 18th April 2016.
Moving day - always exciting and today we have moved to an area we have never visited before, which is getting a lot harder in both Spain and Portugal, Albarracín, a Spanish town, in the province of Teruel. The CAMPSITE CLUDAD DE ALBARRACIN, where we have set up, is close to town and a very pleasant if rather small site.

Aibarracin Town

Tuesday 19th April 2016.
We spent today wandering around the town of ALBARRACIN today, most people walk there and back from the camp site, but we elected to drive down and park in a large free car park just a few metres from the Tourist Information Centre where the enthusiastic English speaking staff provided us with maps, brochures and details of the various local sights. To visit Aibarracin is to be transported back to the middle ages, 1182 m (3878 ft) above sea level thats 97 m (318 ft) higher than Mount Snowdon, it is almost unspoilt by modernisation (there are manhole covers dated 1956) and I have read that it has been proposed Albarracin become a UNESCO World Heritage, site the 45th in Spain.

We managed to struggle up to the castle where we saw, to the utter horror of an American couple we were chatting to, that ‘elf and safety means as much to the Spanish as to the Portuguese. We have been told, but have been unable to confirm, that businesses are not required to carry third party public liability insurance (I had two shops and was required to carry £3,000,000.00 minimum third party on each) as each person is responsible for their own safety. The views from the castle are magnificent but some parts are very exposed and with a strong wind blowing, as it was when we were there, bl**dy frightening.

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Wednesday 20th April 2016.
Off out in the car today looking for local waterfalls that are said to quite spectacular but first spotted a ROMAN AQUEDUCT that ran from Aibarracin to Cella a distance of some 25 kms. Much of the aqueduct has disappeared in the 2000 plus years since being built but those parts that are left are a fascinating insight into the lengths the Romans would go to to get fresh water exactly where they wanted it. There was considerable climbing to some of the access points but every step was worth it. From the aqueduct we carried on looking for the waterfalls taking us off the main road onto an unmade forrest trail. Mile after mile we followed the track giving, at times, thanks that we were in a 4x4 rather than an ordinary car, which while it (the ordinary car) would have coped would certainly have given concern. The road eventually stopped in a small carpark, we got out thinking (hoping?) to find the elusive waterfall. What we found was Alto de la Cruz which in July and August 1938 was the scene of heavy fighting between the rebel and the Republican armies. It is a commanding position with spectacular 360º panoramic views. The fortified position built into and camouflaged by the rocky terrain and protected by pine forests is very similar today as it was when that very terrain and pine forest prevented the use of artillery and mortars causing the fighting to be done using handguns, rifles, pistols and machine guns. An evocative and rather depressing place but one not to be missed.

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The last few metres to the lookout post was a steep, but fortunately short, about 50 m climb over rocks that judging by the flats chiselled it them must be deadly in wet weather. The lookout is 1535 m (5036 ft) above sea level, Ben Nevis in Scotland is 1,345 m (4412 ft).

We have spent some hours trying to find internet information on this area and it’s battles but we failed.

Thursday 21st April 2016.
We failed to find any waterfalls yesterday, but having been assured by locals that given the recent heavy rain they would be spectacular we set off today with nothing but waterfalls (all marked on our map by the local tourist information lady) on the agenda.

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We travelled towards the first spot marked on our map and were quite surprised when we reached a “no access to vehicles” sign at the start of the road we wanted but no car park, unusual for Spain. No matter we found somewhere to park and started walking alongside a stream that to make anything like a spectacular waterfall would have to fall a very long way indeed. We had a super walk but never did find a waterfall. Never mind we will go to the next on the list. Well we drove around for hours, sometimes seeing signs to the various waterfalls but what we did not see was a waterfall. Any waterfall.

Oh well, thats as good a reason as any to revisit the area at a later date.

Friday 22nd April 2016.
We had decided that today we would do a marked walk around the town “ . . . the riverside walk will take you around 45 minutes . . . ” the tourist information lady had told us, and then have lunch in one of the town restaurants that had been recommended to us.

The Riverside Walk we thought would be a flatish walk on the riverbank. Not a bit of it the path seemed to climb to the level of the town centre and then drop down to river level again. After an hour or so we checked the map to find we were about a third of the way round. Walk abandoned for today we made our way to the restaurant for lunch only to be told when we arrived that every seat in the house was booked. Oh well, back to the van for cheese and biscuits washed down with a bottle of port.

This afternoon we went into Teruel to do some shopping, didn’t like the shop (strange as it was a Mercadona, our favourite Spanish supermarket chain), didn’t like the town. We will not be going back there.

Things improved on the way back when we popped into a tourist “Artisan” shop selling local produce and bought a number of big glass jars containing cooked meats preserved in oil. It looks disgusting but tastes delicious.

Saturday 23rd April 2016.
Moving day, we are slowly moving north and we have now fetched up at CAMPING EL MOLINO just south of PAMPLONA, a city we have often said we would visit but never have. Things started badly even before arriving at this site. As we tried to make a final turn into the long site driveway we found our way blocked by a Guardia Civil van and three giant police men all brandishing machine guns. Indicating where we wanted to go we had to wait until the police moved their van and allowed us to complete the last 50 metres or so to the site. We arrived just after 2.00pm and were more than disappointed to find a notice on the reception door saying closed 2.00pm to 4.00pm. We had a look around and found a nice looking site but with big gates that prevented access when reception was closed. We had a look at the ACSI book, there were no other sites in the area and so would have to wait. We went to the restaurant and ordered a coffee (me) and a fresh orange juice (Sue) to while away the time but both were awful so back to the car to read for best part of two hours. As we arrived at the car the barmaid from the restaurant came out and opened the gate to let someone out and after taking our ACSI card and giving us a cheery “ . . . just report to reception when it opens . . . “ she let us in. Things were looking up.

Week 20 & 21 - If any more goes wrong I’ll sqweem untill I’m sthick.

Monday 4th April 2016
It’s my own fault. Like most men I never learn.When I sent out notifications of my last update I wrote

. . . this time there are no disaster stories so perhaps our run of bad luck is now behind us - we both hope so - touch wood and whistle!! . . .

well, all the whistling and wood touching was to no avail. This morning my computer is, although alive, on life support. Having refused to boot-up we took it to the local (English) computer hospital - PC SOLUTIONS who diagnosed it as being brain dead and unless an urgent (hard drive) transplant be performed a decent funeral should urgently be arranged.

Tuesday 5th April 2016
The computer is back from hospital having had a new brain transplant. Sadly it is now like a small child and I will have to re-install all its skills (programmes) and memories (data), well those that I have anyway which, sadly, are few. Note to self - start doing back-ups!!

Wednesday 6th April - Sunday 17th April 2016
Karen and Danny arrived as scheduled and we have spent some very pleasant hours with them. We have driven to some of the old sights (for us that is, for Karen and Danny, some were new sights) and in particular we went for a drive over the mountains, where? - we don’t know, but it was very high, we were following what appeared to be a “temporary” road that gave magnificent views over the DENIA area.

We cooked a “FIDEUÀ” on the BBQ which was quite successful, although not the best I had done, Karen and Danny had never tried it before so perhaps didn’t know it could/should have been better and on their last night here we all went out for a meal in Moraira town centre. We were planning to go to “The Refugio” a restaurant my bro’ and I have used many times over the years but it was the one night of the week it was closed so we went along the road to a restaurant Sue and I first visited in 1996. Unfortunately neither of us can remember the name, but it is opposite Restaurant El Pou at the top of the steps, where we had a very good meal, made even better when Karen and Danny paid the bill and refused to allow Sue and I to contribute. Thank You Karen and Danny for a very pleasant couple of weeks.

Week 19 - Twitchers in the making?

Easter Monday 28th March 2016.
It’s moving day, we’ve not moved far but after the car breakdown last week I must confess to feeling a bit nervous to start and probably will until I regain confidence in the car.

The journey was not far around 240 km along motorway standard roads during which the car behaved extremely well. Indeed the only problem we had was being pulled off the road by the Guardia Civil just before we crossed the border into Spain. I was obviously targeted as the outside lane was closed forcing everyone into the near side lane. There were four vehicles (cars) in front of me, I was the only one instructed, by a great big policeman with an even bigger gun, off the road into a service area where there were a number of heavy goods vehicles. I parked up and collected together both the car and caravan paperwork and my driving licence, all of which you are required to carry whenever driving in mainland Europe and went back to Mr Plod. He directed me to a mobile office where a chap in a uniform and a clipboard introduced himself as being a member of the Portuguese research and statistics department and spent the next twenty minutes questioning me about all aspects of our stay. I was so relieved I answered with enthusiasm.

We arrived at CAMPING PARK NACIONAL DE MONFRAGUE early afternoon and was able to get a pitch near the bar which meant good free internet access.

Tuesday 29th March 2016.
Paid a visit to PLACENCIA Market today. At the very top of town but fortunately accessed from the carparks by a series of moving pavement/escalators the town centre is, like many Spanish towns, busy and bustling without any shops occupied by national chains. The market in this particular town is one of the best we have visited anywhere in Europe, the fruit and vegetables are excellent and at a good price. On our last visit we bought a 3 kilo superb tasting box of cherries for a paltry €7.00 and a 3.1/2 kilo box of strawberries for just €3.00. Sadly it’s not yet cherry season but we still managed to get some excellent strawberries at around the same €3.00 price.

Wednesday 30th March 2016.
Bird Safari Day. We came to this site last year with the express purpose of attending a Bird Safari, the site runs two a day but the weather was so (unseasonably) hot at the time that all safari’s were suspended. But not today. We met Valentine, pronounced Balentine, our guide at 9.00 sadly two of the expected six customers failed to turn up, which delayed our set off time but gave us much more room in the Nissan Navara - how you are supposed to get seven people in them??

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We had a stunning bird spotting tour of the area, it should have lasted four hours but Valentine was such an interesting and enthusiastic guide going far beyond what was expected of him it was over five hours before we arrived back at the campsite. I will not say more about the tour as it will be of no interest to those not in attendance but I have listed below as many as I can remember of the birds we saw. If you happen at any time to be in the area we would highly recommend a bird safari, ours cost €35.00 (about £27.50) pp including exclusive use of high quality binoculars and group use of  a spotter scope. Great value.

Seen on the safari (in no particular order) I have added a link to each bird/reptile or further information.
Eurasian Griffon Vulture
Eurasian Black Vulture
Egyptian Vulture
Golden Eagle
Spanish Eagle
Red Kite
Black Kite
Common Buzzard
Black Stork
Blue Rock Thrush
Eurasian Hoopoe
Great Spotted Cuckoo
Eurasian Nuthatch
Great Cormorant
Spanish Terrapin - Hands up all those who knew Spain had a native Terrapin.
Ocellated Lizard

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Thursday 31st March 2016.
Today we made our “enth” (and for this adventure our last) visit to MERIDA the town with (it seems) more roman remains than Rome. We just had two places to see, first the Circo Romano (Roman circus). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia says that “. . . Used for chariot racing, it was modelled on the Circus Maximus in Rome and other circus buildings throughout the empire. Measuring more than 400 m in length and 30 m of width, it is one of the best preserved examples of the Roman circus. It could house up to 30,000 spectators. Mérida's circus remains very well preserved. As is true with the Circus Maximus, most circuses's structures have been destroyed over time as the area occupied by them was great and often in very flat land near their respective cities. The Mérida circus however has kept numerous structures, including the Porta Pompae ("main entrance"), the Porta Triumphalis ("triumph gate"), the spina (the longitudinal wall), the tribunal iudicium ("tribune of the judges”) . . .”. Although the circus was a  huge rather featureless open area it was still easy to imagine the races that took place there - well I have seen CHARLTON HESTON in BEN-HUR.

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The second of our two places was the ACUEDUCTO DE LOS MILAGROS (Miraculous Aqueduct) not quite in the same class as the aqueduct at Segovia but well worth the visit.

Friday 1st April 2016.
Onward, ever onward. Today we have moved to a small site a short distance from the E901 Madrid/Valencia road, KIKO PARK RURAL. We are only here one night and have visited before, a couple of years ago. It is a clean and tidy site but being quite high can get cold. Last time we were here snow was falling as we left, not much and it didn’t settle but snow never the less.

Saturday 2nd April 2016.
Last time we left Kiko Park Rural it was snowing this time we had to scrape the ice off the windscreen before we could move. The way back to the main road is up a very steep hill so I went for a drive around to make sure the car engine was nice and warm before hitching up and dragging our 1.8 tons of caravan up the slope.

The journey to Xabia (javea) where we are staying for the next two weeks was easy if boring on the motorway and we were relieved to arrive and find a number of large pitches to choose from as last time we were here there was a choice of one, the other 192 pitches were full. The temperature had slowly risen as we dropped down from the mountainous area around Kiko Park Rural to the flat sea level area around here and the temperature in the van when we pitched was a comfortable 25 degrees - just what we need.

Week 18 - Now we know what else can go wrong!!

Sunday 20th March 2016
Moving day. We are off to one of our favourite sites for Easter CAMPING ALENTEJO. Most sites in Portugal and Spain get pretty full during this period and although we know the owner would always fit us in this is one site we often book as said owner, Seibo, always reserves the best pitch on the site for us.

It’s under 200 km from Orbitur Guincho to Camping Alentejo, virtually all motorway, around two hours. Of course we had not counted on the Portuguese police closing the motorway just a couple of miles from our departure point. We had never had a closed road since getting the new navigator so did not know how to set a detour and had to just follow our noses for a while but we were lucky to quickly get back on the motorway. Unfortunately we were on the wrong side of the stoppage and a few moments later we were on the back of the traffic jam, a half hour or so later we came off the motorway at the junction where earlier we had tried to join it.

We still did not know how to set a detour so we plugged in “no tolls” in the avoidances setup and we were off through the centre of Lisbon. It was strange that when we changed the settings the travelling time was actually shown as less than on the toll road and when we eventually got back on the motorway we had actually caught up a lot of the time we had lost. Lady luck was still not on our side however.

We made good time and were within 60 km of our destination when there was a loud BANG and the car instantly lost power. I kept it moving and checked the handling all was OK. I kept it moving but there was little power it seemed as if the turbo had failed (I once owned a Land Rover so I know lots about turbo problems). Being close to our destination I nursed the car along (sometimes at just 15 kph) until we reached the site.

Looking under the bonnet (took me ages to find out how to open it!!) I saw that one of the turbo hoses had come adrift. Not able to believe my luck I pushed it back on wound the jubilee clip up tight and went for a drive. For around a mile everything was fine then - BANG - back with a disconnected hose, after the second time this happened I decided that perhaps there was a turbo problem and the hose being forced off was a symptom. After the second time the hose came off an orange dashboard “engine check” light came on.

Monday 21st March 2016
There is a Ssangyong main dealer just over the Spain/Portugal border at Badajoz and this afternoon saw us outside when they reopened from lunch at 4.00pm. It did not bode well - pandemonium. Cars coming and going, mechanics running around trying to do several jobs at once, I could not catch anyone’s eye. Wandering through the showroom I came across a salesman who spoke English, explained the problem and he said it sounds like a turbo problem, but when I described how the hose kept coming off he said he would have a look. Glancing under the bonnet he said “. . . the pipe is plastic and with the heat eventually become soft and the hose will not grip. We will put in a metal pipe . . .” He took us into the showroom and sat us down in front of a large TV saying that the mechanic would be able to start the half hour job in a few minutes. Around a half hour later the workshop manager called me over and presented me with a bill for €114 (around £90) which after paying and lots of handshaking we drove away. Superb service at a reasonable price.

Tuesday 22nd March 2016
Not much done today other than relaxing although we did go for a drive out into the countryside (checking the car) which took us to Redondo via the CORK factory at Azaruja where there is a shop selling the wares that the factory makes. We have in the past bought handbags, candles, slippers, hats, postcards, place mats etc., etc., all made from the locally produced cork, we always buy something. This time it was a large cork board to cover a work surface I had damaged dressing crabs with a very large hammer (they were very large crabs).

We have been told that in Spain/Portugal you plant grapes for yourself, olives for your children and cork for your grandchildren as it takes a couple of years for a first grape harvest, ten years for a first olive harvest and a very long twenty five years for a first cork harvest with subsequent harvests every nine years after that.

Despite the advent of screwcaps and synthetic stoppers 40 million genuine cork bottle stoppers are made daily in Portugal: this remains the principal destiny of the material. The good news is that international winemakers are returning to cork thanks to two main properties: its natural expansion inside the neck of the bottle (making it sometimes a tough pull), and its very slight porosity which allows the wine to breathe. While experimentation continues apace to try and match the low price of synthetic corks, I can only beg anyone reading this to buy wine with real cork stoppers – they represent a quality of tipple that you never get with screwcaps or synthetic stoppers, as well as a timeless way of life

Good Friday 25th March 2016.
There is a dolman and a Cromeleque close by that we had heard of but never visited so today, with fellow traveller Malcolm as guide, we went for a look see. The ANTA GRANDE DO ZAMBUJEIRO dolman has the largest stones of any passage-mound in all of Portugal, and possibly all of Europe. To preserve it the stones have been covered in corrugated iron which unfortunately make photographing this very impressive 4000 year old monument difficult. It is possible that the signage and the state of the track leading to it do more to help preserve it by discouraging visitors.

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From the dolman it is a short drive to and a long drive down the dirt track leading to he cromeleque or stone circle. Some two kilometres down the track is the MENIR DOS ALMENDRESl, this is a single 3m high standing stone set in a peaceful olive grove a few minutes walk from the track. Despite it’s Neolithic origins local legend states it is the tomb of a Moorish princess who appears once a year on the eve of Sao Joao, and can be seen combing her hair.

A further 2.1/2 kilometres down the track is ALMENDRES CROMLECH the Iberian peninsula’s largest and most impressive stone circle, a forest of about 95 granite monoliths that, being in Portugal, you are able to go right up to, touch and feel. So different from say Stonehenge.

Saturday 26th March 2016.
We visited the annual Borba Cheese Festival today, it was a little disappointing as the majority of the stalls carried the same three or four cheeses plus a few sausages etc. Of interest was a group of costumed men, some wearing jerkins covered in small bells while others carried large cow bells, we were told that it was a male voice choir and they would perform at at fifteen minutes past 1.00pm and despite it being Portugal at only 2.00pm they were on stage and ready to start. They sang for around fifteen minutes sometime a single member would sing sometime the whole or part of the group but at no time did any of the hundreds of bells on stage make a single sound. They then all got off the stage lined up in twos and with every member banging his bell (or bells) in time with their steps marched around the hall making a dreadful din. They were on their second or third circuit and showing no signs of stopping that we left. We have been able to find out nothing other than being told it is a traditional marching group.

Easter Sunday 27th March 2016.
Lunch out today at a local restaurant “os imigrantes” with Malcolm. Being Easter Sunday there was no menu just the two traditional Easter dishes of the region, lamb slow roasted in the oven or Baccalau. We all chose the lamb, it was a very good choice and with the usual bread olives before puds and coffee after and wine with. Great value at under €10.00 per head.

Week 17 - 163 sites visited, 162 acceptable.

Monday 14th March 2016.
Moving day, we are off to a site just north of Lisbon the Parque de Campismo de Almornos just 106km down the road. We left Alcácer do Sal quite late in the morning but still arrived at the new site just after 1.00pm. The receptionist had just gone for her lunch but the gatekeeper was able to contact her and get her to return to book us in. Sadly when she returned at 2.00pm we were waiting for her to book us out.

We had arrived on the pitch and backed the van in with the help of the motor mover as the access road was too narrow to allow us the swing necessary to back straight in. The pitch was only just long enough to accommodate the van and while I levelled it and put the steadies down Sue went to the loo. Getting back she reported that as well as being VERY VERY basic, (basic is the norm for camp sites in Portugal, VERY basic is quite common and acceptable, well sort of!!) so the VERY VERY basic took it to a whole new low. It was also at the bottom of a very long and very steep slope. Well if it came to it we could use our own facilities.

The pitches themselves, although as said a little short for our length of caravan, appeared to be quite good as each pair of pitches had a stand that provided a tap and electric point as well as a grey water empty point for each pitch. I checked the electric point, as I always do, and found the socket for our pitch had no earth, the one for the (empty) pitch next door also had no earth. On the next pair of pitches there was an earth but the RCD’s tripped very time we plugged the van into either of them. The gatekeeper when called did a lot of shrugging and indicated that we should just put up with it. Lots of things we will put up with because as someone once said “. . . . if you can’t take a joke don’t go . . . “ different countries have different requirements and expectations but one expectation I have where ever we go - safe electrics. That was when we upped sticks and left. The first time since we started caravanning (1983) that we have refused to stay at a site - sad.

Fortunately we were only 30 km from another site (that we had visited before) so less than an hour later we were setting up at campsite Orbitur Guincho.

Feeling particularly lazy we went to the site restaurant for dinner, although there is an extensive menu we opted for the “Menu of the day” which included octopus rice, Sue had that and grilled octopus with vegetables that I had along with a couple of pints of local lager - delicious.

Tuesday 15th March 2016.
Rain, rain, rain and even more rain. We stayed in all day and discussed how much warmer the rain was than in UK at this time of year😋

Wednesday 16th March 2016.
A visit to SINTRA today. Sintra is an area just north of Lisbon where there is an absolute plethora of historical gems to visit and explore. We have made many visits here and have just three places still to see. We planned to see them all today: at the “CHALET AND GARDEN OF THE COUNTESS OF EDLA” and “QUINTA DA REGALEIRA” the first two on our list, we found parking absolutely impossible and both were a considerable hike from town, where, although endowed with plenty of buses, taxis, TukTuks etc., the whole place was heaving and there were several cars fighting for every parking space. We eventually gave up and went on to the third the “PARQUE E PALACIO DE MONSERRATE” where we were (eventually) able to park. The Park and palace are described in Lonely Planet guide book thus:-

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. . . At the centre of a lush, 30-hectare park, a manicured lawn sweeps up to the whimsical, Moorish-inspired palácio , the 19th-century romantic folly of English millionaire Sir Francis Cook. The wild and rambling gardens surrounding the building were created in the 18th century by wealthy English merchant Gerard de Visme, then enlarged by landscape painter William Stockdale (with help from London’s Kew Gardens).

Its wooded hillsides bristle with exotic foliage, from Chinese weeping cypress to dragon trees and Himalayan rhododendrons. Seek out the Mexican garden nurturing palms, yuccas and agaves, and the bamboo-fringed Japanese garden abloom with camellias. . .

It sounds like an advert for Gordons Gin.

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Thursday 17th March 2016.
When we were here last year we went to visit the TOWER OF BELEM on the banks of the Tagus river, unfortunately the queues outside were so great that we did not bother to go in. This year the queue was quite short and a notice, nearby, stated that for safety reasons only 120 persons were allowed in the building at a time (being English and so used to ‘Elf and Safety interfering in every aspect of our lives) we decided to wait. The wait was just ten or fifteen minutes and we were inside. The ground floor was, shall we say - uninspiring so after a quick look around started to climb to the upper floors. It was on the first floor that we discovered that the entrance queue had been just a cruel practice as on the first floor was a queue to go through a door and join another queue to get to the upper floor, where the guide book said, was the reason to visit - the view. We left.

A few hundred metres further along the riverside is the famous PADRAO DOS DESCOBRIMENTOS (Monument to the Discoveries), we went inside paid a very small sum and skipped up the 290 steps to look at the magnificent views over Lisbon including looking down on Monastery of Belem. Actually, I lied, we were whisked to the top in a high speed lift but we did have the option of walking up. Fat chance!!

Friday 18th - Saturday 19th March 2016.

Rain, rain and more rain. Sandy sites are such a pain in the rain, the sand turns to a creamy slush, so pleasant to walk in - not. Fortunately a short while after the rain stops it goes back to sand.

Week 16 - Oh What else will go wrong!!

Monday 7th March 2016.
Moving day. Well it should have been, after three months here at Sulflor we should be on our way to ALCACER DO SAL, but discovered yesterday that the caravan charger is not working. The TV which  was being used to play music and kept turning itself off, on investigating we found the voltage on our new Banner battery had dropped to a level no battery can drop to and survive. This morning Frank and I took out the old charger (well Frank took it out while I “supervised") it was kaput, defunct.

Tuesday 8th March 2016.
The battery we bought a little before we left England was this morning given a decent burial (chucked in the local recycling bin) and the old one, just a year old and in perfect condition (long sad story, please don’t ask) that we had brought with us and given to Frank we took back and re-fitted.

Fortunately just an hour or so down the road to the west is the largest supplier of batteries, chargers, etc in Portugal (we bought the refitted battery there a year or so ago), we all jumped in the car and off we went expecting to pick-up exactly what we wanted off the shelf. Sadly the supplier was at best unhelpful at worst bl**dy obstructive, so different from when we bought the battery from them in 2014 when they could not have been more helpful.

Coming back and just a couple of kilometres from the caravan we popped into a car accessory shop and bought a first class Bosch charger that will do the job a treat. Unfortunately we will not be able to fit and forget as it is not designed to charge while the battery is in use but we will turn it on at bedtime and off in the morning - Da Da!! problem solved (we hope).

Thursday 9th March 2016.
Well the battery charger has worked as well as we hoped and today

WE ARE ACTUALLY MOVING  - HURRAHHHHHHHH

not that we have gone very far, just a couple of hundred kilometres to the north-west to Alcácer do Sal. We are only here for a few days with just a short list of things to do and places to go.

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Friday 10th March 2016.
To day is the main reason we are visiting this area, the TROIA PENINSULAR. It is a hip hop and trendy place for the Lisbon gliterartie to visit but, despite the “exclusive” golf course half way down the peninsular and expensive tourist village, with it’s posh hotels and expensive yachts and frequent ferry to Setúbal,, just south of Lisbon, at the very end, it is almost entirely unspoilt. Once you walk past the hotels and restaurants (cheap by London standards but pretty expensive by Portuguese standards) boardwalks take you to the beaches for which no other words than absolutely stunning will do. They are extensive, white and without any of the overt commercialism that blights many beaches round the world. THIS LINK takes you to a pdf article about Troia that appeared in the MAIL ONLINE on Friday 27th March 2016 

Driving back down the peninsular we spotted a sign for “Ruinas Romanas” (roman ruins) we followed its brown finger down a long dusty and potholed track to a very well presented and conserved ruins that although they had a fence around and a high gate we were allowed (free) to wander at will and see the ruins that had thoughtfully been provided with signage and explanations in English as well as Portuguese. It had been a fish processing plant where the romans made Garum fish sauce that they loved so much. It was made by the crushing and fermentation in brine of the intestines of fish such as tuna, eel, anchovies, and mackerel. Because its production created such an unpleasant smell, its fermentation was relegated to the outskirts of cities. The finished product was quite mild and subtle, and was mixed with wine, vinegar, pepper, oil, or water to enhance the flavor of many dishes. Garum is similar to fish sauce used today in Thai and Vietnamese cooking.

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Saturday 11th March 2016.
Just a short drive into the town of Alcácer do Sal today and a wander around its steep and narrow roads up to the castle and its contrasting wide riverfront promenade. The castle car park requires concentration as there is no fence in front of a huge drop that could painful if not fatal to the careless motorist.

Sunday 12th March 2016.
Another short day today, this time to a reservoir we have heard much about (as a wild camping spot for motorhomes) Barragem do Pego do Altar, where there is a huge system of reservoirs that unlike UK where many are private and protected these are open to the public. Once you reach the barragem the tarmac turns to dirt for the many kilometres around the lakes, plenty of room for everyone to have their own private stretch if that is what they want. Unfortunately while we were there the battery on my camera ran out and I have been unable to find this amenity on an English web site so the two photos I do have sadly do not do justice to this magnificent water system.

Weeks 13, 14 & 15 - Eating eating and even more eating.

These three weeks have seen us being very lazy indeed. We have visited virtually nothing and gone virtually nowhere from a tourist point of view but we have had a very pleasant time and been blessed with some great company and (here comes the eating bit) had some great meals out.

But first, you may remember in the last update I mentioned Sue going base over apex getting out of a Tuk Tuk. That was the Friday and on the Monday it was still hurting so we popped up the hospital to get it looked at. We were advised to go to the Faro private hospital rather than the Faro general as, we were told, the waiting time was always horrendous at the general. Well, if five and a half hours at the private was quick I hate to think what the general wait time was. A fracture at the elbow was diagnosed and as the hospital fracture team were preparing to plaster the arm from wrist to shoulder the orthopaedic consultant asked Sue when she was flying home. On being told we were here in a caravan and not going home until April or May he stopped the plastering saying “. . . if we plaster the arm your husband will find it inconvenient so we will put it in a sling and you must use the arm as little as possible for the next six weeks. . . “. “. . .what a sensible and thoughtful consultant . . ." at least I think thats what Sue said.

There is a huge range of food available on the Algarve and we have been fortunate indeed to have visited many restaurants specialising in local cuisine. In no particular order I will list a few :-

O’Monte Velho - This is a restaurant we have mentioned before (in the last BLOG UPDATE in fact) the lady owner Anna, only cooks to order so you must book at least one day in advance. Not easy with a restaurant way up in the hills with no landline telephone and a very unreliable mobile phone signal. Several of Anna’s specialities deserve a mention

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1. Bochechas de porco no forno c/migas (Pigs cheeks from the oven with dumpling) this is one of my favourites

2. Coelho com molho de ameixas secas e legumes (Rabbit with prune sauce and vegetables) is Sue’s favourite, and with a starter before, wine with and pudding and coffee afterwards a price tag of around €13.75 per head (less than £11.00 each) is superb value.

Amancil - This restaurant majors on fresh BBQ’d fish. After the usual start of olives, bread and sardine pate we each ordered a DORADO, the chef BBQ’d half of each of our fish and presented them to us then BBQ’d the other half so that all of it was hot when we ate the delicious fish which was served with chips or boiled potatoes, a delicious tomato salad, a litre of red and a litre of white wine (both very acceptable). After finishing with huge portions of Bola de Balochas (a creamy concoction with hardly any calories as long as shown as calories per milligram) and coffee the bill for four came to €32.00 (around £6.31 each)

The Duck Garage - We were invited to a lunch outing of the local ex-pats by R & F. The restaurant is not actually called The Duck Garage, the real name no-one seems to know as there is no sign outside, in fact unless you knew it was a restaurant you would drive right past, it was once a garage and they now specialises in roast duck rather than cars. We arrived with 20 other Brits and sat down to the usual starter of olives, bread and sardine pate after which we were served with a mixed salad. Then came the main event the duck. There were probably at least ten plump delicious duck to share between us, so much that after everyone had eaten as much as they could manage the staff brought foil dishes for people to make up “doggy bags” R & F took some and had enough for another meal for two. The duck was served with roasted potatoes and lashings of onion sauce. The wine from the Alentejo region of Portugal was very good and although I didn’t count the empty bottles there seemed to be a great many of them. The main was followed by a choice of fresh fruit salad or creme tart (another local cream speciality that counted calories by the thousands) but in reality every one had fruit salad from the huge bowl full that was placed in the centre of the table and when that was gone we all went onto the creme tart having portion after portion until that too was gone. Coffee and brandies brought the total bill to €15.00 per head (about £11.76)

Marisqueira Fialho, Pinheiro - This is the only restaurant on the seafront at Pinheiro so it’s not hard to find. Lunchtimes it is always worth booking as it is very popular with local Portuguese and so always very busy. Pretty well everything on the extensive menu is worth trying, and the last meal we had there was Seafood Rice. This is a dish for which you have to be patient as it takes time to prepare and cook and must be ordered for a minimum of two people. When we tried to order it for three the waitress said she would give us a portion for two as she felt there would be more than enough for three - she was right, there was so much we (almost) didn’t have room for puddings. Can’t remember how much that little lot was but it was very good value.

Sergio’s in Olhao is a restaurant very popular with locals and tourists alike and is in a location that - erm how to put it politely - tourists might otherwise avoid. There is an extensive menu of delicious dishes but for Sue and me there is only one reason to visit Sergio’s - liver and onions - absolutely fabulous. With the usual starters, wine, puddings and coffee the bill is €10.00 per head (less than £8.00). 

Writing that lot has made me feel hungry so I’ll go away from food and report on the only trip out we have made over these three weeks. We went to ALCOUTIM a town on the Portuguese side of the River Guadiana that forms the Portugal/Spain border in that area.

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Alcoutim is a hillside town of cobbled streets, small squares and a paved promenade along the river front which is overlooked by a number of cafes and restaurants.The river is quite narrow at this point and sailing boats and river craft float gently on the waters, with a backdrop of rolling, green hills. The church near the river front originates from the 16th century, but has been re-built a number of times. Over the porch are the arms of the Marquises of Vila Real and Counts of Alcoutim.

Weeks 11 & 12 - Visitors

Week 11 - Preparation.

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Monday 1st February 2016 - Sunday 7th February 2016
Monday - Thursday

A very special week this. We are having visitors. Auntie Brenda and Uncle David are coming for a one week visit on Saturday, they are not daft enough to stay in the caravan so we have booked an apartment in FUSETA. Looking forward to it but first we have to get through the early part of the week with my favourite pastime shopping - not!!

We have to get in sufficient food and drink and make some sort of visit schedule. Fortunately we still have that MAKRO card we borrowed so were able to stock up with essentials. Looking at the invoice afterwards we note that the drink came to over €130 while the food portion didn’t quite reach €40 - well at least we managed to get the food/drink relationship right.

Friday
The plane bringing Brenda and Dave is arriving quite early tomorrow and the APARTMENT DETAILS stated that it was available from 3.00pm on the day of arrival so we booked an extra day and moved into the apartment this afternoon. It is all that we hoped it would be, large well appointed bedrooms a comfy sitting room and a huge extremely well appointed kitchen/dining room. We invited Rosemary and Frank to dinner which threatened to turn into a disaster when the oven refused to heat up and the entire dinner was to be cooked in it. When all else had failed we even read the instructions - nothing!! When R&F arrived and we explained about the oven and suggested we go out for dinner Rosemary suggested that if we turned the oven timer off it may heat up. We did and it did - DOH!!!!!!!!

It was a splendid evening (when we finally got dinner) more than an hour later than planned, time that was spent checking the beer, gin and wine that we had purchased earlier in the week. Sizeable portions of it all obviously had to be checked to ensure it would be safe for B&D to drink. It passed with flying colours, I think.

Week 12 - The BIG visit

Saturday
Being just 23 kilometre (14ish miles) from the airport we were able to have a leisurely breakfast and not leave for the airport until Easyjet’s version of FLIGHT RADAR 24 assured us the plane D&B were on was less than thirty minutes from landing and we still arrived in plenty of time.

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First port of call from pickup was Olhão fish market. This is the largest, busiest fish market we have ever come across, and every visit to the area should include the fish market, particularly on a Saturday morning when the whole place can only be described as “chaos”, organised chaos but chaos. We bought fish to BBQ for our dinner and continued to the apartment.

Sunday
Buying boxes of wine is such a poor idea. It’s so easy to loose count of how many times the carafe is refilled and so when you first wake up have no idea why there seems to be a little man with a big hammer in your head trying to get out.

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Behind where the caravan is, is a hill, Cerro de S. Miguel, that has an official mountain bike run down it so is quite high and very steep affording stunning views from the top. Fortunately there is a good road to the top and we spent a while up there clearing heads and trying to identify the building we are staying in before returning to Fuseta for lunch and a snooze.

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Monday - Friday
We tried to be a little less programmed for D&B’s stay this year, (last year virtually every minute of every day was programmed) but still managed to visit lots of local attractions including the fabulous RUINAS ROMANAS (roman ruins) at MILREU, the salt pans along the RIA FORMOSA, the old town of TAVIRA (more of that in a minute) and had some fantastic meals. The ones Sue cooked were obviously the best (flattery will get you everywhere - ed) but we also managed a visit to O’Monte Velo, a restaurant high in the hills between Moncarapacho and Tavira in a place no-one in their right mind would open a restaurant. It is (literally) miles from anywhere along a very rough road and you cannot just turn up you must book and order at least one day before you go and it is difficult to ring to book as there is no landline phone up there and the mobile phone signal is so poor the proprietors mobile is mounted on a pole outside the building so often goes unheard (thats if it does manage to lock onto a signal). Despite all these disadvantages it is a busy and popular eatery and well worth the effort necessary. We also visited SERGIO’s restaurant in OLHAO, a favourite of ours where Sue and I always have liver and onions. There were several eateries that we tried to get into but were booked solid. That happens when the food and drinks are such good value.

I said I would come back to Tavira, this is because when we visited earlier in the week we saw an electric TUK TUK with six seats that gave tours round the town and surrounding areas and determined to return later in the week for a tour. When we arrived and asked for the "town and immediate area tour" the driver/guide explained that the tour was listed as a 45 minute tour but that he was unable to do justice to it in that time and it normally worked out an hour to an hour an a quarter - oh yes we thought he’s laying the ground for charging extra on top of the normal €12.00 a head price.

The driver, Pedro, was extremely knowledgable explaining in great detail the history and sights in his city. When we arrived back at the start some two hours after the start of the tour Pedro insisted that the cost was the advertised €12.00, we rarely tip but did on this occasion. Unfortunately on exiting the Tuk Tuk for the last time Sue went base over apex but luckily she managed to put a hand out as she fell so did not land on her face, and although she had a sore wrist and arm she suffered no other damage.

Saturday
Up bright and early to take D&B back to the airport, it seems they only arrived yesterday. Leaving them at the airport we went back to the apartment to remove all our stuff and book out. By noon we were back in the caravan.


© Stephen Ghost 2015