10th April
Once again we get caught out on the many slip roads and turn offs that make up the Seville highway system! Spaghetti junction has now’t on this place. A few errors later and we are on the E1 heading west, then going south on the A483. We drove along side the Parque Nacional de Doñana to our stop at Matalascanas, a free Aire. 36°59'00.4"N 6°31'45.2"W Ideal for an overnight stop.
Matalascanas is a beautiful area with 7km of beach, that then stretches through the national park to Sanlucar de Barrameda, and up to Huelva approximately 60km in total. The beach is abundant with clams, with many fishermen using a strange contraption to catch them, it’s basically a metal mesh cage with a net on the end, which they then tamp the sand in shallow water and rock the pole forward and backwards to catch the clams in the net. There are many people swimming, but still a tad cool for this chap.
The clam man . It looked hard work
Picture courtesy of the Net “forgive the pun”
Also plenty of fish judging by the rods
We are parked behind this Bar/Restaurant
View from the van
I think you are allowed to breathe here?
The weather today is hot, were parked up behind a small beach bar, and literally 100m from the sea on the edge of the national park, and all this for free, what a life eh. We took a walk into the town and look at the many villas here swimming pools galore, there are so many up for sale, a quick check on the internet tells us we will have to make do with the van till our numbers come up on the lottery.
11th April
We were the only van there at Matalascanas last night, we slept well with the aid of a few cervezas from the bar. A French van pulled in as we were leaving.
Today we are heading back into Portugal, I need internet for the football and to watch the Grand National.
We drove along the coast through the park, a fantastic road, we didn’t spot one deer even though there were numerous road signs warning you to drive careful with their picture depicted on it , there are also wild boar, lynx and mongoose in the park, although I don’t think you have a cat in hells chance of spotting them?
We passed hundreds of these signs and saw zilch
It was then onto Huelva “a fantastic looking city” then up to pick up the E1 and onto Portugal avoiding the A22 toll road once you enter!
We arrived just after midday in Moncarapacho, the weather was again hot. The site is outside of the town nestled in the countryside, easily found just follow the route 66 signs, 37°04'51.8"N 7°45'25.4"W. The cost is 10€ p/n with all the facilities including wifi, if you stop 3 nights the 4th is free.
Once again Sam has found a great place, it has a western theme, there appears to be a bar or should I say saloon onsite, and a few other farm animals
The internet is good through my wifi booster hooked up to my PC, I am able to watch the game, although wifi up on our phones is intermittent. The infamous Lawro has gone for a 1-1 draw, finally the penny has dropped in that thick nugget brain, and he picks up points. I then sat back awaiting the big race, while following the live scores.
A disappointing result, Rocky Creek loses a shoe half way round and doesn’t land the expected windfall, but followers of my blog will have made amends with Alvarado, who finishes 4th and was trading at 25/1 in the morning.
12th April
We decide to take up the offer and stay 3 days, getting the 4th buckshee, The site does not have a lot to do as it’s to far from the main town, what it has got is some nice walks, The whole surrounding area is awash with fruit trees of every description, Fig, Orange, Lemon, Tangerines, Olive, Almond and Loquats, we are able to pick as many as we like, no shortage of lemon for the G&T, I’ve never eaten so many Oranges and Tangerines, even on Xmas day as a kid, and the Loquats are delicious if you've never tried them.
I caught the late game a pearler, It wasn’t the same Man U we played first game of the season or at our place, they have a new look about them, the confidence is there, City will probably buy a new team in the summer, they have the dosh!
13th –14th April
The last two days we have been doing what we have grown accustomed to, relaxing and taking things easy, I have been downloading lots of films from YouTube courtesy of my brother, thanks for the heads up. This site appears to be a resting ground for old van’s and caravans, It would have been a great place for my old Talbot, there are a few full timers here and a few have left their vans here to use as a bolthole, you can see the vans have not moved in years, there are some static caravans here also.
14th April
Set off today, after the rain and thunder had abated at 9am? Yes we have had a few shitty days to be honest, although later in the afternoon it was sunny, but not as hot as you’d expect at this time of the year. We drove to Olhao to pick up provisions, then onto today’s destination to meet up with some friends we had met in Morocco, namely Colin and Sandra and Dave, also Phil and Mena who had came over to Morocco the same time as the other MHF convoy on the 15th Jan, but unfortunately our paths never crossed. However due to an administration error by the chief navigator we ended up on a site 17km away from where we had arranged to meet them.
We arrived at our co-ords and was greeted by the owner, a very friendly Dutch guy called Andy, Sam says what a coincidence, the owner of the site we had planned to stay at in a few days time, his name is Andy and Dutch? Good I thought, we have killed two birds with one stone. After setting up we waited on the arrival of the others. I went on to the MHF forum later in the afternoon and saw a posting saying they were on the new site sitting in the restaurant, a pint and a three course meal 7€? Alarm bells ringing I said to chief navigator that the others have arrived, but are not on our site, there is no restaurant on this site? That’s the co-ords you gave me, came the disclaimer! You copied them down from Sandra’s post I said in return. Anyways we are here now, no more driving today, besides I’ve started into the tins. A minor blip in the grand scheme of things, to be fair having travelled close to 6000 miles, with very few incidents, I’m not about to sack the navigator/chef/teas maid/housekeeper. well not 3000 miles from home.
We are tucked in a pretty valley, “Vale Fuzeiros” near to the town of São Bartolomeu de Messines. 37°16'41.9"N 8°14'28.7"W
The site as I said is owned by a Dutch couple, It has not been open long, there are so many sites opening all over Portugal due to the Police clamping down on wild camping, having said that there are still many places you can wild in the countryside and coast. but not so much on the Algarve anymore. The cost is 6€ a night all services, good wifi but no EHU.
It’s a nice set up, quite a few vans, mainly Dutch, German and British. We intend to stop here a few days and catch up on the laundry etc, there are some good walks we can take Max on also.
15th –16th April
The area around here is abundant with wild boar and deer, it’s the speciality of the local restaurant, along with goat. Wild boar hunting takes place year long, with the use of dogs, and we see many signs on our walks. There are 185 hunting reserves in Southern Portugal alone.
The weather the last two days has been a bit cloudy albeit warm. We have been on a few yomps, and followed some interesting trails, and got lost on a few to, the main trees in the valley are Eucalyptus and Cork. You can see the evidence of this on the cork trees as the lower bark/cork is removed.
17th April
The weather today is better and it’s forecast to be getting hotter. Our plans are to stay another week around this area or South, then moving up along the N2 towards Parque Natural do Vale do Guadiana where there are three sites, then onto Monsaraz, Estremoz, Portalegre and upwards
. We try not to plan to far ahead.
On todays walk we came across a small cafe, we decided to have a coffee and a large brandy and sit and relax for five, the cafe is rustic as you’d expect in rural Portugal, it’s as far removed from the dapper villas and chic restaurants of the Algarve,
We arrived just after midday in Moncarapacho, the weather was again hot. The site is outside of the town nestled in the countryside, easily found just follow the route 66 signs, 37°04'51.8"N 7°45'25.4"W. The cost is 10€ p/n with all the facilities including wifi, if you stop 3 nights the 4th is free.
Once again Sam has found a great place, it has a western theme, there appears to be a bar or should I say saloon onsite, and a few other farm animals
The wifi lounge
Reception/Office area
A disappointing result, Rocky Creek loses a shoe half way round and doesn’t land the expected windfall, but followers of my blog will have made amends with Alvarado, who finishes 4th and was trading at 25/1 in the morning.
12th April
We decide to take up the offer and stay 3 days, getting the 4th buckshee, The site does not have a lot to do as it’s to far from the main town, what it has got is some nice walks, The whole surrounding area is awash with fruit trees of every description, Fig, Orange, Lemon, Tangerines, Olive, Almond and Loquats, we are able to pick as many as we like, no shortage of lemon for the G&T, I’ve never eaten so many Oranges and Tangerines, even on Xmas day as a kid, and the Loquats are delicious if you've never tried them.
Loquats in abundance, overhanging the road.
All picked from the side of the road, we only pick what we can eat.
I caught the late game a pearler, It wasn’t the same Man U we played first game of the season or at our place, they have a new look about them, the confidence is there, City will probably buy a new team in the summer, they have the dosh!
A few more pics from the site.
13th –14th April
The last two days we have been doing what we have grown accustomed to, relaxing and taking things easy, I have been downloading lots of films from YouTube courtesy of my brother, thanks for the heads up. This site appears to be a resting ground for old van’s and caravans, It would have been a great place for my old Talbot, there are a few full timers here and a few have left their vans here to use as a bolthole, you can see the vans have not moved in years, there are some static caravans here also.
I’ve not seen sheep this size before.
Max was not keen on the array of animals here, he had a go at the pot bellied pig
And definitely disagreed with the Ostrich, It’s not been a good trip for him, Bless
The weather has been a bit low key the last two days, I’ve heard that the UK is inline for a heat wave that will last three months? Hopefully it will improve here.
14th April
Set off today, after the rain and thunder had abated at 9am? Yes we have had a few shitty days to be honest, although later in the afternoon it was sunny, but not as hot as you’d expect at this time of the year. We drove to Olhao to pick up provisions, then onto today’s destination to meet up with some friends we had met in Morocco, namely Colin and Sandra and Dave, also Phil and Mena who had came over to Morocco the same time as the other MHF convoy on the 15th Jan, but unfortunately our paths never crossed. However due to an administration error by the chief navigator we ended up on a site 17km away from where we had arranged to meet them.
We arrived at our co-ords and was greeted by the owner, a very friendly Dutch guy called Andy, Sam says what a coincidence, the owner of the site we had planned to stay at in a few days time, his name is Andy and Dutch? Good I thought, we have killed two birds with one stone. After setting up we waited on the arrival of the others. I went on to the MHF forum later in the afternoon and saw a posting saying they were on the new site sitting in the restaurant, a pint and a three course meal 7€? Alarm bells ringing I said to chief navigator that the others have arrived, but are not on our site, there is no restaurant on this site? That’s the co-ords you gave me, came the disclaimer! You copied them down from Sandra’s post I said in return. Anyways we are here now, no more driving today, besides I’ve started into the tins. A minor blip in the grand scheme of things, to be fair having travelled close to 6000 miles, with very few incidents, I’m not about to sack the navigator/chef/teas maid/housekeeper. well not 3000 miles from home.
We are tucked in a pretty valley, “Vale Fuzeiros” near to the town of São Bartolomeu de Messines. 37°16'41.9"N 8°14'28.7"W
The site as I said is owned by a Dutch couple, It has not been open long, there are so many sites opening all over Portugal due to the Police clamping down on wild camping, having said that there are still many places you can wild in the countryside and coast. but not so much on the Algarve anymore. The cost is 6€ a night all services, good wifi but no EHU.
It’s a nice set up, quite a few vans, mainly Dutch, German and British. We intend to stop here a few days and catch up on the laundry etc, there are some good walks we can take Max on also.
15th –16th April
The area around here is abundant with wild boar and deer, it’s the speciality of the local restaurant, along with goat. Wild boar hunting takes place year long, with the use of dogs, and we see many signs on our walks. There are 185 hunting reserves in Southern Portugal alone.
Beware Hunting Camp?
I was quite Impressed with this find in the middle of nowhere,
The remains of an old well, with mechanical water displacement.
The weather the last two days has been a bit cloudy albeit warm. We have been on a few yomps, and followed some interesting trails, and got lost on a few to, the main trees in the valley are Eucalyptus and Cork. You can see the evidence of this on the cork trees as the lower bark/cork is removed.
Ready to be shipped off for the finest wines or port
The campsite set in the valley
17th April
The weather today is better and it’s forecast to be getting hotter. Our plans are to stay another week around this area or South, then moving up along the N2 towards Parque Natural do Vale do Guadiana where there are three sites, then onto Monsaraz, Estremoz, Portalegre and upwards
. We try not to plan to far ahead.On todays walk we came across a small cafe, we decided to have a coffee and a large brandy and sit and relax for five, the cafe is rustic as you’d expect in rural Portugal, it’s as far removed from the dapper villas and chic restaurants of the Algarve,
Conservation at it’s best at the small cafe
No sooner had we our coffees served, a chap came in with a large German Shepherd, and that’s when all hell broke loose, another of Max’s pet hates, we ended up downing our hot coffee and double brandy in record time as Max was remonstrating with his new pal, we made our exit, much to the amusement of the locals as I carried Rocky out, “to save him from being eaten”.
I have come across several of these old wells now
Well it seems that font of football knowledge, that infamous boil on my arse Lawro has predicted Leicester to win this weekend. His short love affair with Wales only Premier team over! Maybe the last two weeks he was concussed?
On a brighter note I see that Wales have moved up another place again to 21st in FIFA world rankings, if we beat Belgium in our crucial next game we will go above England for the first time in our history, now there’s an incentive for the team, what’s more it will make us a No1 seed for the first time in a WC draw.
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