Blowin' In The Wind

11th Dec

Yesterday we had been on the road 4 weeks, It seems to be going so quick? We are still holed up here in Peniche. The Royal Mail tracker says our letter is in Portugal, probably in a Lisbon sorting office, so we stay another day. "I can think of worse places to be"
Last night I got chatting to my brother Carl and his family on Skype, "a couple of hours later we had caught up on a lot of things". Modern technology we are thousands of miles apart, yet we can chat and see each other as if we were in the same room.
So it will be another day of lounging around waiting for the postman. We are keen to move on, we have had a fantastic time here in Peniche, but it's time to move and find other towns like this.
So we strolled down to the beach. There were plenty of surfers out today and we watched them catching the waves.
We stopped and had a coffee. It is warm, unbelievable for a December day, but there again we are in Portugal

A fantastic beach "miles long"

The entrance to our site

Tonight we went to the bar and uploaded our vids onto YouTube to save on our own data, it took a while to upload one vid, we had happy hour to contend with also, but I was able to post the linky to the surfers above.

12^th Dec

It is cold today, it is overcast 13⁰ a vast change from yesterday’s glorious day. The mail has not arrived, and they will not have any more till Monday “postie’s here, don’t work on the weekend” so we pay for 3 more days. Later today the heavens have opened up. Now normally since being here in Portugal we have had a few sun showers that blow over within 10mins, but this is relentless, and it has not stopped. And it looks like it has no intention either.

What’s more this afternoon our data runs out on our second data card!! We are consigned to Dylan, It feels like we are shipwrecked with no contact with the outside world. We have used two cards in a week “yikes €€” I suppose streaming football games and having 2hr plus Skype calls does not help, we will have to limit the Skype chats to a more reasonable length of time. “Big mistake chatting to my Brother he can talk for Wales, when he gets going”
We have the radio on its dire complete dirge! I have scoured the channels available on my Roberts dab radio they are all the same. Taylor Swift "Shake it off" plays several times over the afternoon, they also seem to be into the boy bands here big time. ”nice one Simon Cowell and your motley crew”   and if it’s not that, it’s in Portuguese, so back to iTunes and some good music.
I make a Bolognaise for later, we have the heating on and we settle in to play cards. I can hear a van outside he seems pretty close to us? and I hear foreign tongue's being spoken, then it drives off, it is pitch dark and raining outside. Maybe he has noticed my GB plates? 

13^th Dec

It’s bleak outside, but it has stopped raining. It was still chucking it down at 7 this morning when Max woke us to go to the toilet. Sam takes him out and comes back after 10mins to say our windbreak is on the floor? Don’t worry about it now I say, it’s still raining I’ll sort it later. I begin to think back to last night it was raining, but not blowing a gale! It has endured severe winds from the Atlantic, on some nights since I put it up? We are on a Peninsula here. I then remember the van that sounded two feet away, the voices and then drove off. That explains it Tosser!!  Maybe he or she will be over later to apologize? I don’t hold my breath
We get up about 9.45 it has stopped lashing down, there is a Sun up there albeit obscured by clouds, it is 13.5⁰ and I survey the damage to the windbreak? It’s all together one of the poles is out of the pocket that harnesses it, it’s soaking, there are tyre tracks but I don’t have the right equipment to take a tyre cast. People are milling around their vans, there are a few new arrivals but no one comes forth to own up..
Another stroll into town ensues. We need another data card and something for dinner tomorrow! There seems to be a lot of Chinese emporiums in Peniche and we come across another.

 A little cove Sam found, the beach was deserted

Max had the beach to himself while I was shopping

They sell everything you can think off, from fishing rods and reels, clothes, everyday household items to a 5/8 tack! All made “you guessed it” in China. (Cheap as chips too)
I hit the supermarket and come out laden with stuff “nothing changes” I manage to pick up Max a treat he loves pigs ears, check out the Grunters tattoo “pretty primitive”

You can't make a silk purse out of this

It looks like it was done with a needle and a bottle of Indian ink” I pick up the 4gb data card next door, and we shoot back to Dylan before the heavens open up again. We stop on the way back to have a break in a nice little park, and I notice a few anomalies with the finish of the park? Now anywhere else in the UK with the compo culture they would have a field day here with the potholes and the standpipe jutting out of the floor.

 How many claims would this council had in the UK?

It looks ominous the clouds are black, and no sooner have we put all the outside furniture away and settle down to a baguette (ham n cheese) and coffee, the rain starts again. I put my rain jacket on, and take my PC to the bar to do the update on the blog, also I want to upload a video to Youtube, and save my 4gigabites for the Swans game. Its cold and my Raynaud's is playing up for the first time since Northern France. It's happy hour but I'm not!! Sam and Max have decided not to join me "they got more sense"  the weather is atrocious we need to move south again, and soon. Blog and video updated, and 3 drinks later, I buy a box of wine and it's back to the warmth of the van and a bite to eat, another day to cross off the calendar, and another closer to Xmas.

14^th Dec  

Not much to report! Another bad day at the office, for the ref at the Liberty, Shocking!! 3points dropped, a game we could have won!! 
Steve Bruce was right?   the refs bottle it with the so called big teams, and Spurs must be ever so grateful to get the extra 2pts.  
I watched the game at the bar and shortly after the game, the gloats crawled out of the woodwork and I then received this pic. "I'll share it with you"

Inbred Yid's 
Andy Raff  "The Landlord" and Kieron, showing they have six fingers between them?

Sam and Max joined me later on, we would not be stopping long! the wind was picking up. I received a Skype call from Charlotte and we spoke to a few friends.

Back to the van for a Sunday roast with all the trimmings. (Well done Sam)


15th Dec 

We went down to check on the post at 3pm and bingo "happy days" the letter arrived, but another twist in the tale? The sim cards they have sent are standard and not the ones that I believe fit in an iPhone, I believe we can cut them, I will youtube it. but now we can move on. We pay for the last day and trundle up to the bar to say our goodbyes.
We originally stopped for one night on our way south, and ended staying nineteen! we have enjoyed Peniche, it will be a place to stop at on another trip.
On reflection we think with last Monday being a Bank holiday and with the Xmas period, probably accounts for the delivery time? the letter had been in the country for days,but hey ho we have had a bash here, the people have been so welcoming. And we said our goodbyes, Feliz Natal, Feliz Navidad, Joyeux Noel etc etc, and so we return to Dylan for the last night at Peniche,
Satnav set we sit back enjoy our last night and ready ourselves for the next phase of our trip.

 The last sunset at Peniche " we have seen some crackers "

 Those clouds look ominous hopefully they will blow over?

 

So our last night at Peniche we have a good tuck "Pork kebabs n Spicy sausages"with the obligatory side salad

The grape diet is on the back burner for now! We had seen off two 5L boxes in just over four days? I woke to the most celebratory of hangovers yesterday, and realized this is not an all inclusive holiday. Maybe it's time I got back on the running circuit near the beach?

16^th Dec

We finally but reluctantly left Peniche this morning and headed south, we headed for Cabo de Roco, the most westerly point of Europe.

It was a bit déjà vu as we drove the same road to Torres Vedras, and that was where the satnav did the first mistake! It took us on a different road that we had planned, and after a quick reconfiguration we are instead of heading to the coast are now heading to Sintra? Ok no big shakes till we get to Sintra, then we do a figure of eight through the busiest of streets and emerge the other side shaken but in one piece. Cabo de Rocco is sign posted and we vow to follow the signs and disregard the satnav “we didn’t” and took a sharp right down a small side street we follow the road,  “I thought it was straight on I said, and was reassured it is probably going the fastest route? Half a mile down the road it reconfigures, and tells us to go back on ourselves!!  I also know that the sharp right it took us down a steep hill, and on the way back I am met with a T junction, I have to stop and I stall it, then restart and try and to do a handbreak start on this hell of a hill “tyres screeching it rolls back then it grips and pulls onto the brow” thank god nothing was coming around that corner? And so onto Cabo de Rocco, and I vow to throw the satnav off over the cliff when we get there. We reach the further most westerly point of Europe and find the Aire we planned to stay on park up and walk the very short distance to the point, across the way lies America we take some photos and walk about a bit, there is a coach load of Japanese tourists there snapping away. 

 Max and I posing for photos, we will be on twitter & facebook shortly in Japan

A memorial to Paul Harris the founder of the Rotary Club, erected there as it being the nearest place in Europe to America  

The lighthouse was built in 1754, and the first purpose built lighthouse in Portugal

America in the distance

We then return to the van and decide that the Aire 38°46'54"N 9°29'46"W  although ok, it is too busy with the tourist coaches etc. We decide to go around the coast a short distance of about 7 miles to Figueira Do Guincho to another Aire 38°43′39′′N 9°28′29′′W

                                                  The view from the van

A forlornly figure on the cliff top

We get there, three other vans and a few cars are there also, it is basically a carpark on a clifftop with campervan parking, there are two fantastic coves below with steps leading to both of them, and we walk down and let Max loose! "he loved it”.

Who's the King of the castle

 

The clifftop has numerous large restaurants and a few hotels it is compact, and I imagine very busy during the season. We returned to the van, had a meal and settled in and played some cards, the wind was howling off the coast, and the van was rocking like a boat. We looked out later and noticed we were the only vehicle there! The other three vans have left. "maybe it was too windy"A few nightcaps and we turned in.

17^th Dec

I was windy all night "the van shook like a council house" and we woke early! We set off and had decided to stop at a place called Porto Covo on our way down. We have heard and read some nice things about this place. It was a pleasant journey all bar one hitch at Cascais! We then skirted Lisbon over the bridge towards Setubal,

Leaving Lisbon

then on to Alcacer do Sal where there was a LPG station. We have only used one bottle since the last fill up and only three since we left Horsham, but as were passing we thought it be better too, and then it was onto Porto Covo. 37°51'07"N 8°47'18"W

 

We arrived mid afternoon there was about 15 vans on the Aire, free with services. (No lecky) Mostly French a few German and I spotted a Brit van, I would seek him out to have a chat later? The place was as described, Idyllic springs to mind, we parked up and walked the short distance to the beach. It is much warmer today it gets better the further south we are.

 The only footprints are Sam and Max's

 Enjoying a cold one

The scenery is stunning, on the cliff top there is a bench and it reminds me of Papillon on Devils Island I have taken loads of photo's and vids, it's all we had heard about and more. Back to the van for dinner and we witness a truly remarkable sunset

Every picture tells a story

18^th Dec

After a quiet night "no wind for a change" I catch up with the Brit van, the chap's name is Ernie a Yorkshire man, he has been here two weeks and will be staying till he returns home in February, we have a good chat and I say our goodbyes. We walk down to the cove for the last time to let Max have a run, and then we are on the road.

We are headed for the Chicken Run near Mexilhoeira Grande we take the coast road and pass over a beautiful inlet called Vila Nova de Milfontes,  passing through numerous villages and we stop for a break at a place called Azenha do Mar,

again another gem. Portugal is blessed with so many beaches and small coves. We stop there and wander for awhile, then have some lunch and carry on south

The weather is glorious today, we have the windows rolled down, the driving is a doddle no need for the silly satnav we follow the map, and just follow the signs for the Algarve. We drive over the Sierra de Espinhaco de Cao through a national park, and a few hours later we arrive at our destination. We are greeted by Andrew and Leslie the owners and they show us a few pitches we may like, we find a sun trap and level up. It lives up to it's name  chickens are wandering about the place Max scares a few off. We will stay here till after Xmas then into Spain for the New Year.

So for the meantime. We would like to wish all our family and friends a very Merry Xmas. Have a good time and wrap up warm..