On The Road Again, "Well Sort Of"

9th December 

Today we finally left the Peniche campsite we have been on for the last 30 days, campsite fees £121.58 @ £4.05 per day, campsite fees are a heck of a lot cheaper here than the UK, we love Peniche and are sorry to be leaving, but will no doubt return in 2016 at some time.

Another glorious day at Peniche

One of the many cool beaches

surrounding the peninsula of Peniche

 

We decided to check out the free Aires whilst here for future, the first one we stopped at was on the cliff tops 39.372275 -9.376279 stunning views albeit a tad windy, after a coffee we drove into the town and stopped at the Aire opposite the fire station 39.35854 -9.37749, it's quite popular with a few vans parked up, a few look like they are here for the winter? we topped up our internet card then we drove a few miles up the road to Baleal 39.37252 -9.33631, another great place and the one we decided to stop at for the evening, no more than 50m from the sea with a few bars and restaurants and popular with the surf set, again there were a few vans parked up.

The short journey to Baleal

 The day before we left this Norwegian bus conversion pulled onto site

The view from the cliff top Aire

View from our van on the Baleal Aire

 

A short video of  three Aires in Peniche

10th December

The next day we decided to head towards the Algarve. Skirting Lisbon and after a pleasant drive through some lovely countryside we arrived at our stop at Barragem Pego do Altar 38.420502 -8.392030. it's on a lake and the views are superb. Barragems are dams used for hydro electric and there are plenty in the interior of Portugal, many have Aires also.

 The view from the van window

 

 There was a nice bar/restaurant 100m from the Aire

11th December

After a peaceful night the first in a month in which we could not hear the surf we headed south to an Aire in Minas do Lousal 38.03603 -842900, unfortunately although it looked a pleasant spot with a few vans parked up, the downside was there was quite a few large dogs roaming around and there were cats galore, not the place for Max, so we headed to another place towards Faro called Ameixal 37.365372 -7.971610, friends of ours had stayed here on their way a week or so ago, when we got there it was full and there appeared to be many full timing there, although we could have had a spot as another British van was just about to leave I got chatting to them Neil and Fiona from Liverpool and they were heading to Mikki's at Pera,
I didn't get a feel for it and decided we would head straight to Mikki's  on the Algarve as well 37.127819 -8.323050, the campsite has only been open since Feb of this year and is still work in progress,  a great place. The owners are very friendly, the site has all the facilities and they do a deal for stays of 7 days or more. 

There is also a bar on site a big plus. Our friends Dave and Sue who we met earlier in the year are staying here for Xmas so we will hole up here and spend the festive period here. Whereas on the last trip we seemed to be constantly moving, well we did cover over 10,000 miles, this trip will be more laid back with longer periods at one place or another.

24th December

We bought a bike a few days back off a young British couple, a folding bike so we're able to fit it in the van's garage, it will come in handy for getting shopping etc. local, although I may source a bike rack eventually as space is at a premium in the van especially when we load it up with our booze for the three months we plan on staying in Morocco again after the new year.

 The bar area at Mikki's

 

 A few Pics of Mikki's place

We have met a few other British couples here at Mikki's, Martin and Michelle and their friends Heather and Jayne all from Leicester have decided to have Christmas dinner together, all the girls will be busy and it should be a good day. We have permission to use our fire pit and agreed to have a drink with Gerald and Lesley a Welsh couple and Neil and Fiona and whoever else wants to drop by.
You may have noticed I havn't mentioned how the mighty Swans are doing this year after a great season last year, well Gary Monk has been sacked "not soon enough in my opinion" and we are now in a relegation battle manager less going into the busy Xmas period, the font of football knowledge Lawro has been quite frequently predicting wins for us unlike last year, I feel he is putting the kybosh on us.
Well that is it, another short blog, the weather forecast for Xmas day is hot n sunny, I hope everyone has a great day and enjoyable festive season.
Happy New Year to all.