30^th June 30, 2013

St Peter did us proud last night as the celebrations at the bar lived up to our expectations. The place was buzzing, probably due to the free tapas. All in all there were about 10 ‘courses’ of tapas and although these were more ‘mini tapas’ they were quite filling and filled two very empty holes. The drinks were flowing and we were entertained by a band that seemed to appreciate English music. There was lots of dancing and singing going on …an excellent night after a lovely day spent on the beach.

Today we woke to an overcast sky but that seems to be the way it is here, the cloud soon lifts off the mountains and the sun comes out strongly around 11am. We decided to stay another day and headed off on our bikes for a coffee in San Vincente. Barbara didn’t like the steep hill on the way into town so we returned along the coast road, taking in some breathtaking views of the beaches. This route was even hillier. Again its getting quite warm so its probably a couple of hours on the beach later and then a return to the bar tonight for something to eat. The Spanish weekenders and longstayers will probably return home so it will be a bit quieter, although the people here seem a little quieter than the Spanish in some of the Costa areas. We’ve also noticed that the long stay vans and awnings are tidier than some of the Portuguese and other Spanish campsites.

Our pitch at Camping Caravaning Playa de Oyambre

San Vincente de la Barquera

A view of one of the fine beaches in the area.

The main beach close to the campsite.

Our van with the view of the snow capped Picos mountains in the background.

San Vincente bridge and estuary.

26th - 29th June

26^th- 27^th June

We spent these two nights at a campsite in the rural area of Ribeira, Galicia. The area was surrounded by hills and looked a good walking area. It was a great site with a big swimming pool. We were keen on a pool as it was a bit cold in the sea around this part of Northern Spain. Although we liked the site it also seemed to be some sort of summer camp for kids. This meant that at certain times (most of the day) the pool area was crowded with kids, also when it got to about 4pm the locals seemed to use the pool as well. We still enjoyed the stay but couldn’t get away from the fact that there were plenty of kids doing what kids do best? After two nights we headed for the northern coast of spain between La Coruna and San Sebastian.

28^th June 29, 2013

We arrived at Camping Cudillero around 2pm. It was sunny and hot. The campsite was exceptional with large pitches, an inviting pool, lush green grass and excellent sanitary facilities. We went walking the 1.5km to the beach but didn’t fancy the long walk down the hill. We could see the beach clearly from the hilltop and again it looked fabulous. I don’t know why we didn’t stay an extra night here I think it was due to not having any provisions. Because of that we took a walk into town and had a nice meal at a restaurant.

 

Part of the lovely campsite Cudillera

The beach 1.5km from the campsite

Camping Cudillera swimming pool

Pictures of Sanxenxo.

Centre on the Promontory is the campsite with the two beaches either side of the site. An ideal  location.

23rd – 25th June

After leaving Caminha we headed to Sanxenxo in Spain, it was Sunday so we knew that the site would be busy until late Sunday when all the long stayers would go home. What we didn’t realize was that Monday was a local bank holiday, the feast of St John. The site was busy with quite a few young people about. Facilities were stretched and we could only get a luke warm shower. The weather was fantastic with cloudless skies and temperatures around 25c. We explored the beaches and concluded that these are amongst the best we’ve seen in Spain. It was still ok until the music started! There was a ‘rave’ on one of the beaches, fires were lit on the beach and the music didn’t stop until 10am the following day. It was tempting to leave but we decided to stick it out. We had very little food supplies so we walked into Sanxenxo harbour area where we had a surprisingly good steak. That evening the weekenders and long stayers went home and we woke on Tuesday morning to a completely different site. It was quiet and relaxing.

Basically this isn’t really a touring site, there are few touring pitches as the site generates most of its income from all of the long stay caravans. When we arrived there were only about 3 pitches to choose from. However since some of the nearby sites are charging 31 euros a night I suppose if you arrive and stay mid week this site is a good option. With the weather now up to 27c we’ll probably stay for a couple of more days.

22nd June 2013

22^nd June 2013

Although we’d used over half of our 20e motorway toll card just along the Algarve stretch, I had been considering buying another one since we were likely to cover a lot of motorway driving up the west coast. Surprisingly most of the tolls on this stretch are covered by toll booths, you pay for each section as you would in France. Only the last stretch towards the Spanish border is covered with the automatic method. We therefore reached Caminha on the Spanish border with just under one euro left on the card!

The last 4 days had been dominated by overcast skies and strong winds. Apart from Sao Pedro we had been a little disappointed in what we had seen. It was therefore pleasing to reach Caminho yesterday afternoon to blue skies and sunshine, the wind was still there but overall we liked the area a lot. The campsite is perfectly situated on a broken isthmus with the sea on one side and a lagoon/ river on the other. The vegetation seemed a lot greener and across the river is Spain. We had the menu of the day at the site restaurant, Soup, bread, Chicken fillet with chips and rice, along with a beer. This cost 6e each.

We’d parked up close to the bar and yet again could easily pick up a good internet connection using the booster. The site isn’t as big as some of the other Orbitur sites so good flat pitches can be difficult to find.

Our Saturday morning cycle into Caminha again surprised us as we found it to be a rather beautiful little town with plenty of bars and restaurants.

One of them is grey, stiff and lifeless?

The centre of Caminha

Looking towards Caminha.

Looking across to Spain.

19th – 21st June

Well the unsettled weather continued. The main problem is the cool wind blowing from the north. This  has kept temperatures down to around 18c and maybe even less. Sao Pedro is a small resort and a bit quiet. We were lucky to pick up the restaurants wifi using the booster so at least we could catch up with the telly via Filmon and Coronation street via Youtube. However after two nights here it was time to move on.

 We studied the weather forecasts and couldn’t believe how bad it is in Northern Spain and France. I considered returning to the Algarve where the weather looks hot or even driving across to Mediterranean Spain but it looks like we’ll stick to the plan. Mainly so we can see places we might want to come back to in future. It looks like temperatures will pick up around the Porto area in time for the weekend so we decided to head there. We drove along the N109. This road runs parallel to the motorway, saves the toll fees and also has loads of petrol stations selling cheap diesel (Intermarche 1:26e a litre). We also managed to fill our LPG bottle for less than 8 euros just south of Figueira.

 We again passed Figueira da Foz and were able to have a good look at it from the huge bridge that passes over it. Its really a large working city and not really the place to go unless you particularly like visiting large working towns/ cities. Not really for us.

 Travelling through Porto gave us some insights into its attraction. Most of the old city is spread along the river. Unlike Figuera it did seem to be the place where you could pass a couple of days looking at the old waterfront. However with most of the campsites outside the city it would mean leaving Pickles on his own for some considerable time so for this trip its out of the question.

As we traveled north towards Porto we stopped at the site at Mira.. Mira itself looked fine but the site looked too basic with little shade.Eventually we stopped at the Orbitur site at Lavra/ Angeiras. This seemed to follow the usual Orbitur standards, wifi at the reception/bar, a pool etc. Although the beach here was clean etc it lacked a decent waterfront, there were few bars and restaurants and it just looked like an ordinary residential area. It reminded me of the seaside towns between Dunkirk and Ostend.

The sanitation facilities also looked in need of modernization and again like some of the Orbitur sites we’ve visited there seemed to be a large number of neglected long stay touring vans with shabby awnings.

In summary since leaving Vila Nova da Milfontes we’ve been disappointed with the coast north of Lisbon. This maybe influenced by the weather but much of the coastline lacks character and mainly consists of sand dunes and surfing waters. We are hoping that our last resort in Portugal, Caminha, may change that viewpoint?

Pictures of Sao Pedro de Moel

The town beach.

The square on the waterfront. The town has about a dozen restaurants / bars.

Another view of the town beach

Cliff top walks by the lighthouse.

Just one view of the campsite, it is noticeably peaceful with hardly any long stayers. Some sloping parts but  plenty of flat pitches available.

The pool area, a good sized one for swimming also a kids pool and a waterslide. Plenty of sunbeds .

Just one of the many excellent sanitation blocks with good sized pitches and shade.

Update 18th June

After leaving Vila Nova da Milfontes on Sunday we headed up north and pitched on an acsi site at Nazarre. There were two sites here but we chose Vale Paraiso. It was an excellent site but some distance from a beach and although it said it was only 2km outside Nazare it was a little further than that. On Sunday evening we walked into Nazare, it was all downhill so getting back was a killer up the steep hill. We couldn't make our minds up about the town. It was definitely more of a Portuguese resort with old buildings along its sea front.
The next day we decided to leave and head for Figuera da Foz but before leaving we stocked up at Lidl down the road. We decided to take the coast road stopping to inspect the Orbitur site at Sao Pedro de Moel. This looked a good site but we could see no pool and assumed it didn't have one. We had a coffee on  the clifftops and then drove to Figuera da Foz. Again the weather was becoming dull and unsettled.
The Orbitur site at Figuera looked good so we booked in for the night and went for a walk towards the town. We were surprised to see how run down it looked, in all honesty we didn't make it right in to the town but we weren't impressed. We checked the weather for the next few days, if we continued north we were inevitably going to hit some unsettled weather, we then decided to have a closer look at the ACSI book and what it had to say about the site at Sao Pedro de Moel. The information was favourable and it did in fact have a pool and WIFI.
On Tuesday 18 th we turned around heading south for Sao Pedro. When we arrived we had a good look, it is probably the nicest Orbitur site we've visited and seemed sheltered from the wind. We booked in for two days but will probably stay longer. We'll visit the town later today and possibly post some pics.

Pics from Praia da Luz and Vila Nova Milfontes

Praia Da Luz Beach

The beach looking towards Luz

The beach 800 metres from the ACSI site at Villa Nova De Milfontes

Villa Nova de Milfontes and the Lagoon .

13th – 15th June 2013

13^th  – 15^th June 2013

After stocking up at Intermarche Lagos (Bushmills 13e a bottle) we enjoyed a leisurely drive of about 55 miles to the Orbitur site at Vila Nova de Milfontes. Initially we weren’t impressed with the site, it was large and full of permanent Portuguese vans. It was a long drive from reception to the area that seemed set aside for tourers. This area was at the far end where there is a camp exit manned by security. Exit from here can only be made with your camp pass. From here its about 800 metres to a fantastic beach.

We were told that Vila Nova de Milfontes was 6 miles away so we jumped on our bikes to investigate. A lovely town in a majestic location. Its position is alongside a river that forms an enormous lagoon as it enters the sea. There were beaches on either side with the northern beach sheltered from the westerly winds. We sat on the beach for a few hours wondering if we would have been better of staying on a campsite in the town or even ‘wilding’ on the opposite side of the river where we could see a dozen motorhomes parked up.

On returning to the site we had a better look and decided that it wasn’t a bad site after all, sanitation facilities were good and it had a large pool with grass areas and sunbeds. So its 3 nights here and then off north.

9th June – 13th June 2013

9^th June – 13^th June 2013

We’ve now had a week in Praia de Luz and its time to move on. In effect we will now be heading slowly home as we turn around and head north up the west coast of Portugal. Despite the overcast conditions in the first few days here the weather has now become really hot during the day and the last few days have been spent on the beach at Luz Yesterday we came off the beach and had a drink at a bar. We got speaking to a Belgium couple in their 80’s. They have a house here and spend two  3 month periods a year here in their own house which they are now selling. They drive here from Brussels and do the journey in 3 days. They made quite a fuss over Pickles in his buggy and we  spoke at length about dogs etc. We ended up having a meal and for once we were given a good portion of chips. The Belgium woman commented that there were ‘enough chips for a regiment’. So now its off to Intermarche to stock up and then a short drive to the resort of Vila Nova de Milfondes.

Pictures of Lagos

A pleasant square with those trees again, also not the horrible red advert on the right.

Why ruin it with a large coke advert?

An abundance of street entertainers, an illusionist to the left a jazz band in the centre. We also spotted some fading hippies strumming out 3 chord songs supported by a flagon of cheap booze.

The harbour front, if we'd gone to the end we probably would have seen the old city walls and the  slave market both of which we spotted from the bus.

Pictures of Silves

The riverside at Silves next to the car park. Overnight parking is ok here but about 100yde away is a free camperstop.

Silves 

The fortress at the top of the hill, Silves.

The trees to the right look like lavender but they must be something else?

6th – 8th June 2013

6^th – 8^th June 2013

Did I say something about ‘excellent weather?’  Once we left Quarteira after 7 lovely days we started to notice the cloud coming over and the temperatures dropping slightly. We decided to take a ‘lightning tour’ of Silves inland. We parked up in the large car park on the edge of the town alongside two Belgium motorhomes. The owners assured us that it was safe to overnight here if we wanted. Soon after parking up we were ‘inspected’ by a guy who turned out to be a retired salesman called Roger from Brownhills the motorhome dealers. We chatted for over an hour and he offered us some useful tips about motorhomes. He merely consolidated what we already know…when buying a motorhome buy German or a French Rapido. He also suggested going straight to Hymer in Germany for a new van. We chatted about good places to visit in Portugal and what wine to buy ( a red Alentujo reserve)….a nice friendly guy.

We took a walk around Silves, a pleasant enough town with a cathedral and fortress on the hill. Later we decided to head for the Orbitur site just outside Praia da Luz. We thought we’d chosen our spot well finding a well shaded spot close to the toilets. Then the sun went in and it became quite cold.

The next day alternated between strong hot sunshine and cold with light winds and we took a short bike ride to Luz. As the sun went in for good we realized that we should have gone for a sunnier spot out of the shade. We knew that the following day (Saturday) would be dull but were again surprised to find it quite cold. We headed for the bus stop outside the site for the 11:15 bus to Lagos. All of those waiting were dressed in fleeces and walking trousers, one guy even had a thick woolly hat on. The bus didn’t come until 11:35 and was full. Another bus was sent for which arrived 20 minutes later. It wasn’t far to Lagos but the narrow roads looked a bit risky for the bikes.

We walked around Lagos and did some shopping at one of the two Intermarche’s. Overall I was disappointed in Lagos, it has at some period in its history been a beautiful town. I just found parts of it to be a typical tourist trap with numerous bars, restaurants and market stalls selling cheap jewellery. I appreciate the need to get income from tourists but what I found so annoying was the street furnishings of signs and advertisements, each restaurant had at least  4 identical menu signs outside their premises. Each of these would be 1 x 1 metre in size. Somehow the true beauty of the town was hidden behind modern advertisements and tacky sales pitches. It was only when we were returning on the bus and we drove past the far end of the harbour that I could see some of the towns original beauty. 

2^nd – 5^th June 2013

Well the excellent weather continues and we have now had 6 nights on this site. We plan to have one more night and then move further west probably to Lagos or Alvor. Weather wise this has probably been the most consistent period of the holidays so we are just keeping our fingers crossed. We aren’t in any hurry to get home but in about a weeks time we’ll probably turn around and start heading north and towards Northern Spain and France.

Pickles celebrated his 15^th birthday and he did it in style, obviously he couldn’t have a cake because of his diabetes but we did manage to find him a vet who provided us with 3 more vials of insulin and 10 syringes and needles…a great birthday present. He’s not doing so bad as he has two meals of freshly cooked chicken every day.

We’ve had some nice meals whilst here, one night we had a really nice sea food platter and another night we sampled the delights of the local Indian restaurant.

The beach at Quarteira

Desparate for a swim but he couldn't cope with the waves.

"Where's me cake"

The waterfront Quarteira.

Thursday 30th May – Sun 2nd June 2013

Thursday 30^th May – Sun 2^nd June 2013

We arrived in Quarteira, Portugal on Thursday afternoon and headed straight for the Orbitur campsite on the edge of town. Booking in was a lengthy affair as Orbitur campsites have their own discount card allowing you 10 nights stay on any of their sites for 10 euros a night. We signed up to this and were pleasantly surprised at the quality of the site. Sanitation facilities are a bit old fashioned and in need of updating but still very clean and in good working order. Other facilities are excellent with a very good pool, bar etc. There is no WIFI but a powerful connection at the bar. The beach is about 600 metres away as is the nearby LIDL.

We were also surprised how nice the town is as we expected it to be quite tacky. We came here 25 years ago when Tim had his first birthday and at that time the place was basically a building site. The site is also very quiet and peaceful. Since arriving the weather has been glorious with clear blue skies and temps around the 26c mark. We’ll probably stay here for a full week and then head further west towards Lagos. Will try to add some pics soon.