North Portugal

 The next day we wanted a low key day given the cycle the day before so we headed to a town in the West of Portugal called Aveiro which is described at the Venice of Portugal. We found some parking and walked into the town for breakfast (can you guess what Rich had!) and then walked around the town, which true to its descriptions had a range of canals with boats giving people tours. Some of the differences were the boats, which used to be seaweed collecting boats were all electric and the canals looked a little cleaner than Venice. After a good walk around the town we headed out to the salt plains as apparently you can do a mud bath treatment there. However once we got there it looked completely abandoned and no longer in use so onwards we continued around the town and then to the local supermarket before heading onto the beach side of the town. This part of the town has really pretty beach hut like houses, think candy colour stripes on the two and three story houses. After a walk on the beach and a stroll looking at all the nice houses we parked the van at the beach and spent the night there

The next morning we went for a run around this side of town and down past the large lakes, enjoying the bird spotting as we went before heading onto Porto, well the camper stop just outside the town. The camperstop we chose is a biological park with animals, including deer who were very close and just the other side of the fence. There was a really strange noise and it took us a few minutes to work out it was the bucks call and that they were really chatty. Next we had to make the decision, get on the bikes and cycle the 10km into the city or get an Uber (10euros). It was a hard decision to make as there were a lot of factors, one was we really didn’t fancy getting back on the bikes yet but also it was 11am already and we wanted to get going but we didn’t know if Porto would be like Lisbon where we used the bikes to get from one area to another and meaning we could explore it all in one afternoon/evening. We decided to get on the bikes and head in but within 5 min (all uphill climb) we realised this was the wrong choice but we were committed. Not long and we got to the view point opposite the town and went to take some nice pictures (only to realise that Rich had taken the battery out of the camera to charge and not put it back!). We took some pictures on the phone and carried on over the bridge into the city. We ended up at a church where it seemed that there was either a wedding or christening happening and the attendees would not have looked out of place on  the channel four show my big fat gypsy wedding. We then continued on up hill towards the famous bookshop here, Livraria Lello which is considered the most beautiful bookshop in the world and is reputed to be a source of inspiration for J.K Rowling’s Harry Potter books as she taught in Porto for a couple of years. There was a large queue to get in and as we had the bikes we decided to carry on with them then come back. We found a bike rack (as rare in Porto as in Lisbon) and quickly booked timed tickets for the bookshop and went back and managed to avoid most of the queue. We then had a little bit of time before we the next place we were due to visit so we went and grabbed some vegan pancakes from a popular pancake place called O Diplomate before heading to a tower called Clerigos Torre.

 As we got there a little early we walked around the church which was at the base and then went to the tower which had museums to visit as you ascended the tower. The first showed lots of different versions of Jesus on the cross with the next one which included a display where children were asked what colour they thought cancer was. It was very interesting and then we continued up the tower, via the shrinking spiral staircase which by the top was a little claustrophobic, especially when there were people both coming up and going down and trying to squeeze past each other. The views from the top were good, although in comparison to other towers we have seen in other cities this was really small (only 75 meters which is smaller than Big Ben – 96 meters). We then went to visit the train station Sao Bento, which is supposed to be very pretty and it had the azulejos frescos which were very nice but then, after being offered something we believe to be drugs at the exit, we hastily made our way away from the train station and around the city in the hunt for the many murals around the town created by Portugal’s version of Banksy We managed to find quite a few on the walk around the town and ended up down by the river front before walking up the hill, with the help of some outdoor escalators (Porto like Lisbon is a hilly town!) and then popping in to the Portuguese centre of photography (which was underwhelming) before deciding it was beer o’clock so we headed for a cozy pub for some beer and cocktails before finding a vegan buffet restaurant for dinner. Now we had the cycle back and luckily it wasn’t raining so we headed back over the bridge and up the hills to the camper stop where the deer continued to chat to us and we settled in for the evening.

The next day we got up and headed for a walk around the park, as this was included in the cost of the stay for the evening. Was the park a zoo or nature reserve I’m not sure but it does state that the animals were all rescued and if they can be released they would be. After the walk around the park we headed north towards Braga and stopped at the Bom Jesus Do Monte which is a Portuguese sanctuary/pilgrim site at the top of a hill which is climbed via an ornate staircase or elevator/funicular (if you are feeling lazy – which we were not). We climbed the 577 stairs to the top and had a walk around the gardens and took in the views of Braga. It then appears there is a weather front coming in so we quickly (as quickly as you can down 577 stairs) retreated to Jeff and drove on to our stop for the night to wait out the rain.

The next day we headed into Braga and we walked around the old town looking at the old buildings including the cathedral, the theatre and the Arco da Porta Nova before Rich got too cold (he was wearing shorts and flip flops and it appears that autumn is drawing in on us so it was probably their last outing for this trip) and we headed back to Jeff to drive north to the boarder with Spain in Valenca.  It was on the walk back to Jeff that we noticed that this was the town of small people and even I was tall against people here (all 5foot 3inc of me) and once we noticed this, you couldn’t un-notice it. Everywhere we looked there were short people and not just older short people, even the younger crowd looked short for their age, so if you ever want to feel tall (and are over 4foot), then come to Braga!

In Valenca we parked up under the city walls and walked over the bridge into Spain and back again (without our passports – whoops) and watched a kids boat race where Rich totally bet on the wrong kid (she ended up in the river!) to win. Sadly once back at the van we decided we had to book the ferry back to the UK as we have decided to come straight from Spain rather than drive to France and given that it’s a 31 hour crossing we didn’t want to miss out on a cabin as the alternative option is a reclining chair and we have decided we are both too old for that!

Aveiro Canal with the boats 

An Aveiro boat but as its electric they dont need to paddle it like they do in the real Venice

one of the lovely little coloured houses just outside Aveiro 

The bridge into Porto

Porto from the view point

The loveliest bookshop in the world - Livraria Lello

The staircase in the bookshop

one of the books which are all beautiful

The little Clerigos Torre

The view from Clerigos Torre

The azulejos in Sao Benton train station

these are some of the murals we found walking around the town, there were so many

The noisy deer at the biological park

There was also some chatty goats

the 577 steps at Bom Jesus

On the stairs up were these shrines with different scenes in them

The view from the Bom Jesus

A cave at Bom Jesus

A mural in Braga

Braga cathedral

A happy dude in the cathedral

Braga theatre 

Portugal Week 2

 

So on Thursday we thought we would head towards Setubal which is a town south of Lisbon which had a few things of interest but the weather had different plans for us. It decided to rain all day which meant we ditched our idea of going to see anything. We got some shopping in and went to decathlon to try and get a replacement fin for the paddleboard. We also managed to find a shopping mall where we took advantage of the free wifi as we have been running low on data recently. We had decided to stay in a homestay for a camper stop tonight anyway so after getting everything in and uploading our last blog post and photos we headed there for the evening while it continued to rain.

 

The next day we decided that as it had stopped raining we would head to the Setubal fort so we parked in the town and walked up the hill to the fort where we got great views over the town. We then headed back to the van via a café where rich could have another Acai bowl (that boy is obsessed with them) and we drove a little down the coast to the start of the coast road which had a nice cycle on it. What we didn’t realise is that while the views were amazing the hills were hard. We took our time and stopped at a couple of beaches including Praia de Galapinos which was beautiful and the sea looked really inviting so we did have a little paddle. Just when we thought we got up the hill it took you down before making you ride back up it. We covered about 10km and got to the top of the hill and decided to head back which was a fun ride on the down hill sections (less fun on the uphill sections) and once back at the van we decided to head on to the clifftop we were planning to spend the night. It was a stunning clifftop where a few other vans had parked there. We ate dinner outside the van and watched the sun set before retiring into the van as its becoming noticeably colder here, especially at night. Rich has enrolled on a freediving course (and yes for those of you asking he will get ANOTHER certificate for it) that starts tomorrow so he has an online call to do tonight and that took up most of the evening for us.

Saturday was day one of Rich’s class in Sesimbra which involved some breathing practice before getting on the boat and learning to dive to 10m and back on one breath. I went with them and watched while also going snorkelling around the marine park they were in. I saw some interesting fish (but also broke our underwater camera) and a cave – which at the end of Rich’s class they were allowed to dive down to and through as it was 5m deep. Rich wasn’t the only one on his course he had a diving buddy called Philipe from Russia who had moved to Lisbon and had more certificates that Rich! Once the class was over we had a walk around the town before heading back to our clifftop place. We arrived at the cliff and the guys who had been there the night before were still there and told us the local forestry rangers had been by to tell them they couldn’t stay and that the police could fine them. We then had to decide what to do, did we risk it and stay or move on. The rest of the vans were planning on moving on to nearer Lisbon (as they were young, cool and liked to go out on the weekend – unlike us oldies). After trying a couple of different places, including the local beach car parks were either stated that no camping was allowed or were full of people we headed back and thought we would risk it as we would be up early in the morning.

The next morning, having not been disturbed or received a fine we headed back into town for day two of the course. The aim of the day was for Rich to get down to 20m and back on one breath and learn about the rescue techniques. Rich passed with flying colours (as did Philipe). While Rich was at his course I stayed in the van and sorted bits and pieces out and planned the next day. I walked into town before Rich finished his course and got him a breakfast croissant to refresh him after the class before we headed back to the van and started the drive north to Lisbon. We drove over the toll bridge into the city (and went in the wrong lane, something we need to sort out at some point) and saw the statue of Christ, which was inspired by Rio’s Christ the Redeemer, and drove to the edge of Belem where we planned to stay the night.

 

The next morning we had a busy day planned to explore Lisbon on the bikes as there is a nice bike path from here all the way into the city. I did warn Rich that being a Monday lots of the major attractions were closed (we do have this luck) but we really wanted to explore the city and could decide to spend an extra day if we wanted to go inside any of the attractions. First stop on our tour was the Monumento aos Combatentes do Ultramar which was a military monument to all the fallen solidures over the years then next up was the Torre de Belem which was a UNESCO world Heritage site and is a Torre which juts out to the sea. It was beautiful to see but it was very misty so the views from inside would not have been any good. Next we cycled to Padrao dos Descobrimentos which is a concrete monument to maritime explorers and then we walked to the Monasterio los Jeronimos which is another UNESCO site. After this then we headed up the bike path with a brief stop at the Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology (MAAT) and went up to the roof to get the good views, including the view of the Christ statue, and then continued on to the city centre. There were many things we quickly discovered about the city, it was full of, what google would call, steep hills which made riding the bike hard going for Rich and no bike racks meaning when ever we stopped we had to find some random fence or pole to attach the bikes to (which also meant we kept deciding to take them with us rather than walk to the different sites). First up we cycled through the main square which welcomes tourists and ferry goers called Praca do Comercio which has a range of tourist traps including a beer museum but we quickly moved on up a very steep hill to a vegan café where Rich had, can you guess, an Acai bowl and I had a fake bacon and cheese sandwhich and then we headed down the hill slightly to a couple of the view points over the city including Miradouro da Garca and stopped ag the church and monastery of Vincente de For a which were damaged by the 1755 earthquake. Unfortunately due to it still being a Monday we couldn’t go in. We then ventured down the old cobbled streets to the Alfama district which while great to look at was full of tourists and hawkers so after again looking at an another miradouro de Santa Luzia we decided to head a bit further out of town to the Time Out Market which is great if you are hungry but having had a large breakfast we weren’t and there wasn’t any vegan Pasteis de nata so we headed up another couple of steep hills to a shop where we knew sold them. We then cycled down the hill to the Basilica da Estrela (which we did actually go inside) and to the Guerra Junquerio garden before it started to rain. So far the day had mostly been stopping by great architectural buildings and admiring great views which had been fun and also had given us a real insight into the different areas of the city with some we really liked like Belem and areas that are beautify but too touristy for us, like Alfama. The city is very reminiscent of San Francisco which is even more apparent with all the hills and the trams which bus tourists around.  As it was raining we thought there was only one thing for it we needed to find a bar and so we headed to the LX factory which is a whole range of independent shops and bars and found a place with a happy few hours which meant 1.50 half pint so we had a couple and by the time we had drunk those and looked around at the shops the rain had died down so we headed back into the city to find some dinner at a vegan restaurant specialising in Portuguese meals. We had a vegan steak and happy octopus (both very good) before the heavens opened and we knew we would have to ride the 30mins back to the van in the rain. That was not fun and Rich and his bike slipped in the rain on the marble and various tram lines several times on the cycle back but we eventually got back in one very wet piece and decided to stay where we were for the evening.

 

The next morning we got up fairly early and headed north west to Sintra where there is a national palace of Pena which is a castle high on the rocks and it has both Moreish and Spanish influences whilst also being brightly coloured. We got there and walked up the steep hill to the castle but the rain from yesterday was not giving up so while we did tour the inside of the palace we didn’t get any views of the surrounding area or decent views of the outside of the palace itself. The palace was the last place the royal family was when the republic took over in 1910. The interior of the place was interesting and we did note that the beds looked even too short for me! Some rooms were painted vivid colours while other were painted to look like marble or wood but actually looked like cheap wallpaper. After exploring the inside we headed outside to do the wall walk and marvel at what the views could have been like. We then headed down the hill to the rest of the park where there was stables and green houses to see but on our way there the heavens opened again and we regretted our choice not to go straight back to Jeff as we became soaked. Eventually we got back to the van and got changed out of our wet clothes before heading north to Alcobaca which has a famous monastery and a very busy camperstop. After driving round and thinking we would have to go somewhere else a very nice German lady pointed out a place further on the grass then they were so we parked up and tried to do some laundry (we failed) and settled in for the night while it rained.

The next morning we got up and headed out to get our first LPG (the gas which does our heating, – not yet used – hot water and cooking and after a few false starts we managed to get it sorted. Its still nice to have some firsts in the van. Then we headed to the supermarket and managed to get some laundry done and get some shopping in before heading to the Parque Natural das Serras de Aire de Candeeiros which has caves and Fornea which is similar to a natural amphitheatre within the rocks. We hiked the short way to the Fornea, past a waterfall,  and up to a little cave which was a lot smaller than we thought it would be before heading to the next stop in Mortagua where we plan to spend tonight before a nice big bike ride tomorrow.

Next morning was foggy but it soon cleared up into a lovely clear sunny day. With 100km on the agenda (Route Ecopista Do Dao which runs between Santa Comba Dao and Viseu) we got ourselves ready for the next 4/5 hours ahead. We found some great parking at the train station which was at the start of the route but it soon became apparent that due to the building works there, we wouldn’t be able to get to the path itself which gave us a convenient 2km diversion to get to the start. The actual cycle route was only 96km there and back so we needed the diversion to hit out 100km. The first 20km or so was a lot more scenic with the river and green fields. The rest was pretty in parts however its always nice to have uninterrupted good bike paths. Within the first few km we came to a screeching stop as a herd of goats decided to leap over the fence of the adjoining field onto the path. After a brief standoff we got to one side and the goats made their way up the path. Disappointingly at the 50km half way point in Viseu there was no greeting party cheering us on, nor even a bench to sit on but we did find ourselves a nearby wall and devoured our overnight oats! We wasted no time getting back not wanting to stiffen up. The new saddle gel seat covers we brought the week before from Decathlon were coming into their own as we started to ache from head to toe (and ass). The way back was a lot easier due to the overall decline but at times it still felt a grind. The last 2k was killer back up the big hill to get back to the van but we did it – 100k. Maybe 120k next?  (NOT A CHANCE RICH!) We had scoped out a nearby camperstop which had the promise of free hot showers. Turned out they were free luke warm showers which after a few minutes turned into cold showers – ah well could be worse!

 

the riverside on the 100km bike ride

Rich feeling the pain on the way back but enjoying the tunnel

The cave we found in Parque Natural das Serras de Aire de Candeeiros, it was a little dissapointing

however this was a lovely waterfall in the Parque Natural das Serras de Aire de Candeeiros 

the misty exterior of the national palace of Pena

The stag room in the palace

some of the quirky interior in the palace

This was vivid green and in the telephone room.... it was an interesting palace

I'm a lady - a photo of the queen in the palce

The courtyard in the palce

LX factory artwork

We are a little addicted to these but still the best ones we had were the first ones

One of the many trams we tried to avoid getting hit by while cycling around lisbon

The slightly grey view across lisbon

gotta love a food market

less grey views over lisbon

even more views of lisbon

one of the many cruise ships which dock in Lisbon regularly

View from the MAAT

Torre de Belem 

a parasailer jumping off the cliffs near our camperstop 

the sun set by the cliffs, it was a lovely camperstop

Sesimbra artwork - we see lots of this painting around and some of them are really good

More of our clifftop camperstop

Jeff enjoying the sunset

photos to show how high we climbed on our bike ride from Setubal 

Praia de Galapinos  - it was stunning

Me playing with the camera in the Setubal Forte

Me playing with the camera in the Setubal Fort

more views from the Forte - the peice of land you can see there is what we cycled previously - to Praia Troia 

Inside Setubal Forte

 

Portugal week 1

 

So we got up nice and early and got ready for the beach the next day and headed down to the port for the first boat of the day (with only one return to the van for sunglasses, we really would forget our heads if they weren’t screwed on). The boat didn’t take long but did have to stop at the other dock which was the other end of the town (where we could have also got on the boat if we had known). Once docked at the island we walked to the beach Praia de Ilha de Tavira which is the start of 11km of beach on the island. We walked to the far end of this first beach then sat down for a bit to watch the waves and read. It was a bit choppy to snorkel but we did manage to get in for a swim and Rich did a bit of yoga, after watching the pretty lifeguard do it. Once Rich got fidgety we walked about 2km down the beach to the next beach where we found a poor turtle who had sadly died and after sitting down for 5 minutes we realised you could smell it decomposing so continued on to the next beach, Praia do Barril, which was another couple of kms down. This one had no dead animals and was the busiest of them all. It had little restaurants and a section called the graveyard of anchors which is just an area of anchors displayed which was cool. We chilled here for awhile and had another swim before having to head back along the beach to catch the 5.30 ferry back. The walk back seemed to take a lot longer than the 40 minutes it had taken to get there but we finally got back and had time to have a shower at the beach before getting to the terminal with 5 minutes to spare….to find out the ferry was 5.15 and the next one (and final one for the day) was 6.30). So we found somewhere comfortable to sit and relaxed until the final ferry came- in our defence several other people appear to have thought it was also 5.30 and we were not the only ones waiting.  Once back we had hoped to buy a couple more Portuguese custard tarts but the shop was shut so we headed back to the van for the evening.

The next morning we did our morning run and then decided to drive to Faro and we parked up about 20 minutes outside the town and walked in via the municipal market where we bought lots of local fruit and veg to keep us going the next few days. We walked around and explored Faro but quickly found we ran out of things to do. We visited the old town via the Arco da Vila and looked at the cathedral (but didn’t go in), we visited the Trem municipal gallery but it was literally one room with 12 pieces in it, mostly untitled so we quickly left and finally we tried to go into the Capela dos Ossos de Faro which is a room behind a chapel made up using the bones and skulls of a 1000 monks but they were closed due to mass taking place. There are a couple of these in Portugal so hopefully we can visit one in another city as they are interesting to see. After deciding we had walked most of Faro we headed back to the van and on to Gale which is a place we have previously been to on holiday. We found the beach we had been to before and set up there to watch the sun go down.

 The next day was of course the dreaded Sunday but we had planned an activity which doesn’t need any thing open but the first thing we have found is most things in Portugal are open on a Sunday! Anyway we headed from Gale to Benagil beach where we were due to paddle board to the cave. This is a tour offered by loads of outfitters but as we have our paddleboard we thought it would be easy. They also offer boat trips, kayak trips and even bodyboarding trips. So first issue for us was that the road to the beach does not allow campers so we had to park 20 mins away and walk down with the heavy paddleboard, once at the car park everyone else uses we saw several campers and made the decision that on the way back I would stay with the paddleboard while Rich brings the van down. Anyway so we got the board down to the beach and were a bit concerned with just how choppy it was. The waves appeared to be quite big but we were there so we were going to do it and we saw kayakers heading off. We pumped up (royal we – all Rich) the paddleboard attached our stuff (which included our phones and keys in waterproof bags) to the board and started the walk to the sea. We watched the waves and when a calm lull came off we tried to go…. But majorly failed. We got the board in and behind Rich I saw a huge wave which totally wiped us out, sending the board upside down and us both under water. We quickly got up and tried again and this time managed to get on the board before being thrown off again. We got on once again and paddled like our life depended on it out to sea. We quickly saw how close the cave was to the beach (Rich kept saying that he could have swam there) and decided to go down the coast for bit before heading into the cave due to the sheer number of larger motorboats going in and out. It was an interesting paddle down the coast as the number of boats coming past was more than we have ever seen. It did take away from the beauty of the inlets, caves and location but it is a tourist attraction and we were there for the same reason. After traveling down the coast a little we headed into the cave and again had to tackle the waves. Just as we started heading in a family in two kayaks had decided to leave so not only did we have to try and avoid them, we had to avoid the rocks in the sea and countact the strong waves while trying to get the boat to the beach inside the cave and dismount without wiping out again. We managed it fairly well and were quickly off the boat and up the beach. Once in the cave we realised that the first wipe out had taken our third fin and that we now had no directional fin which would make it harder to steer the board (and had probably not helped when we were travelling down the coast trying to avoid the boats). We stayed in the cave for awhile and enjoyed the sun beaming through the sinkhole gap in the roof of the cave to warm us back up. After awhile we knew we had to brave the waters again and head back to the beach so we got the paddleboard, watied for a lull and paddled again like the clappers to get back out to sea which we managed to do and we paddled towards the beach. This was going to be the hard bit, getting back onto the beach without wiping out, but we decided to head in where all the tours entered and exited the sea as while it looked rough it was most predicable and with lots of paddling and a jump off the board when near the beach we managed to get ourselves and the board out with no other issues. We chilled on the beach for awhile to dry off and enjoyed watching other cocky people try and head out on their own boards in the same place and get wiped out. We could laugh at them as we know lots of people would have laughed at us. There was one particular couple who tried to go out and the guy managed it fairly easily but the woman got totally wiped out and ended up back on shore and it wasn’t for a good few minutes that the guy thought to check on his lady friend who was furious! He then tried to signal her to come in and you could see the tension building as he couldn’t understand why she wasn’t coming.  It was a fight brewing that all of us have had in our time. He eventually came back to shore, they talked for awhile and eventually he went back off on his own to show her how easy it was. Eventually as we were leaving she was heading towards the water but stopped at the edge and didn’t look that confident about going in so we didn’t think she would and by the time we got to the top of the beach she still hadn’t ventured in so who knows.

After all this fun we headed to the car park and Rich fetched the van so we could put everything away before we started the afternoons trip (I know that was an awful lot of excitement just for the morning!) which was a shortish hike to one of the worlds best beaches Praia de Marinha via the Seven hanging valleys trail. The trail is also supposed to be one of the best hikes in the world and our plan was to do the majority of the hike (a total of 6km each way) tomorrow but we wanted to spend time on this beach so we thought we would do the Benagil to Marinha section today. The hike was good and gave us the opportunity to see the top of the Benagil sink hole as well as a couple of other sink holes. Once at the beach we chilled for a bit and Rich did a bit more yoga and had a swim before we hiked back to van and moved to our camperstop for the evening. We were all settled down for the evening and all was quiet when something (and we have no idea what it was) came running past the van with a snuffling sound and heavy hooves. Was it a large dog or a wild boar we weren’t sure but Rich was sure that he wasn’t getting out to pee that night!

Next day was overcast with drizzle with a threat of downpours later in the day so we hot footed our way back to the beach car park, strapped our hiking boots on and marched on our walking tour of the coastline. Having done a part of it the day before we had approx. 6km to walk there and 6km back. The hike which was at times a choose your own path adventure took you close to the edge where I’m sure some cliff divers have ventured off in the past. We came across many a sink hole and lots of little caves. Not to forget we also walked by the 2^nd largest Cactus (As pinned by Google Maps). Not sure where the largest one resides and not sure why this one was highlighted out as it wasn’t awe inspiringly large by any means. A lot of the beaches we passed were seaweed invested and given the dreary weather we decided to give them a miss. With only1km to go and after a twisted ankle (Catherine) I (Richard) took the executive decision to not complete the return journey but instead order an uber back which is very unusual for us but in fairness it cost less than 5 Euros. Back at the van we took full advantage of the bad weather day and found a highly rated, cheap camper stop to service Jeff and to both have hot showers in a real shower! We were lucky to get the last pitch with Electricity as many campers came after us being told they would have to wait until tomorrow before they could get a pitch with Electricity. We scoped out a run for the next morning by walking down to the beach and quickly decided it wasn’t ideal terrain for running so blew that off.

Next morning we got away early and escaped the Algarve making our way up to Sines with a pitstop on a reservoir (Santa Clara) which boasted a swimming pool on the reservoir. As the paddleboard was half sand, half seaweed from our cave adventures we took it as a great opportunity to get it cleaned in some fresh water. The water was completely empty and we had a great time messing about on the paddleboard and swimming. I (Richard) attempted some tree poses but got wet. I did however master the surfers pop up technique which I will be trying again in the wavy seas of west Portugal! We got to Sines and scoped out the nearest Telepizza as Catherine has been craving pizza for days! I was not adverse to the idea. Sines is a swing and a miss of a city to visit, not much to see, not much to do but sitting here full of pizza in a supermarket carpark, I’m glad we came.

Next morning we decided to explore the beaches situated on the west side of Portugal which are meant to be great for surfers. We ended up at Praia da Aberta Nova. The weather is noticeably cooler now but in the sun its still lovely. The sound of the waves alone was enough to terrify us and when we got down to the beach we were faced with 6ft constant waves smashing the shoreline. Was great fun to watch but we dare not venture in. We chilled out for an hour, did some breathing exercise (Rich) and some Yoga before heading back to the van for a homemade Acai bowl! We continued to head north and parked up at a camperstop in Comporta and grabbed the bikes for a cycle to Praia Troia Mar. It looked really close on the map but was actually 16km away. It’s a massive holiday resort with a port, casino and expensive looking hotels. The beach was stunning despite one area with a strong sulphur smell and the massive concrete plant across the water. By the port we came across a cat colony who had no interest in our need to fuss them! 16km back and we decided we needed padding for our saddles especially if we want to complete our 100km cycle later on. We arrived back to a stray cat who was more than happy to receive belly rubs! We plan to spend the night here and then venture further north tomorrow.

 

The long walk on Ilha de Tavira

the lovely quiet beaches of Ilha de Tavira

 Cemetery of Anchors 

The closed church in Faro where the room of monks bones is

you have to love a city sign

Benagil Cave from the inside - we were just soo glad to be out of the ocean but scared about having to go back out there

two exits to pick from, most people went through the left one so we followed suit!

 Praia de Marinha which is supposed to be one of the best beaches around, it was very nice

Some of the views from our walk along the trail

More views

The swimming pool in the reservoir 

Rich playing on the paddleboard on the reservoir 

Rich trying to walk on water

Some of the art work in Sines 

Think this was the only good thing about the town

the castle and church in Sines with their famous resident Vasco da Gama

you really need someone next to these to understand the size of these waves but we were too chicken to get anywhere near them