Wednesday started as a quiet, do nothing kind of day. By the time we’d had our lunch though we were getting restless, so we decided to go for a cycle ride around Rye Harbour.
This was, sort of, a success… We lost each other when Calv went off ahead and I couldn’t see what way he’d gone! Never mind we found each other eventually and I still did 8 miles (and took the photo above – we spent the ride trying to stay ahead of the black raincloud!)
Before getting back in the car we popped into the bar of the Rye Harbour Holiday Park for a cuppa (coffee for Calv and hot chocolate for me), where we chatted with the bar manager who gave us some local snippets about Winchelsea Beach and Winchelsea itself. Winchelsea is often referred to as the smallest town in England, as it has a school, shop, church, town hall and mayor (although it seems this is purely a ceremonial post).
Finally the day arrived that we were to move on into Portugal.
We’d looked into the toll system and it appeared that all tolls were now electronic. Having investigated signing up online we decided to wait until we crossed the border, as we’d read that tourists simply pulled over to the side and put their credit card into a reader while their number plate is read and the two details are linked.
This is exactly what happened. However, we’ve since discovered that not all the tolls are electronic (on the A2 on the way to Cascais yesterday) and that the tolls are pretty expensive…
Anyway, back to Sunday.
We decided to go the scenic route when we left El Rocio, meaning that we headed down towards Matascalana on the coast. This was a very pretty little town/resort with a lovely beach. It was very busy, as is usual in Spain on a Sunday, but even more so as there was a running race going on that was starting/finishing on the beach.
Matasclana
We carried on along the coast towards Huelva. This road has a cycle path pretty much all the way along it so is good if you decide to camp down there. We did see a campsite and went to have a quick look round. It was massive! And it was very much a live-in site. It took us more than 5 minutes to get less than 1/3 of the way through the site towards the sea – definitely not for us!!
I mentioned Huelva, which you can’t really avoid if you’re driving this way into Portugal. It’s full of oil refineries and gas – think of Fawley, only bigger.
We needed to fill up with diesel and were really glad that we did so before crossing the border (even though it was a Repsol, which tend to be the most expensive fuel stops). Fuel is way more expensive in Portugal, so we’re glad that we’ll only have to fill up once whilst here.
We also made the decision to come off the motorway as soon as possible and take the coast road. Not such a good idea (apart from the fact of not paying the tolls – I’ve yet to look at my credit card statement to see how much we were charged for the short time we were actually on the motorway… I’m not looking forward to it!!)
The road wasn’t brilliant but we continued heading towards Tavira where we intended to stop for lunch. There was a big parking area for motorhomes and we tried to have a wander round but were beaten back by the wind!
Calv decided to then take the road even closer to the coast, so we found ourselves driving through Santa Luzia, which looked lovely and did have a motorhome parking area, and spotting the tourist train (that runs all along the coast from Lagos back to Villa Real de St. Antonio near the border) before deciding that enough was enough and heading back up to the A22 (the toll road), where we struggled to make sense of the ‘cost information’ signs or to work out how much we would be paying!
We eventually arrived in our destination of Alvor, a lovely little town just past Portimao (shown in the main photo to this post). Whilst the town and the beach are lovely, particularly the beach, the campsite left a lot to be desired. We were originally going to stay for 3 nights but decided to make that 2 and do an overnighter elsewhere on our way to Lisbon (which turned out to be another good call as it still took us 5 hours to get to Lisbon on the following day).
In Alvor we chatted to our neighbours who, it turned out, hailed from the Isle of Wight! Calv and Trevor spent the 2nd evening in the bar – in fact I was getting a little worried when he wasn’t back by midnight!
On our full day there we cycled down to Alvor and along the boardwalk (there is a very good boardwalk here that goes from 1 end of the beach to the other, pretty much, and takes in a nature reserve). There’s an ‘inland sea’ leading to the harbour, along which there are several bars and restaurants. There is a maze of narrow streets filled with shops, bars, cafes and restaurants – we very nearly got lost (highly unusual for us…)
Alvor South Beach
Waves crashing on Alvor South beach
Fishing boat on the ‘inland’ sea
The beach is beautiful. There are dunes protecting you from the worst of the wind, and it is very windy, and you can sit for hours just watching, and listening to, the waves crashing on the beach. Idyllic. It helped me to understand why people come to Portugal year after year.
We ate in one of the harbourside restaurants. Calv had a club sandwich, which was perfect. I chose garlic mushrooms – unfortunately we think they must have been cooked in old oil as there was a very strange taste to them – neither of us could finish them!
When we got back to the site we nipped to the nearby supermarket, called Pingo Doce – great name, for a few essentials. Later still we went back out on our bikes to investigate a mysterious footpath that we could see ran by the site. We cycled out into the country a bit but couldn’t find the source and then headed back up past the supermarket and turned left a couple of times where we found it. We also found this little gem that we thought could be our 1st ‘doer-upper’?!!
We had managed to find a nice spot at the campsite but we were quite happy to be moving on after 2 nights and had identified a site near Vila Nova de Milfontes for our overnighter.
For the 1st time on this trip though we changed our mind mid-journey. I spotted another site that I thought might suit us better and was a little nearer in Zambujeira do Mar. As Calv says, often, ‘everything happens for a reason’, and what a gem of a site this was! I was even prepared to forgive the fact that the toilets had no paper, hand-soap, driers or, indeed, toilet seats!
If we come back to Portugal we will 100% return to Villa Park Zumbejeira J
We wandered down to the little town in the afternoon, went down to the beach – down a number of steps, and took a walk along the clifftop. Another charming little town. All the houses have window frames edged in either blue or yellow paint (except for the rebels who have edged in a sea-green or lilac or purple – we saw 1 of each. I can imagine people writing in to the local paper to complain about them…)
Little church in Zumbejeira
Beach at Zumbejeira
Unfortunately, as with everywhere so far in Portugal, people drive too fast, even through little towns like this. We watched a lorry approaching the 90 degree right hander at the end of the road at a ridiculous speed. But it seems to be how they drive as it’s not the first, or the last, time that we’ve stopped and stared after a driver going way too fast – even on the campsites themselves they drive as though they’re out on the open road L
So we were sorry to leave Zumbejeira after just 1 night and I’ll update you with our journey and 1st day in Cascais, near Lisbon, in my next post.
Separated by 40 miles of land but so very different! A completely different feel to Alicante (and El Campello where we are actually staying).
Saturday and Sunday in Benidorm proceeded much as expected. We did very little, went for a couple of swims, walked a little, went to watch the rugby on Saturday in a bar where even the San Miguel was only 1.50 euros per bottle!..So later on Saturday evening was spent singing and dancing along to music in the van (some of you may have seen the video!)
Sunday evening we walked along to the Benidorm Palace to see The Rat Pack. A very enjoyable show but a little disappointing that the main event only lasted for 20 minutes more than the support act…. Glad we went though 🙂
We knew we would have to pay for any electric that we used over 4kwt per day at the campsite – we weren’t expecting over 23euros! In the UK campsites aren’t allowed to actually make money out of the electric; we’re guessing the same rules don’t apply here…
So, whilst we’ve enjoyed our time in Benidorm, we’re not sorry to be moving on now. We’ve just headed a little way down the coast to El Campello, just outside of Alicante. It’s probably not even 40 miles (it took less than an hour). Some lovely views along the way (and also the usual impatient Spanish drivers!)
Once again we managed to get into our chosen site, albeit in the ‘winter camping area’, which turns out to be really rather pleasant. We met another British couple coming the other way (around Spain & Portugal that is) who gave us some interesting information about Lisbon.
We set off down to the seafront for a bike ride and found a tramline! It turns out the tram goes direct into Alicante for 1.45 euros each – bonus. (It also goes back to Benidorm and beyond – who knew? Not us evidently!) Rather a lovely aspect along this seafront and much more chilled than Benidorm; also with a few statues thrown in.
A feature of the beaches over here is the volleyball nets and basketball nets etc. that are provided all along the beach. Also a lot of outdoor gym equipment is available. There’s a cycle path along almost the length of the seafront too. All very pleasant 🙂
I’d made a chilli for tea, which was okay but I’d forgotten to look for the fat content of the mince when we bought it…. I won’t make that mistake again!
Today we caught the tram into Alicante and walked 169m up to the castle (even the steps were steeply sloping). We made it anyway 🙂 (There is the option to take a lift all the way up – you only have to pay (2.70 euros) if you go from the very bottom, otherwise it’s free). The castle is really amazing, there’s a lot of it and it costs nothing. The lift takes you all the way back down to the beach, which is handy – last time I came here (with Lou about 11 years ago – I think) we pretty much walked back down the side of the mountain – in our flip flops!!
Walking up to Santa Barbara Castle in Alicante (from the very bottom….)
We had lunch, and a sangria, at a bar by the beach, and then wandered a little more. Unfortunately my heel was hurting again by now so we needed to head back to the tram – which we had to find first! Needless to say we did so and headed back to sit in the sun by the van (we’ve had 25 degrees today – bikini weather).
We’d also found a bloke’s wallet on our way out in the morning; we tried to contact him but ended up handing it to a policeman at the gate to the castle! Hope he gets it back.
We’re moving on tomorrow and hoping to stay close to Cartagena – it looks like it could be worth visiting 🙂
And we’re off! (Literally, right now, as this posts…) Okay, so I’ve cheated with this particular blog (in that I’m actually writing it a week before we leave and updating whenever I have a few minutes!)
I’m finding that I have some wonderful ideas for what to write – just as I’m falling asleep each night..!
To be honest we are almost ready now. The house is almost completely packed up ready for moving into storage at the weekend, we have piles put aside to move into the van, 1 last wash to do and 2 loads of ironing (I know, this is almost too much excitement for you all – me too).
Had a little panic yesterday when I found out that I was meant to have got an independent valuation on the property (even though it’s sold through the proper channels). I managed to get this organised quickly though (thank goodness for the January lull), the visit has been made and we’re just waiting for the report. Phew
I’ve just got a few more letters to write to leave for Sam to fill in the completion date and pop in the post and then we’re good to go.
We’re even doing well with running down the fridge/freezer and cupboards contents 🙂
So I’ve been on a bit of a rollercoaster of emotions so far this year. You know that feeling you had through most of your teenage years (I know some of you are still there; lucky you! but for many of us this is 30+ years ago!). Continue reading “Today’s the Day! :)”
…we will have moved out of our home (the house is sold!) and will have arrived in Spain! We’ve made the decision this week not to book any sites before leaving. This is because our ACSI card arrived (giving us access to 1000s of sites at a maximum of 19Euros per night). However, we can only book ahead through the camping & Carvanning club (which incurs a charge of £25…). So we’ve decided to take it as it comes 🙂
I’ve now been off from work for almost 3 weeks, although I did return last Friday for the annual Secret Santa & Christmas quiz afternoon, followed by our Christmas do onboard the Princess Caroline out of Ocean Village. A great night out with my brilliant work family – Bal, Jo, Jenny, Matt, Hayley, Lauren, Karen, Simon & Susie (there are others, of course, Ali, Rob, Mike, Debs, Ange, Kelly, but they weren’t at the do). I have been ordered to include this photo by the lovely Bal! (Thought I’d include 1 of me and Jo too 🙂 )
There still hasn’t really been any downtime since leaving work – we’re thinking that we’ll stay at whatever campsite we first end up at for a fair few nights, just to recharge our batteries. Don’t forget we’ve got Christmas, new year, sorting all the selling paperwork and packing up the house to deal with in the next 4 weeks. It’s all quite daunting really. I’m so sorry – I can hear the cries of derision from here!! Yes, we will have a year to get over it all 🙂
All Christmas do’s are also now complete and I’ve had a great time at all of them – I think that I’ve actually worn make-up 3 or 4 times this month. And worn several dresses…..That’s enough of all that until my niece’s wedding in May (in Ibiza…)
The trees are up, all presents are wrapped (bar 1), tomorrow I start baking ready for Christmas day and boxing day (and Sam’s birthday cake of course). However, I don’t have to cook on either of those days! And I’m very much looking forward to spending 25th with no. 2 sister and her family, and 26th (otherwise known as Sam’s birthday) at no. 1 sister’s with almost all of my immediate family.
This week we had a bit of a result with our Vodafone contract. We found that we could switch over to a different tariff whereby we have 5gb of date (each) per month, of which we have 2gb per month to use when abroad (and free calls from Europe too), for £22 per month – then we were told it was actually on offer for £15 per month (less than we’re paying now!)
With all this going on I think my next post will be from Spain! I can’t believe it’s less than a month away now 🙂
Hope you all have a brilliant Christmas and New Year. I will see you in January 🙂
• The French love a roundabout – possibly even more than the Brits
• Signage often stops just when you need it most..
• There is a lot of free parking in France and lots of parking spaces
o Except in Cannes – you have to drive right through Cannes and walk back about a mile to get free parking
o And Monaco – lots of underground parking areas, not free, but not as expensive as we were expecting either Continue reading “What we learned about France in the summer of 2016”
We came back to Paris because we missed out on Versailles last time. They’ve had floods here as well – the campsite is right on the Seine, near to the Racecourse (I was hoping to maybe take in a meet but it’s under major refurbishment – cranes everywhere!). It’s also within sight of the Eiffel Tower which we never noticed last time we were here!
The reason we noticed this time was because we went out on our bikes on the 1st evening. It looked like there was a proper cycle track on the other bank of the river in Suresnes; so off we set over the bridge to find it was on the other side of a busy road. Continue reading “Days 36-38, 5th-7th July. Paris & Versailles”
It was quite a long stint today up to Chalon sur Saone and a 4 night stay at Chateau D’Eperviere (a site that we’ve stayed at previously). We’re mainly intending to relax here, as we need it!
This site has suffered 4 floods this year, 1 very recently, which meant that we couldn’t have the type of pitch that we prefer (on grass rather than a hardstanding). We parked up so that we could get the sun in the morning and shade in the evening, but unfortunately this meant that we were facing our neighbours (not usually a massive problem) which they were clearly not happy with when they returned to their van – they proceeded to peg their towels up to create a barrier. They even pegged the towels together to be sure! Continue reading “Days 31 to 35, to 4th July – Relaxing & exploring Tournos”
Our last full day in Agay dawned bright and sunny (we could get used to this – actually we already have!) We’d already decided that we were going to go down to the beach for a few hours, and we managed to get there by shortly after 11.30am. Instead of getting straight onto the beach we went into the Auberge de la Rade (which, to be fair, was immediately on the beach!) for a drink. I also thought it was about time I tried the local delicacy – the Tarte Tropezienne. This is a sweet treat (the best type of cookery we have experienced in France by far) which seems to be a cross between a cake, pastry & sweet bread with a sugary crust, and is filled with a cross between a custard and mousse. Continue reading “Days 28 & 29, 27th & 28th June. Last day at the beach and moving on”
We were looking forward to going Kayaking today. Although we’d already decided where to hire our kayak, we’d also spotted another sign further down the beach on the way out of Agay (towards Antheon) about hiring Kayaks, paddles etc. so thought it a good plan to have a quick look at them too. It took us a while to find (the signs often give no warning; it just suddenly appears round a corner, and it’s right there – no time to anchor on the brakes and swerve into it!) We eventually found it again, and hiked down to the private beach and then back on ourselves to locate the actual spot – there weren’t many kayaks on display, couldn’t see any life-jackets or anybody to ask. I didn’t have a great feeling and we decided to head back to the 1st place – never mind, it all contributes towards my steps!
At the 1st place we hired 2 single kayaks for 9 euros each for an hour (although he let us have them for 2 hours for the same price). He told us where to head and off we went.
turnrightoutofportsmouth 