Lagos Pt 3

Monday 3rd Dec - Sunday 9th Dec: A nice lazy week with plenty of walks on the beach, a visit to Lagos and watching the coming and goings of the site - plenty of activity as the 'going to Spain crowd move on and are replaced with new arrivals from the UK. It would seem that a rather large regular group visit annually at this time and have done for some years, so we tend to be the 'newbies'. More kind weather, mainly sunny with a couple of light showers and a high of 19C and a low of 10C, enabled Neil to complete the other side of the trailer brakes making it all ready for the road again. Our socialising included a lunch out at Portimao to say a quick farewell to Pat and Mark who are going back to the UK until February and of course many coffee/drink sessions with fellow campers, Ken & June (full time 5'ers), Bruce & Margaret (tuggers), John & Margaret (tuggers) and Bob & Gladys (tuggers) to name but a few. We received a nice surprise parcel (we had told everybody no presents for us this year) with Christmas gifts in from Sandra and family, it did make it feel a bit more like the run up to Christmas. Our Lagos visit was on the very pleasant Sunday and was very enlightening - a lively, colourful and cheerful place which is probably the most popular resort in the Algarve. Originally a Carthaginian settlement which became Roman then Moorish before becoming christian in the 13th century and was a centre for trade in ivory, gold, silver and other exotic merchandise, a far more unsavoury enterprise was also centred on Largos - slavery! From the 16th to the 18th century Lagos was the capital of the Algarve before it was transferred to Tavira just after the tragic devastation of the country by the 1755 earthquake.

Lagos & beach

Lagos town square

Dhow fountain Lagos

Slave Market Lagos

Santa Marie Church Lagos

 

After a nice informative walk round the town we headed for the Marina which is very well equipped and at present very full. We also felt the need to check out the current fire prevention measures and were very glad to hear that the fire engine in the front of the station is just for display and much more modern engines are used for today's fires.

Lagos Marina

Lagos Fire station

Monday 10th Dec - Sunday 16th Dec: Started the week with paying our site fees and confirming that we want to stay until 10th February which should give us time to complete our wish list and hopefully mean that it will be a bit warmer when we do move north to the Porto area. So far so good this month as it looks like most of the rain seems to left the area although the nights are starting to get a bit chilly - this week saw plenty of sun, some cloudy periods and one small shower with a high of 20C and a low of 9C (single figures!). We managed to get some quality contact time with the family via Skype so caught up on all the UK news and confirmed that all are safe from the floods and terrible weather - they did try to make us feel guilty but it did not work. The site owners, a Spanish family whose daughter Agnes looks after us extremely well, very kindly laid on a drinks and nibbles session on Sunday afternoon so everybody had a good time and got to know each other. The economic squeeze here has meant that there is a much reduced Christmas lights effort this year, with most council budgets very tight only the minimum of lights are on display, if at all. 

Lagos lights

Site lights

Lots of new arrivals, looks like it is going to be lots of people about for Christmas. We have also noted that the amount of wild/free campers have increased a lot - the local authorities seem to turn a blind eye to occupancy of unused land or car parks in the hope that the campers will at least help the local economy. The car park at the closed swimming baths at Silves looks like a 'Dale Farm' of motor homes (mainly Dutch, German and French with some Brits) and the occasional RV or two. Wild/free camping is easier and more prolific in this area with the surfers leading the way, a cheap way of living but not our cup of tea I am afraid - we like our comfort and security.  


Monday 17th Dec - Sunday 23rd Dec: Frustrating start to the week as the laptop/WiFi stopped playing - HELP. Nice Portuguese man came out from Lagos and had a look at it, nothing major but unable to completely fix it - apparently it is due to an incompatibility between Outlook and the PT DNS at this location, which on current PT repair times may be fixed in the next 6 months, believe me that is fast for over here. Looks like we will just have to work round the problem/transfer to a dongle. Neil decided that he would take his frustration out on  some little white balls on the golf course and paid another visit to Espriche GC, super day for it 21C, sunny and calm. The rest of the week was fairly good weather wise with sun, overcast, mist, a 21C high and a 11C low - the Christmas week is predicted to be a bit chilly so a quick check of the central heating was completed. Our 'Red Cross' parcel from Terry arrived, just a few nice things (including chews for Daisy) and the replacement lens for the trailer light (Nimes occurrence). This week's off camp day was a trip to Lisbon - phew, a long way/day. We, Linda, Bob, Gladys, Daisy and Neil, set off at 9.30am and using the picturesque back roads eventually got to Lisbon at 1.45pm and started to explore the area of Belem in Lisbon - the Monument to Discoveries, the Belem Tower (a fortress once in the river but now on the shoreline due to the change in the river's path by the 1755 earthquake) and Jeronimos Abbey (built on the site a religious order's church to celebrate Gama's voyage and Portugals seafaring).  

Monument to Discoveries
Lisbon

Belem Tower
Lisbon

Jeronimos Abbey
Lisbon

Keeping the momentum going it was onwards and upwards to the old sector of Lisbon, Baxia to see the Cathedral (located in the oldest part of the city and built on the site of an old Mosque), the Castle de Sao Jorge (an ex Moors castle and the long time main fortification of old Lisbon and the Kings residence 1279 to 1511) and the general cobbled area/back streets around the castle.

Te Se (Cathedral)
Lisbon

Old Sector
Lisbon

Castlo San Jorge

By now we were all in need of sustenance and head for the Rossio Square area in search of a restaurant and the Christmas lights.

Christmas Lights
Lisbon

Christmas Lights
Lisbon



Christmas Lights
Lisbon

Christmas Lights
Lisbon

Christmas Lights
Lisbon





Homeward bound and it was on the motorway for ease and speed, arrived back at the site at 1130pm - quite a long day, very enjoyable and informative to see the mix of an old and new capital situated on the River Tagus. Lisbon, a former Greek, Roman and Moors city before becoming a part of Portugal in 1147, is a beautiful old city but is suffering from lack of tender loving care in places due to lack of funds. A busy week was topped off with a really nice Carol Service on Sunday at the Church in Praia de Luz, followed by mulled wine and mince pies.  


MERRY CHRISTMAS

 

A Merry Christmas
and a Happy New Year

From Neil, Linda
and Daisy

Lagos Pt 2

Mon 12th Nov - Sun 18th Nov: A partial return of the better weather lifted our spirits and meant that we could enjoy some local area sightseeing. The week was mainly sunny days but a heavy thunder storm/tornado paid us visit on the Thursday and the weeks temperatures were more pleasant at a high of 21C and a low of 11C. Fortunately the the tornado, which came in off the sea, hit the coast just west of us at Lagoa and travelled up to Silves and caused a lot of building damage and over turned some caravans and motor homes (Euro boxes) - but thankfully no fatal injuries. With the first months stay here completed we settled the bill - not too bad at all only 17.45 per night especially as it has ticks in all our boxes, and we confirmed our booking for a further month and provisionally 2 months. Still a bit early to head north, we are happy and settled here for a while and there is plenty of time before we need to be heading homeward. Had a good walk around and investigation of Luz, really nice small fishermen village type place, great beach, lots of eateries and the people are very nice and friendly - quite a few Brit residents so the shops tend to have most of the normal UK commodities. An ideal location for fishing, diving and surfing with a clean sandy beach and clear sea waters Luz is well worth a visit. There is still some evidence of the continuing search for Madeline McCann in the village with 'what she would look like now' posters displayed but unfortunately, generally time seems to have moved on.

Luz Portugal

Luz Church Portugal

       

The Beach
Praia de Luz

Where are those birds?
Praia de luz

With most of the places accommodating Brits, Linda decided to trust another haircut in time for her birthday next week - no language problems as all the staff were expats. Neil managed another game of golf, just to keep Bob company of course - nice course but expensive in 'ball costs'. Skype is still working well but is not really up to video conference calls, so it is one to one or just verbal calls - still it is free.

Mon 19th Nov - Sun 25th Nov: Well another birthday, strange how they come round ever year. Linda became '24' on the Monday which of course meant a meal out - this time we visited the Alitalia in Lagos for lunch, a really nice 3 course meal with drinks was consumed whilst sitting out in the sunshine just watching the world go by. In fact the week's weather was really good - mainly sun with blue skies and comfortable highs of 20C and lows of 13C but an occasional shower appeared here and there plus we had our first single figure temperature when a couple of the night times reached 9C. A quick run through to Ferreiras near Alberfeira mid week for a lovely lunch with Mark and Pat was a real pleasant interlude and helped to prevent 'site fever' building up - too much on site time (nice as it is) can be a bit depressing, so we try and get out as much as possible. The good weather motivated Neil into doing some vehicle maintenance and he managed to get the RV's jacks working again, at least we do not rock from side to side now and are able to level ourselves up. Whilst having a few problems on the 'beast' it is till amazing us with its general serviceability and comfort levels. The Jazz needed to be topped up and as expected the fuel costs have not gone down - still much cheaper than the UK though. The cost of living has gone up a bit in Portugal but is totally acceptable to our current budget, unfortunately the local population are suffering with the country's economy problem and unemployment is now very high. Although whilst not joining the Movember appeal, Neil did decide to support Terry's sponsorship both financially and by not shaving for November - very scruffy!

Mr Scruffy

Mon 26th Nov - Sun 2nd Dec: We started the week with a visit to the shopping centre in Portimao, although the retail park is closed due to extension fire damage there is still the Aqua Centre with shops to spare - including a Primark. The town is quite large and is situated at the mouth of the river Arade and will be the subject of a more involved visit later. Linda had been very patient enough to wait for her birthday presents so off we set in the drizzle to get her some nice things - warm clothing is on the list as we under packed winter type clothing. The rest of the week was dry and fairly sunny with 16C but the nights were very chilly, dropping to 7- 9C, still much preferable to the UK as the news is showing lots of snow, ice and -4C. Neil decided that the trailer wheels and brakes (bedded in after renewal in Poland) needed a quick service, so completed the right hand side - no need to rush the left hand side can be done next week and then will mean it should not require any work on it until we get back to the UK. Just to ensure no withdrawal symptoms affected Neil a quick early morning game of golf was completed at the Espriche course. A bit strange this year, our first on on the road, Linda did not know what to do with herself as the first Sunday in December has always been 'Christmas decoration day'. We agreed that we would have a few festive decorations in the RV just to prevent any 'Bah Humbug' feeling creeping in, at least we will have the eating part of Christmas sorted as we have booked to have dinner in the site restaurant on 'the' day - a rare day off for Linda.

Lagos Pt 1

SLIGHT CHANGE TO THE BLOG - A MANAGEMENT DECISION WILL RESULT IN ENTRIES IN FUTURE POSTS COVERING A WEEK AS OPPOSED TO AN ENTRY FOR EACH DAY.

Mon 22nd Oct - Sun 28 Oct: A somewhat deterioration in weather this week with highs of 24C and lows of 14C, the balance of days had rain but we still had quite a bit of sun - if fact we had 2 days of torrential rain, luckily this site has great drainage so no major problems. 
Unfortunately some of the other sites around here do not have such good  drainage and hence we had some arrivals of rather wet transferees. Neil had a look at some problems on James and Sarah's Tiffin Allegro and managed to get it into an OK state for their trip back to the UK. Social activity included visits to Restaurant Fontenario in Espiche (super meal and excellent wine), a James special curry (yum yum) and a BBQ courtesy of Neil. The mid week shopping trip was to Albufeira, Linda needed Iceland for food and Neil needed Leroy Merlin (B&Q type shop) for some spare parts. Neil finally admitted that the satellite reception was below par so hired a large dish (1.4m) to ensure Linda did not resort to violence when he went golfing on Saturday with James and Sarah - just to be social you understand. Took further advantage of the Skype system and called all those available, unfortunately the WiFi is not really quick enough for conference calls but is OK for one to one. We did try a Lagos/Sydney/Winchester call and had a fair link up for a short time, and  a Lagos/Toronto/Portglenone call was the same result. 

Restaurant Fontenario

Hole 1 - Par 5

Mon 29th Oct - Sun 4th Nov: Good start to the week when James and Sarah took us out for a meal at Sebastian's in Lagos  - real class, top drawer cuisine and service. Just to top off the food and drink the restaurant treated us to a glass of port in their cellar WOW - rows and rows of classic port but unfortunately they did not allow us to move in permanently. Woo... scary Halloween week, seems like they celebrate the event similar to the UK so after a good round of golf on the 31st we attended the Halloween Dinner in the site bar/restaurant for a really good night. Nice surprise on the Friday when Mark  (now a full time civilian having completed his final TA training) & Pat from Albufeira popped in for a visit and to catch up - a very pleasant review of the bar again. Sadly James and Sarah left for their trip back to UK, via Madrid, on the Saturday and we also received our first 'Red Cross' parcel from Terry. Another all or nothing weather week with more rain and some sunny spells - highs of 23C and a low of 11C. Still strange to accept that it is winter, especially as there are lots of flowers/bushes out in bloom.

Still blooming in November

Still blooming in November

Even the grass is still growing

Mon 5th Nov - Sun 11th Nov: Winter must be here as the pool furniture has been cleared away, the pool is still open, even though a bit chilly. Another rainy week with the occasional burst of sunshine, fortunately the temperatures were still fairly pleasant - a high of 23C but a low of 9C, and yes the central heating works and has been on a few times.

Look - no sun loungers

We took the opportunity during one of the dry spells to give Daisy her monthly ablutions, she is still not impressed with these sites that have pet showers as they are too handy - mind you she did not complain about being dried with the hair dryer afterwards. Managed to get a good day off site to visit Sagres and the Cape of Vincent (the end of Europe) - startling landscape, very rugged and bleak with the knowledge that the only land further west is the US.

Cape Vincent lighthouse
Portugal

Cape Vincent
Portugal



 

 

 

Sagres Portugal

Sagres Portugal

 

 





Just had to fit in another game of golf, the course whilst very young is in very good condition, in places very demanding and has a ball swallowing rough. Fortunately a nice couple from Dorset, Bob & Lee, are on site and Bob like Neil needs to get plenty of fresh air and exercise = golf. The 11th November had to be celebrated for the normal 2 reasons, but of course this year personally it was a bit special - the first 40 years of marriage completed with us both still sane ish. A really nice slap up meal in the site restaurant with some beverages,  some reminiscing and a quick walk round Luz, a very nice seaside village which has a lovely beach.

Praia de Luz Portugal

Praia de Luz Portugal

   

Praia de Luz Portugal

Move/Lagos

Wednesday 10th Oct: Nice leisurely final preparations for our move, the next site is only 35 miles down the road so no need to rush plus we did not want to wake up the sleepyheads too early. We have noticed that most people do not tend to get up until mid morning - what a waste of some wonderful 'morning moments'. The general populace appeared from everywhere to watch once the 'Beast' fired into life, the trailer coupling and move off the pitch went perfectly - thankfully as the audience watched every move. We seem to be getting the hang of this setup/move/pack up life. Problem free move along the N125, sad to see the burnt remains of the shopping centre at Portimao but the weather was kind to us with a dry sunny day and 27C which made for a pleasant move and we got to Turiscampo at 1130 ish - short move only 1 hour. Fully established on our pitch well in time for our evening meal in a much more relaxed/happier state of mind. The site just feels right so we are contemplating staying here for most of the winter - site nice, area very interesting, lots of good local facilities, satellite TV reception and a golf course just round the corner, what more could you ask for. 

Our campsite pitch
Lagos Portugal

Campsite entrance
Lagos Portugal

Thursday 11th Oct: A bit of a dull day with some showers and 25C but it did not stop us finishing off settling into the pitch, just about big enough for us and whilst the pitches are quite close together it does not feel claustrophobic, and doing a tour/familiarisation tour of the site - a vast improvement with much more of the features that we look for. Good WiFi connection, full on pitch facilities (only 10A though), a good on site shop, a very nice restaurant, good swimming pools, and a super ablution block. The site is situated off the main road but far enough into the country to loose the 'concrete jungle' feeling - lots of open country side views whilst being close enough 5 miles to a fairly large town (Lagos) for shopping etc. Initial thoughts are that we are pleased that we will be here for the next month and have confirmed with the site office and family contacts.

View from the site

Posh loo's

Friday 12th Oct: A nice bright sunny day with 26C but unfortunately Linda was not too well and had to take things easy - between us we have been very lucky with our health and had no real problems, just the occasional off day. Met and introduced ourselves to our neighbours, mainly caravaner's and from all sorts of places but mainly the UK - John & Carole from UK, Ove & Ann Marie from Denmark, James & Sarah (full timer RV 'rs) from UK and Ken & June (full time 5'ers) from UK. Very friendly and helpful site so lots of impromptu social gatherings - just to discuss the state of the world whilst supporting the local drinks industry you understand.  

Sat & Sun 13/14th Oct: A couple of lazy days just enjoying the weather, nice sunny 27C days after a rather cool night on Friday night - never thought we would feel cold at 18C again. Had to spoil the holiday effect and do some internal and external cleaning and maintenance tasks, must admit it is a lot easier keeping on top of things in the RV living than the house living. A bit of rain on Sunday just to remind us that it is winter here, looks like the forecast for next week is much cooler.

Monday 15th Oct: Time to have a look around the general area so the Jazz got a run out, just a quick look see of Lagos, Praia de Luz and Espiche - all very nice and deserving of a revisit to explore their individual treasures. The full selection of shops and services were located, the golf courses sussed out and lots of beach areas viewed future doggy walks and mooching around. Another nice day with lots of sun and 24C, hope it lasts but we are sure it will change soon - not as bad as UK though.

Lagos, Portugal

Praia de Luz, Portugal

Tuesday 16th Oct: Having shown Linda the shops it was only fair that we went shopping, that is if we wanted to eat - must admit we have really done well with our dietary requirements and to date have made substitutions or not really missed anything. We have also increased our food knowledge to include lots of local delicacies. The weather cooling down process seems to be starting and it was only 23C with sun today. Completed the WiFi check today and Skype'd family members in UK - good reception and free.

Wednesday 17th Oct: The day of the World Phetang (Boules) Championships, due to some outstanding decisions being required from a previous social gathering a game was arranged for today between Ann Marie & Linda against Ove & Neil. Needless to say the men gentlemanly conceded to the fairer sex - OK we lost! We had the sun in our eyes and it was a bit cool at 23C. John & Carole were unable to play due to pre move actions, they are due to leave tomorrow - moving on to Salamanca prior to heading to the UK.

Thursday 18th Oct: John & Carole got off to an early and dry start, just as well as the rain started just after they left and was on for most of the day. The rain and low temperature 18C meant that a day in catching up on Boardwalk Empire and Homeland was called for. Managed to get a Skype call via Eric to Linda's mother who seems to be doing really well these days and is coping much better off her medication - long may it continue. Daisy has now decided that not only is it her RV but the main seat is hers as well.

Daisy in charge.

Friday 19th Oct: Back to a nice dry sunny day, still cooler though at 20C. Decided to make use of the good weather and did some RV maintenance (generator - charging problem), trailer skid plate bolts renewal and a re-jig of the Add-a-Room (awning) - trailer and Add-a-room completed but generator just 'temporary' repaired due to some more head scratching needed for the final solution.

Sat & Sun 20th/21st Oct: A weekend of 'two halfs' - Saturday sunny and 23C but Sunday heavy rain all day and only 20C. At least we manged to get a couple of good walks in on the Saturday before spending most of Sunday in the site bar with James and Sarah, totally overdoing the liquid refreshments (San Miguel and Sangria) but completely putting the World to rights.

Move/Albufeira

Tuesday 2nd Oct: Nice early start, 8.30am with no problems, to our 560 miles journey with only Dennis and Flo to see us off. Final bill was a pleasant surprise, only €17.10 per night - a very good value for money site. Plan is to travel as far as comfortably possible using the A7/E15 (non toll dual carriage way road - yippee), over night at a service station and then get to Albufeira some time on Wednesday. Really good day for travelling and we seemed to eat up the miles with no problems. The road was just as good as the motorway in most places taking us south along the coast to Almeria (poly tunnel capital) then skirting the southern extremities of Sierra Nevada to Malaga before heading northwards to Seville.

Poly tunnels everywhere. Spain

Portugal bound

Lots more spectacular scenery and some signs of the recent devastation caused by the floods, lots of debris at the side of the road and about 1" of silt on most of the road surface - sure glad we were not about during last Friday's rain. It seemed to be one of those good days and we completed a 10 hour day (including breaks) before succumbing to tiredness and eventually called a halt at 7.00pm at a service station near Chucena (west of Saville). Phew! 446 comfortable miles on a nice sunny 30C day - thank you 'beast', only 115 miles short of Albufeira.

Tea break in Spain

Meseta Mountains Spain

Wednesday 3rd Oct: After a fairly quiet night in the truck stop part of the service station and a leisurely breakfast we took the opportunity to refuel the 'beast' with 271 litres at €1.46 a litre and we eventually hit the road again at 9.00am Portugal bound.  We crossed the border into Portugal at 10.00am and said goodbye to Spain for the time being - the road tolls in Spain worked out to be €0.22/km placing them at 3rd most expensive so far.

Portugal - 11th country

At last

We breathed a sigh of relief at finally getting to Portugal, our rest/winter place and look forward to some slow time days. New country = new toll system so we now contribute to the Portuguese economy, fortunately electronically via the internet. Arrived at Camping Albufeira, completed the booking in procedure (which included Fort Knox type security) and started setting up at 11.20am. Initial thoughts are a bit disappointing however we will give it a chance and completed our set up by late afternoon/early evening which gave us a chance to visit Mark, Sue and Charlotte at their hotel in Albufeira and catch up/have a few drinks, leaving a 'bit late' in our opinion (explanation later). A pleasant sunny day with 27C.

Camping Albufeira Portugal

Camping Albufeira Portugal

Thursday 4th Oct: Still lots to catch up on with Mark, Sue & Charlotte so a BBQ was the order of the day at the camp site so a quick shopping trip for supplies. Loads of Brit type shops available - Iceland, Sports Direct etc and local type shops - Lidl, Intermarche and Continente so no problems with choice. First general impression is that the area/facilities are geared for the Brit expat/tourist population - eg The Algrave Shopping centre. After 'belatedly' (explanation later) negotiating the gate security with Mark, Sue & Charlotte we had a very good BBQ on a sunny 29C day; during which plans were made for an outing tomorrow and another BBQ on Saturday to meet friends of Mark & Sue who live locally.

Friday 5th Oct: Mark, Sue & Charlotte 'finally' (explanation later) picked us up in their hire car and off we set into the countryside/mountain area - what a pleasure for Neil, no driving. First port of call was Silves a very nice historic old Moorish settlement with a very impressive castle which was built on the site of an old Roman fortification - both the castle and cathedral were well worth the visit.



Silves Castle Portugal

Silves Castle Portugal

Onwards and upwards and we set off for Monchique an old fashioned little market town located in the Serra da Monchique with its highest peak of 902m (2959ft) giving marvellous views across the Algarve despite the weather clouded over during our visit. After a walk around the town, which included a sample of the local firewater (Medronho, brewed from the arbutus - strawberry tree) we partook in an excellent Portuguese lunch at a local restaurant in the town square. It was during this lunch that Neil & Linda were enlightened by Mark into the time zones of Europe and embarrassingly realised that we were still on Spanish time (+1 hour) instead of UK/Portugal time - whoops guess nobody was a 'bit late/belatedly/finally', just us living 3 days in Portugal on Spain's time. Well time is not as important these retired days, as long as we are on the same day!     



Monchique Square Portugal

View from Monchique Portugal

Now that we are all on the correct time we set off south for the coast and a visit to the coastal village of Ferragudo for refreshments and ice creams. The sun decided to come out and we spent a lovely hour sat on the quayside sipping sangria and eating ice creams in 28C temperatures . A visit to the play park was a natural progression of the day but it was supposed to be for Charlotte not Linda.

At play in Ferragudo Portugal

Ferragudo Portugal

After much screaming and kicking (and that was just Linda) we managed to leave the play park behind and retuned to Albufeira after a great day out.


Saturday 6th Oct: The day started nice and sunny, good for a BBQ, and was soon up at 28C. Mark, Sue, Charlotte and their friends Mark and Pat arrived midday/early afternoon so a very pleasant social/eating experience was had whilst Charlotte enjoyed Ice Age. Mark and Pat have been over here for the last 7 years so we were able to get lots of local information and advice plus an offer of help whilst we are in this area.

It is in the timing!

BBQ at Camping Albufeira

Of course the time zone occurrence meant that Neil took a bit of flack and will probably end up on Facebook. Final farewells were done with Mark, Sue and Charlotte, they fly back tomorrow, and arrangements to keep in contact with Mark and Pat made before everybody went their way.

Sunday 7th Oct: A good start to the day weather wise so off we set to visit some of the 'Sandford Girls' haunts - Maureen, Linda & Arlene had a holiday over here some 4 years ago. Pathfinder Linda made a good start by taking us to the wrong end of Praia Falesia, the Vilamoura end instead of the Albufeira end so after much meaningful conversation, Neil asked a bus driver how to get to the Sheraton. Fortunately he was going past the entrance for the hotel so we followed him and got to the correct destination, Linda soon recognised the area and resumed her navigation duties taking us up to the Pine Cliffs area.

View from Pine Cliffs

Sheraton Albufeira entrance

Entrance to THE villa

The pool Sheraton

A quick tour round the resort complex in the 28C sunshine, to revive happy memories and then it was back to the campsite, where we agreed that the site was just not really what we were looking for - not a bad site just not to our personal liking (only wi fi hotspot, no water or drainage on pitch and too woodlandish), so we would visit some other sites tomorrow in preparation for a move.

Monday 8th Oct: Another out and about day with visits to campsites further westwards along the coast, nice sunny day with 29C for our recce. Decided to visit sites in Potramao, Lagos and Sagres to see what is what, first port of call was Camping Turiscocampo just outside Lagos and found everything we needed (for lower fees) many recommendations plus we had a general good feeling whilst there. Second site was the one at Sagres, what a difference (not in price), definitely not what we are looking for and we decided that rather than view the other sites to go back and book at Turiscocampo as it ticked all our boxes and the main thing is Linda approves. Returned to our pitch in the woods to plan our move. 

Tuesday 9th Oct: Move preparations day, a nice sunny 30C day meant that all went well and we were ready in plenty of time, especially as we wanted an early start tomorrow. Not much route planning needed as it is just down the N125 (non toll) so we totted up the Portugal toll rate for the table; not too bad as it worked out at €0.16/km.