2013 - 2014 Blog
The End In Sight.
Sunday 6th April 2014.
After all the rain forced us to stay in the van all day yesterday, we were starting to go a little stir crazy so we went to the local supermarket for a little retail therapy but it must be admitted that our best buy was a tank of diesel at just €1.274/litre thats just £1.06, around what we have been paying for the last three or four months, I wonder what we will be paying when we get back to UK?
Monday 7th April 2014.
Our last move before heading for the boat back to UK today!
The t’internet at Caminha was so poor (another result of the storm?) we were unable to find or research sites between Caminha and Gijon where we were to catch the ferry. We had stayed on a great site just 100km (60 miles) beyond Gijon a couple of years ago, so we headed there. It has been a long day towing some 550 km (342 mls) and the site pitches appear smaller than we remember them, we are too long to fit into one pitch so we must park across two and turn turn around so that we can go out as we came in through a third pitch. We hope no-one goes on it before we leave or we we‘ll be in Effluent Creek.
Tuesday 8th April 2014.
Rain and low cloud all day today, we did try to drive up into the mountains but the cloud was so thick we couldn’t see the front of the car let alone the views.
Wednesday 9th April 2014.
What a difference a day makes. It’s such a glorious day today that we made a return visit to Ribadesella, it is one of the nicest seaside towns we have ever visited - like Frinton but posh!! While we were there we had a look at Camping Ribadesella where we had intended to go. It has a very, very tight entrance and the pitches (from what we could see) were even smaller than where we are. Looking for meat to take home at Mercadona supermarket today. It seems daft to take meat home but not only is it cheaper there are cuts that we like that are hard to get inUK. Unfortunately we can’t buy anything today as we have accidentally defrosted the fridge/freezer and must wait for it to get fully cold again before putting stuff in.
Thursday 10th April 2014.
Got the meat - a large rabbit, two pork tenderloins and, the piece de resistance, ten pork cheeks - YUMMIE.
Returning from the supermarket we retraced our foggy footsteps of Tuesday, this time in crystal clear weather. The views were stunning, we drove up to a height of 1200 m (3937 ft) thats higher than Mount Snowdon at 1085m (3560 ft)
Friday 11th April 2014.
Up at crack of sparrow f**t to day. Getting off the pitch (no-one in the way) and 100 km down the road to Gijon where we were to catch the ferry. There were signs to the ferry port, called Puerto de el Musel, not Puerto de Gijon as expected and just before you enter the port there is a LD Lines sign but you have to get into the port (flashing a printed paper at the security barriers worked for us) and just drive forward looking around. With more luck than judgement we eventually found the queue (look for UK number plates!!) and listening to advise from other travellers we took our documentation to a sentry type box and was issued with boarding pass and other documents. The wait then started. At 12.30 loading started, half an hour to load when the Guardia were taking some panel vans apart and searching with sniffer dogs as well as men. Luckily cars, caravans nor motorhomes were were included in the excitement and we joined the queue in lane two. Just as we were about to start loading it was noticed that all the vans and small trucks had been directed to lane one not lane two so ensued a great kerfuffle while they were moved to lane three. Eventually loading was complete (they even remembered the motorbikes that should have been loaded first but had remained forgotten on the quay for over two hours) and 45 minutes late the ferry departed.
We wrote the following description of the trip in an email to friends: -
“. . . The trip back on the ferry was good but it must be said that the boat and it’s facilities are basic but perfectly adequate, as is the food. We had lamb and rice for dinner that was plentiful, tasty and tender although there have been many complaints about the food standard, likewise I had a full English for breakfast which was of acceptable standard and reasonably priced. Our cabin was of a good size (for two) but four people would find it a squash. The only real problem was the boat likes to “jitterbug” moving even on a smooth sea, a crew member I was chatting to said the movement in bad weather was “horrendous” going on to say it (the boat) was designed for the Med not Biscay! and twenty five hours is a long time to be Moby Dick . . .”
Arriving back at Poole we were first off the boat and waved through customs without stopping.
Trip number two is complete.
Statistics (for the sad among you 😋).
Well, thats the end of this blog, we hope you enjoyed virtual travelling we us. Our next trip is, we hope a summer in Scandinavia, please, visit this site again soon to see how we get on.
Week 36 - Good site, good town, great company.
Sunday 30th March 2014.
Frank volunteered to drive today, first to Constanza. Rosemary programmed their sat-nav to take us via the pretty route and off we went. Things started off OK but unfortunately R & F’s sat-nav is American and we all know that Americans are far more optimistic than is good for the rest of us and we began being sent down rougher and smaller roads until without the option to back up or turn around we faced what appeared from the car a cliff edge. We all got out to scout the way down. It was hard enough walking/climbing down let alone driving down, but as said there was no real option but to continue. Frank got back in the car, Sue got back in (well she was a social worker who’s job it was to support those in difficulty). Rosemary and I elected to do the hard job of waving our arms about giving loud contradictory advice and keeping well away from any danger. With great skill Frank piloted the car to the bottom of “the cliff” and five difficult but no longer heart stopping minutes later we were back on a black top road. Which without very much more ado we arrived in Constanza, a pretty town, like many here built on a hill that requires a great deal of effort to explore. We stopped in a tiny cafe for coffee and the cafe owner required Rosemary to provide name and address before providing four coffees and four little cakes, we thought he was making a pass but we were told that legally every sale in Portugal must, for tax purposes be traceable from supplier to customer but that very few actually follow the rules - certainly we have never been asked for ID except when going onto a campsite, never in a cafe. Constanza nurtures the memory of poet Luis Vaz de Camões who was sent away from court for misbehaving with a court lady. He actually lived here very briefly after 1546 (the year not the time ☺️)
From Constanza we moved on to Castelo de Almourol, dramatically set on a tiny island in the Rio Tagus. The only way to reach the castle was by boat and we were looking forward to exploring the castle which from the shore looked quite dramatic. Closed, and it’s not Monday. We could do nothing but look from the shore. It looked good.
Monday 31st March 2014.
My turn to drive again today, we went to Fatima where on 13th May 1917 three children: Lúcia and her cousins, Francisco and Jacinta Marto, while guarding their sheep in the Cova da Iria, witnessed an apparition of a lady dressed in white. The lady, later referred to as Our Lady of the Rosary, indicated that she was sent by God with a message of prayer, repentance and consecrations. She visited the children each month on the 13th day from May 13 - October 13. The last apparition occurred on October 13, and was witnessed by 70,000 pilgrims. Lucia became a nun and as Sister Lúcia, she recounted three visits from an angel to her and her cousins. Between April and October in 1916 this angel invited them to pray and do penitence. The angel visited them twice in Loca do Cabeço and once by the well in Lúcia's garden. Jacinta died in 1919 and Francisco in 1920 from the Spanish flu Epidemic of 1918-1920, and were later beatified on 13 May 2000 by Pope John Paul II. Lucia lived until 2005.
Fatima is a strange place, the fabulously wealthy church seems to live quite happily alongside the shops selling the most tawdry religious junk (the only word for it) and those selling expensive designer religious artefacts. From Fatima we drove to Ourem for a little quite contemplation. Ourem is another fortified town built on a hillside that was converted in the 12th century to a royal palace. Unfortunately the rain was “persisting” down in a relentless manner so after a short walk and determining to return in sunshine we returned to Tomar.
On New Years Day we had a special four course Menu Del Dia (menu of the Day) at the camp restaurant where we were introduced to delicious pigs cheek casserole. When we went to the market last Friday we saw and bought some pigs cheeks, these are large pieces of meat normally sold complete with a chunk of jawbone attached. Tonight we had agreed to share our pigs cheek casserole with Rosemary and Frank and they would share their rabbit casserole with us. The two casseroles complimented each other well and R & F who had not tried the cheeks before agreed they were a very tasty cut of meat.
Wednesday 2nd April 2014.
R & F had been told that if they visited Tomar they must go to Tabulerio Restaurant. We all went for lunch there today. Having tasted our pigs cheeks earlier in the week R & F were keen to try them again, “very sorry” said the waiter “we have none left”. R & F chose lamb dishes Sue and I went for Seafood Rice a Portuguese speciality - lots of chunks of fish, prawns and other delicacies cooked up with creamy rice. When we were all tucking in the waiter brought a sample of the pork cheeks for us to try, they were good - but not as good as Sue’s recipe.
Needing to work off a little of our lunch we went for a walk around the local park and shortly after finished up at a local match box collection museum. Started by a local girl with a matchbox depicting the coronation of our Queen Elizabeth II the collection now contains some 47000(ish) boxes from many countries. It was strange that Ship matches, the boxes we both remembered as being the most common when we were kids were not as we thought made in UK by Bryant and Mays but by a Swedish company.
Thursday 3rd April 2014.
Spoke to the agents managing the house today. The tenants still have not paid rent for February or March, neither have they moved out as required before 1st April. Court papers have been prepared and will be served in the next few days. We should regain possession, so we are told, in around 10 days. We will believe it when it happens.
BBQ tonight. A goodbye dinner and what a dinner it was F & R certainly know how to make that BBQ sing. Tomorrow we go north, Rosemary and Frank go south.
Friday 4th April 2014.
Having said our goodbyes to Rosemary and Frank we head north aiming for Camping Orbitur Caminha a site we had been to before about as far north as you can go in Portugal without going into Spain. It was a good run but the rain fell relentlessly all day.
Saturday 5th April 2014.
It rained all night long and for a while the storm caused a power outage. We were very pleased. There is a group of 60 university students on site and last night they created mayhem that went on virtually all night. It doesn’t bear thinking about what they would have been like had it been a clear moonlit night. The site manager lives on site and together with the night guard tried in vain to quieten then through the night. This morning he gave them 24 hours to be off the site so another noisy night tonight. Thank the lord for ear-plugs.
Week 35 - In Pleasant Company.
Sunday 23rd March 2014.
We are moving on tomorrow, we came here for just a week but have enjoyed the site and surrounding area so much we stayed for 17 days. The problem when you overstay is that the longer the overstay the more there is to put away when you finally get moving again, so we stayed on site today, did laundry and packed things away.
Monday 24th March 2014
Having spent yesterday getting ready to move on you would think we would be early away. Not a bit of it. Sue had heard of a “cork shop” just 12 km up the road and wanted to have a look before we left, unfortunately the shop - in a cork factory - was closed when we arrived and one of the workers rang the boss who said he would be there in ten minutes to open it. Oh dear! A Portuguese ten minutes could be a couple of hours but the chap had been so helpful we felt we had to wait. Fortunately not much more than ten minutes later the lady who ran the shop arrived and we were taken in to look around at all the cork items ranging from shoes to hats, post cards to chairs, fruit bowls to pepper pots. Having bought some cork bedroom slippers and some cork post cards we got on our way, we never did get to see the boss who still had not arrived when we left.
The journey to the next site was no more than 250km but Desmond Dezil (the sat-nav) got in a right state as he did not have road data to tell him if our 12 plus metres was too big for the roads we were travelling but still did well (even taking off the motorway just before the electronic toll barriers and bringing us back just after them) until we got to less than a mile from the site. Here he took us down narrower and narrower roads with sharper and sharper turns that it got to the point where we did not see how we could continue further, we should according to him go straight on though several barriers etc., while the actual narrow road turned sharp to the right where I had to put the caravan on the pavement to get round. Fortunately looking carefully around we spied the site (which in another age would have been straight on) and after another two minutes of heart stopping turns we arrived. It turned out that the access roads to the campsite had recently been changed and some of the old ones pedestrianised.
Tuesday 25th March 2014
Did no more than walk into town today. Being on a municipal site we are close to the town centre, just a short walk from all the shops, restaurants etc., it is a pleasant town but seems to have just one street (from a tourist point of view) and, sadly, even that street has empty shops etc. We will look forward to exploring in greater detail later.
Rosemary and Frank have arrived on site. We had arranged to meet them here but thought they were coming later in the week.
Wednesday 26th March 2014
Up early enough, for the second day running, to get fresh rolls for breakfast from the bread van that visits the site around 9 am every morning. After a leisurely breakfast set off with R & F to visit the Castelo Templário (Templar Castle) and Convento de Cristo (Convent of Christ) at the top of a very steep hill. This UNESCO world heritage site is an absolute must for anyone visiting this part of Portugal - it is simply magnificent, and far beyond my poor pen to describe - you must visit.
Went out to dinner tonight to what was billed as a medieval restaurant. All candles and pottery plates. We were having difficulty choosing so the waiter suggested he bring two starters to the table and he would get extra cutlery so we could share then then if we wanted he would bring two more. We tried “Bacalhau and chick pea salad” then “Gizzard Skewer” both were delicious. We then went on to main courses. First we shared “Game Pie with Apple Mash, Nuts and Rasins” then “Fish Pie with Apple Mash” finally we shared a ham hock dish. We know that’s only two starters and three mains between us but we were full, not even having room for pud. The bill (including five half litres of beer and two bottles of wine was a very reasonable €66 (£54.61) just €16.50 (£13.65) per head.
Thursday 27th March 2014.
After the festivities last night we got up a bit later today and missed the bread lady. Still muesli was fine. We planned to go to Torres Novas to visit the Museu Municipal de Carlos Reis and then on to Environs roman ruins, however by the time we got to Torres Novas it was lunchtime - again: so with just a half hour before the museum re-opened we went for coffee before what was planned as a quick visit. The quick visit turned into a long visit and that was it for the day.
Friday 28th March 2014.
Friday is market day in Tomar and a top rate market it is with everything on sale from fruit and veg to seeds and hardware, from bootleg DVD’s (we bought four) to tractors, one of the best markets we have encountered.
From both the campsite and the Castelo Templário (Templar Castle) and Convento de Cristo (Convent of Christ) we could see a long flight of steps from Tomar town up the other side of the valley to a 17th century chapel - Nossa Senhora da Piedade. The flight of steps, numbering 300 (we read we didn’t count), is impressive, the chapel at the top, built in a plain and simple style, less so. Having climbed the 300 steps and then descended 300 steps we visitd the Tomar Synagog and although interesting the lady guide (Rabi?) was fascinating and despite not speaking English gave us a lot of interesting information.
Saturday 29th March 2014.
This evenings meal was Paella cooked on R & F’s Cobb BBQ. There were two problems 1) as soon as the BBQ was lit Frank produced two bottles of beer, then shortly after two more, we then had several more while waiting for the heat to build. This all led to problem 2) we had put the paella pan on the fire before it was properly going (see problem 1) and choked the fire, so we had to relight it and, of course, had to drink lots more beer while waiting for it to heat. Directly it was hot enough for the paella to be put together and on the pan we felt we had had enough beer so started on wine. It takes quite a while to cook paella but not very long to drink wine.
I shrinkk it wassh a good paewa.💀
Week 34 - With Scary Bits
Sunday 16th March 2014.
Sue had seen mention of a reservoir worth a visit in one of her guide books and we went looking for it today. We didn’t find the one we were after but we found a very acceptable substitute don’t quite know where it was or what it was called but it was obviously popular with locals who were fishing, swimming and generally having a good, and noisy, time until 12.30 when all the activity and noise stopped and the serious business of lunch began. On the way back to the camp site we came across a field covered in yellow lupins. It looked quite stunning. We took a photo but it is poor compared to the original sight.
Monday 17th March 2014.
As I’ve said before Portugal, from a tourist point of view is closed. We hung about the van and relaxed for the day.
We phoned the management agents about our tenants today, Were they still there despite the lease being terminated and no rent having been paid? We were informed that they have been given notice to quit (it has to be two months notice) but this came into force not as we thought on the 1st January but the 1st February so they are not due out until 31st March. There was no rent paid in February so you can bet your life there will be no rent paid in March. Oh! well such are the joys of being a landlord.
Tuesday 18th March 2014.
Off out again to a place called Marváo, another town built on a hilltop with we were told commanding views over the surrounding countryside. The views were indeed spectacular but for us that old chestnut Portuguese Health and Safety was at its most interesting. The town wall was walkable for almost its entire length but in some places it took nerves of steel to continue but the sense of achievement at the end was great. Not far from Marveo was the Cidade Romans de Ammaia - Roman Remains. We had a chat to one of the archaeologists there who informed us that they know there had been a city with over six thousand inhabitants that covered a very large area but so far less than 2% had been excavated and at present with the countries austerity measures there is no money to do further study of the site.
Wednesday 19th March 2014.
We went posh today and visited Vila Vicosa and its palace, the last residence of the Portuguese monarchy. We had certain misgivings as Trip Advisor reports were not all favourable, one saying that you must be accompanied by a guide during your trip and the guide would only give the tour talk in Portuguese unless he/she was telling you off in perfect English. Well; the guide is Portuguese, the palace is Portuguese and you are in Portugal why should the guide not speak Portuguese? We were clearly told at the reception desk that the guide would lecture in Portuguese only and that the priceless treasures could not be touched. As it happened we listened carefully to the guide and when we caught a word we understood relayed that to each other, the guide picked up on this and asked Sue if she spoke Portuguese she replied no, hardly a word. From then on after giving his lecture in Portuguese he would turn to Sue and I (although mainly Sue) and give a quick talk in English. The other Brits quickly learned to stand near us and by the end of the tour there were two lectures one in Portuguese and one in English. A great afternoon.
Thursday 20th March 2014.
By gum Brits abroad can be sad. We spent today washing the car - how sad is that?
Virtually every supermarket and butcher in Portugal sells Quail. We determined to try these tiny birds before we left so the last time we went shopping we bought some, one for a starter two for a main, we were told. Even two seemed rather small for dinner so we bought some Quail eggs to go with them. After spatchcocking and seasoning them we popped them on a hot BBQ griddle plate expecting them to take no more than 15 minutes to perfection. After the due time they were cooking but not ready. After another ten minutes we realised we had run out of gas to the BBQ, a quick bottle change and fifteen minutes later we were sitting at the table wondering how to eat them. There is only one way. Fingers. With the eggs, a fresh salad and a bottle of local wine they went down a treat. We will most definitely repeat (without the gas fiasco) this easy and tasty meal.
Friday 21st March 2014.
When we went to Marváo and the roman remains on Tuesday we had intended to stop at Portalegre to visit the Tapeçaria de Portalegre which displays tapestries from the 17th century to the present day and shows the methods, materials and tools used to create them. It was a very worthwhile visit after which we went on to Castelo de Vide a super looking little town, unfortunately it was market day and the whole town was chocker block full and although we drove round found nowhere to stop - a pity as it looked a great place to explore so it’s on our list of places to return to.
Saturday 22nd March 2014.
Like last friday today was washing and housework day. Oh yes - thank you to all those who emailed Sue with tips to get me doing more of the housework but please remember, listening to music and operating the computer is VERY hard work.