Adios Northern Spain, Ola Portugal

Ola, 

Well we have made it into Portugal now which is new territory for us as neither of us have ever been.  We left you last time saying we had one more stop in Northern Spain which we did at a little place called Barreiros which was a small site literally a stones throw from the beach, we stayed there for two nights as the weather wasn’t that good and we had been out exploring on the motorbike and seen most of what the area had to offer.  Just up the coast a bit were rocks on the beach known as the cathedrals because of the arches formed but because of the huge storms that had hit this coast earlier in the year the arches had collapsed and also caused so much erosion along the whole coast line of Northern Spain.  That afternoon an English couple turned up and we got chatting as you do, they had come up from Portugal and they had had nothing but rain for nine days and nights solid so were heading home as they had had enough but luckily for us we checked the weather and it was looking a lot better thank god!!  

The next morning came and time to leave Northern Spain and cross into Portugal heading for a place called Caminha just inside the border.  Again like Spain the roads are in a terrible state and there aren’t any nice places to pull up for a break and they even want the money up front for diesel!!  We arrived at Caminha and were greeted with a welcome smile and booked in and picked our pitch so set the van up and walked out onto the beach to stretch our legs after the drive.  The campsite was right next to the Rio (river) Minho with the sea one side with a huge beach with big waves and the other side the river estuary, a bit like Poole harbour & Sandbanks I guess but without the million pound houses.  Next day we went out on the motorbike and did about a 90 mile round trip down the coast exploring the many Praias (beaches) that we had spoke about and looked at a few options for when we moved on in a couple of days.  One of the sites we visited looked OK but the way to the beach involved walking down two fifty metre long concrete pipes under a flipping golf course which felt more like going down a storm drain than going to the beach so that one was crossed off the list!!

Next morning it was a bit dull so we decided to head further South to a place called Figueria Da Foz, on route the scenery changed again and became more what we expected with pine and eucalyptus trees lining the roads and small villages.  The site we were heading to was right next to the beach which we had also looked up in our kite bible and it said it was a good spot.  After a quick stop in the Intermarche on the way for some supplies we pulled up at a wonderful site which had exactly what they said, direct beach access so after getting set up we walked out onto the deserted beach and along into the small village, the waves were huge and the noise was incredible but there were a few brave souls out body boarding in the huge surf.  The next day after Julie doing all the washing and hanging it round most of the campsite we went for a cycle on the bike’s but didn’t get far as when we got near the beach promenade we spotted some kitesurfers just going out so after a quick u-turn back to our beach it was gear on and down the path to the our own beach which we had to ourselves as there was absolutely nobody about.  I must say we were a bit nervous as the waves were bigger than we were used to so I did the decent thing and sent Julie in first to test the water as they say and she was fine so I launched and headed in, it was a fab first kite session in Portugal and the first of our travels.  After we were done and showered we once again hung all our kite gear around the campsite to dry then our Portuguese neighbour said that he had some photos of us kiting so he passed them onto us (not great quality) which was really nice of him. 

One thing about the Portuguese & Spanish campsites is that some have a motorhome washing areas so we have been taking advantage of these to keep the van sparkling, don’t know how it gets so dirty!!!

Two funny things that happened this week were me being all flash flipping an omelette whilst cooking outside but completely messing it up and throwing it in the sand but luckily no-one else apart from Julie witnessed it which she found highly amusing and the other was while driving along Julie spotted a Portuguese bloke in a car staring so much at us in the van as we drove past that he veered off the side road he was turning out of straight into a ditch!!!

I had a nice chilled out Birthday too, so thanks for all the Birthday wishes :-)

We have now moved further South and are just below Lisbon at a little place called Melides on a site amongst pine trees in the middle of nowhere with the most beautiful beach we have come across so far and again we have it all to ourselves and the weather has improved dramatically with 20+ degrees daily & clear skies - but where is everybody??  We will be continuing to head South down towards the Algarve and will then head into Southern Spain so will keep you posted.

That’s all for now.

J&J

xx