WESTERN ALGARVE, FULL MOON and SPRING EQUINOX

For me heading west along the Algarve holds many treasures but once we reach Lagos and go beyond there we enter a quiet, green and beautiful area with clear light and some very special places. Much reminds me of Cornwall and my earliest holiday memories.

This time we took a brief look at Luz, a quaint village, before returning to a special beach Praia do Furnas.  About a dozen campers were parked at the end of the rough unmade road. 

No longer do we see the expensive showroom vehicles. Here are a selection of mostly older vehicles, often Mercedes vans, converted to homes, all different and unique. It is not right to call the owners hippies, although some could be so described.

Here are young and old people who love to be in nature and living a free life. Some are families with young children. It is so good to be here away from street lighting. In fact we enjoyed the magic of the full moon bathing the place in soft light all night, and the Spring Equinox.

Reluctantly we moved on to find a camp site at Salema as we felt the need for a service stop, showers, washing machine and electricity to make our favourite green smoothies. On arrival we found the site closed and undergoing work so drove down to Salema village and found a quiet corner of a car park with trees and plants which we had missed on a previous visit, and settled comfortably there for two nights.

We met Sheena and Michael (Written in Wood) who told us about the “hidden” Saturday market of Aljezur on the west coast which became our next destination.

Around Portimão

Some images from around Portimão

fishing village of Alvor

Ferragudo, on the east side of the river.

RETURN TO SEVILLA AND ALGARVE

We took an early flight from Malta to Sevilla (Spain) allowing us time to sight-see in Sevilla together 

this time before taking the 5 hour bus ride to Portimao (Portugal).

It is not always easy to find the best deals on-line, and often the cost is higher on-line as they charge some booking or administration fee. We decided to buy the bus tickets in Spain and paid 20 euros each for the Eva Bus (Damas Bus) instead of the faster Alsa Bus (less stops) for 43 euros.

The difference more than paid for the 21 euro taxi ride to Awakeland where our Motorhome awaited us.

We left the next afternoon to start our busy time of getting some technical things fixed for the vehicle and taking steps towards residence in Portugal. Inside the workshop.....

Being nomadic is becoming more difficult and restrictive.

We favour “wild camping” for the majority of time which just means that we find some public place to park and to sleep. If we put table and chairs outside or open the awning we are then camping and run the risk of being moved on by the Police or fined in some places. Some towns designate parking spaces for vehicles like ours and provide facilities to “drop” our grey water and black water.

Our other normal alternative is to take service stops for one or two days at camping sites, or indeed to winter there at discounted rates as many people do. Perhaps next year for the deepest winter months?

In between these options are private motorhome parks and we tried two for the first time. They work on the basis that the vehicle is self-contained and the site supplies the minimum of water and toilet emptying facilities, and perhaps a couple of toilets and showers. The first had two “bathrooms” where we took a luke-warm shower from solar heating. Larger vehicles have showers and the owners stay in the vehicle, but a few like us use the external shower.

We were surprised that these two adjacent parks were full, so we could not use the chosen one on the day we arrived, but next morning before 10 am we took a place there with electricity. The two showers there (50 cents for 4 minutes) were heated by gas and were hot.

As stated before having electricity allows us to use the blender to make out green smoothie drinks, and to have adequate light. We still have a dead leisure battery and will take it to change under warrantee when we return to south east Spain.

March has arrived and we are enjoying longer days and better temperatures, except when some bad weather passes though. T shirt weather has arrived.

It is a joy to buy food in local markets.