Into Portugal

Monday 8^th September

Having picked a camp site from the ASCI book we set off down the toll motorway – as the satnav said that we would save quite a bit of time by doing that. The tolls when you get to Portugal are more interesting as far as payment, according to one of our books, so we decide to avoid toll roads once we get there. Lots of viaducts and tunnels again, but the weather was good, the scenery lovely and the journey uneventful. We lost an hour on the way, though, because Portugal is on the same time as the UK. Had to put the clocks back. Also stopped off at another Lidl on the way to get a few things. We are running short of toilet liquid, but looking on the net I found that quite a few other ‘seasoned’ motorhomers just use biological washing liquid instead of the proprietary fluid, and they say it works just as well. Give it a go, thought I, so I bought some. We’ll see how it goes (later, no doubt).

We arrived close to the campsite and I parked up so that we could look at the area. We walked down long boardwalks to the beach, which was quite nice, but had an industrial complex behind the dunes at one end. It was OK, but I had hoped for better. We returned to the van, had some lunch, and decided to try for a site a bit farther down the coast at Estela - The Orbitur Rio Alto.

Portuguese roads could do with some maintenance. At times it was like being back in Bristol. The weather stayed good, and we arrived at the site around about two thirty. Speaking no Portuguese, I tried my little Spanish at Reception. The lady behind the desk spoke one or two words of English – so we got by. I checked in for two nights, and we went to find a space.

Parked up on level tarmac, and plugged in, we explored the site. Found some tunnels which led directly to a nice beach. Lots of plastic bits on the beach – so I found a big bag, and did a bit of clearing up. Surprising what you find. We sat, then led down for a while, then we went back and found a washing machine, so got a token, put a load in, hung out the washing about an hour later. I put the awning out in case the threatened rain occurred.

We had chicken and rice to eat – I had bought a small chicken in Lidl. Far too much again – decided we could have the rest tomorrow. I hooked up my long aerial, and took advantage of the free wifi at reception. About nine o’clock by now. Watched a ‘Castle’ or two, then bed.