29/02 Can we live cheaply or will we succumb to the Western way of
feasting and shopping? Had
a nice walk to the Marina and had a Gypsy Poo. Nice facilities. There is a gym
here, this could be handy. Purdy is of course being a nanna and not wanting to
be a ‘criminal’…
01/03 Drove from Portimao to Lagos and had lunch in Sagres. Found some awesome Motorhome spots down by the beach. Looks like a move is on the cards. The fortress is $3 each, but we get some great pics of us on the cliff tops.
01/03 Drove from Portimao to Lagos and had lunch in Sagres. Found some awesome Motorhome spots down by the beach. Looks like a move is on the cards. The fortress is $3 each, but we get some great pics of us on the cliff tops.
02/03 Met Dave the Scot in a massive Motorhome. Has a lot to say
about Portugal, Spain and Europe in general. Sounds like Spain isn’t the
paradise we thought it was. A bit dodgy maybe? Anyway, it gets us thinking that
maybe we should head straight for France as soon as the car cover arrives. Stru
tries 'Gypsy Gym', at the local resort. Big cardio workout and all for free,
no reception, no security. Gold!
Dave puts us onto some poms who are selling 2 new Leisure batteries. We pick them up for 200 and save a few bob I reckon. Tom the German helps us out with some monster cable to link them, and I spend a few hours gypsy googling the right way to set them up… Spend the afternoon sorting out the cable, terminals and connections.
Dave puts us onto some poms who are selling 2 new Leisure batteries. We pick them up for 200 and save a few bob I reckon. Tom the German helps us out with some monster cable to link them, and I spend a few hours gypsy googling the right way to set them up… Spend the afternoon sorting out the cable, terminals and connections.
Meet a Saffa called Ellegio
(‘E’) who is a great help and is a cool guy. Handy… Get the cables and stuff
sorted out by 1800, freezing cold I return to the ‘home and wait till tomorrow
to try and fit them… 03/03 Installed 2 new leisure batteries and
constructed a new cover for the battery box. It all went in sweet and works a
treat, and the solar panel charges the 2 new batteries by 1000 in the Portugese sun. Double capacity, nice.
04/03 Went for a drive to a beach near Banagil. Amazing little beach between the
cliffs with a carved tunnel with steps to get to the beach. Very cool. Filthy
pommy tourists throwing their butts in the sand… Typical smokers. Purdy gets to empty
the motorhome toilet for the first (and maybe last) time, gagging and dry reaching the
whole time much to the amusement of the other campers. remember, we only have #1s in there, so it's the smell of the pit she is emptying into that has her going off like an Alsatian on 1080...
The amazing beach at Benagil. A carved staircase to access it, and all to ourselves. Till the filthy poms turned up...
07/03 Peri Peri chicken home cooked on our new BBQ which we get sorted very easily in the end. Not a bad set up, and flame grilled BBQ Aussie/Portugal style is fantastic.
08/03 Gypsy googled from Maccas. New
neighbor, Richard the pom. Nice guy and doing it solo before he dies at home
doing nothing. Too true.
09/03 Spend the day in Faro. It starts with
us arriving in Faro near the ‘old town’. There are these ‘gypsy parking
attendants’ all over the place, and they wait in the street and try to help you
park in the free parking and then hope for a handout, which is a little dodgy,
but surely harmless enough. Well next thing all hell breaks loose. A van full
of 6 cops turns up and the guy is ganked and frisked on the side of the road.
Silly aussies are standing there getting our camera out and a nice Policeman
explains that they are all druggies and they are not wanted in the area. All
said and done he’s let go, we lock the car and wonder off all a bit miffed at
the whole experience. An hour later we come back to the car and he’s there
waving at us and smiling. No harm done then! We head off to lunch at a local
park (dodgy, no parking, near a graveyard) and then onto the chapel of bones.
Sounds exciting, but as we are always late, the lazy b's are on lunch
from 1300 till 1500 we have to give it a miss.
So out the back to Estoi, where there are some of the oldest Roman ruins in the world. We have to wait for it to open (lazy!!!) and head back into town to a palace that has been turned into a hotel. Very flash, but all we care about is free toilet facilities. Back to the ruins and I get to walk on the oldest man-made thing I have ever seen. It’s a little bit awe inspiring that the tile mosaics and baths etc are still holding together some 1800 years later… When NEW houses in Australia start falling apart before you even move in…
On the way home there are empty, new roads, and a racetrack to visit. It's SO quiet this time of year...
10/03 Woke up early to get on the road asap. Spent a few hours trying to get away from our Austrian friends (Khrisna will miss Geena the massive Rotty) who were just too friendly for words. Rolled out of the park about 1015 and hit the highway. The N121 from West of Portimao, past Sagres and North toward Alentego is a great road and it broke my heart to be not in the 911… Anyway. Got to Porto Covo on the West coast about 1300 and found some places on the cliff tops where there was a heap of other ‘Homers parked up for the night. The cliffs overlook some amazing little beaches and the waves were massive, sounding like thunder! We looked all set for a few days parked with the best view I’ve ever seen when we were rudely awoken (from a tops nanny nap) by the Rozzers. We were all told we could not stay the night and had to move on, which is a bit of a chance anywhere when you are free parking...
So out the back to Estoi, where there are some of the oldest Roman ruins in the world. We have to wait for it to open (lazy!!!) and head back into town to a palace that has been turned into a hotel. Very flash, but all we care about is free toilet facilities. Back to the ruins and I get to walk on the oldest man-made thing I have ever seen. It’s a little bit awe inspiring that the tile mosaics and baths etc are still holding together some 1800 years later… When NEW houses in Australia start falling apart before you even move in…
On the way home there are empty, new roads, and a racetrack to visit. It's SO quiet this time of year...
 |
| Outside the world famous Portimao Race Track. Couldn't organise a track day unfortunately... |
10/03 Woke up early to get on the road asap. Spent a few hours trying to get away from our Austrian friends (Khrisna will miss Geena the massive Rotty) who were just too friendly for words. Rolled out of the park about 1015 and hit the highway. The N121 from West of Portimao, past Sagres and North toward Alentego is a great road and it broke my heart to be not in the 911… Anyway. Got to Porto Covo on the West coast about 1300 and found some places on the cliff tops where there was a heap of other ‘Homers parked up for the night. The cliffs overlook some amazing little beaches and the waves were massive, sounding like thunder! We looked all set for a few days parked with the best view I’ve ever seen when we were rudely awoken (from a tops nanny nap) by the Rozzers. We were all told we could not stay the night and had to move on, which is a bit of a chance anywhere when you are free parking...
 |
| On the cliffs at Porto Covo. Great spot till the cops kicked us out. |
So on to Sines (dodgy industrial town, no camping), and then we decide to head for Lisbon in the dark! Get into the city about 1900 and blunder over the crazy big bridge (called 25th of April?) apparently in the wrong lane, getting beeped all the way… We arrive at Lisboa Camping and get a really good strip for 18 a night. All camped up and snuggled in with my awesome wife. Tops.
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