Wed 29 Nov 16° Ferraguado - Vilamoura

Heavy, Short sharp bursts of rain off and on all night, some motorhomes left, one chap said he was here last year and the rain didn't affect the surface,  so we were ok.

Decided to leave today and head for a campsite,  as we were packing up we could see Guarda going round all the motorhomes, they came to us,  said this is a protected area and not allowed to camp  €150 fine if we stay any longer, today just warning everyone, he knows it is on a site but  it is not allowed.

Onto N125 very good road, very large concrete Aire just before massive water park, went in to empty then carried on.
Emailed  campsite but waiting to here back, passed it, and went on to Aldi, few provisions and had lunch,  message to say booking accepted. So went back.

Checked in at 2pm, Gérard welcomed us and showed to us to our pitch,  between laden orange trees, which were free to enjoy.

Gérard from South Africa and Anthea from Australia , very friendly, not long opened this site, €8 all services, but if use over 4kw Ehu pay €2 per extra kW.  Wifi €1 for 1gb.

Anthea  said she would show me the washing machine, €5 takes 75 mins....but gets a good wash, dryer is €1 for 20 mins.

Shower not working she is obviously the handyman in her overalls trying to fix the shower,  toilet only open when cafe/bar isopen. Site is right on the main N125 road, so bit of noise but lovely to be able to open windows, put the awning out and relax for a few days.

Tony noticed at Aldi the water tank cover has come off, so mentioned it to Gérard,  who said they do disintegrate, there for protection and also stop freezing in cold weather, there is a Scots motorhome mechanic down the road, he will have a look for us, if he can help he will.

Chilli prawns and salad for dinner, with delicious fresh oranges off one of the many trees.

Tues 28 Nov 17° Ferraguado near Portimao

Very quiet, peaceful warm night, lovely spot, very melodic bells ringing for 8am, others quite odd times like 10 to the hour, we found out this is for a funeral.

We walked into the charming little fishing village, most places  closed for winter season, just the odd few open.  In one shop a lovely young woman with very good English, told us that not the season for fresh sardines,  only tin. Jose Marino the coach of Manchester United parents have a house in the village and he still comes here for his holiday to escape all the attention, he is very humble and says hello to everyone and stops to talk as if is just one of them. He was born in Setubal and has a mansion on the coast but prefers to come here.

We bought a Cork fridge magnet from her, she showed us a couple of good restaurants for lunch, but she must have thought we were rich tourists as both quite expensive, thanked her and kept walking. Lots of handbags made from Cork and several other souvenir items from Cork.

Walked up hill to the church, got a good view of the camp, a little cafe was open so had Coco Loch milkshake with coconut and a cappuccino milkshake, yum.

Back down to Bessie for lunch,  Tony cooked egg, ham and tomato in pita pocked, very tasty.

Great place, watching motorhomes come and check out the many different places in the sand to park....just as we did.

Did some forward planning. Sat in the sun.

Heavy rain and thunder storm....

Pork and veges for dinner.

Mon 27 Nov 14° Aljezur - Ferraguado near Portimao

Batata Dolce festival or as we say Kumera

Road down to Sagres very patchy with repairs, 16 miles no roundabouts about 3 miles rough then back on smooth surface. The trees along the roadside have roots pushing up edges of tarmac causing cracks, drove past a wind farm in the National Park.

Stopped at Intermarche for diesel €1.24 much better got €30, there was a laundromat like they have at Carrefour in France, several motorhomes parked up doing their washing .

Down a cobbled road in to Fortaleza , 2 hours walk around, €3 for us both, famous for Henry the Navigator that took Portuguese products to the world. Blustery out on the exposed point, nearly lost my cap a couple of times it blew off, managed to get it back.

It was blustery and the screen very dark difficult to see what I was taking, didn't realise Tony had walked off haha

Had lunch then to Sao Vincent, the most south west point in Europe, very windy, but lighthouse closed. Good for bird watching.

Carried on along the N125, very good road, into free aire on beach, large area with lots of places to choose from, several Motorhomes here, town or harbour views. Very good spot.

Sun 26 Nov 12° Santa Susana -Aljezur

Farewelled Mo, Ken and Chester and with my new curly scarf we drove south. Good road out but very bad rough patches, IC33 to Sines, green one side, dry sandy the other, very flat, long straight roads, 25 Miles with no roundabouts. Stopped at Porta Cova for coffee, free aire recommended by Mo and Ken, then to Odecoixe On N390 good road, also recommended by Mo and Ken, had lunch then drove to aire but terrible road out to beach area and back.

Lidl with 5 dedicated motorhome parks.

8 big brown wooly sheep ran across the road to the orange Orchard,  not close enough for us to have to brake.

Stopped for diesel but they had run out...21° warm...but grey overcast sky. Into Aljezur,  got diesel €1.36 eeekkkk got  €30. Into the town and behind a bar/restaurant,  down a slope and a large car park opened up on the backs of houses and a dried old river. Lots of motorhomes here. Tony spoke to a Brit who said we are lucky to come today, normally not much happens but there is a sweet potato festival on up in the town on the hill behind the church. So we had a cuppa, had a chat to Pat and Les, they have sold their house in Spain so agreed to meet them to farewell Casa Patrizia in mid January for a few days before the handover, they are now packing up 15 years of memories, lots of wonderful, happy memories to farewell.

Walked up the hill , past the church, about half an hour and came to a massive shed with what was like a mini home show, hundreds of people here, music, bars, places to eat, jewellery , scarfs, hats, bags and of course  everything possible made from the humble kumera , sweets, deserts, fritters, cakes, big oval chip and baked jacket kumera, amazing.
We bought a fritter with sugar and cinnemon, very nice and some of the chips which were a bit dry so took the rest home to have with dinner. It was dark when we left but the town was well lit as was our car park.

Chicken stir fry with kumera chips for dinner.  Batata Dolce festival very good to see.

Sat 25 Nov 9° Santa Susana

Wet today and cooler. We took Chester for a walk to look at the damn , Mo finished a curly scarf and gave it to me, a turquoise colour so will be a good match for lots of my clothes, very kind of her.

Go over to them at 7pm after dinner for games evening.

Had the marinated beef, much more tender than the first lot.

Learnt 2 new games, one with dominoes called Chicken Feet, bit of a laugh and a card game with 2 packs including jokers called Bugger. When we got back at 10.30 I made a few notes so hope to remember how to play them later on.

Another good evening.

Fri 24 Nov 11° Santa Susana

Dry warm morning, Ken and Mo from Northampton gave us their All the Aires book and map to take photos and notes of LPG and Aires in Portugal and Spain, very kind of them.

Spoke to other British all here for 2nd time on way south. We walked up to the restaurant and to check out the loo and shower block.  Ken and Mo there getting water, we went over to check the menu, they had rabbit on the menu.....so decided we would all go tonight and support the local restaurant,  booked for 7pm. Mo a vegetarian pasta, Tony the rabbit, the secret black pork for me and fish Chips and peas for Ken.

Sat in the sun talking and other neighbours an older Irish couple,  very nice gentle couple in a smaller motorhome but had their bikes so still very fit. Mo gave me some more coordinates of places they came to last year down south, she knits curly scarves, used to sell then for charity. We swapped books which was great I got a Marian Keys, This Charming Man,  very funny in the style if Bridget Jones the way she writes each character talking.

Agreed to meet at theirs 6.15pm for pre dinner drink...so had to leave at 6.15 haha.

Lovely evening,  Tony really enjoyed his rabbit....got talking to an English lady with her Dad, she lives here but commutes to Cardiff each week, she is a University Lecturer...that's a big effort to fly back and forth every week.

Back to Mo and Kens for a port night cap. Decided to stay another night and have a games evening.

Thurs 23 Nov 13° Fatima - Santa Susana near Setubal

Early morning departure for the German convoy, all gone by 8am, grey but warm with a storm and lightening forecast. Leisure batteries up to 14.2 so all good.

The sun came out for our drive south, excellent road IC2 beside the Parquet Natural dos Serras.  Very windy with strong gusts, but no rain, long straight roads 30 Miles no roundabouts yeahhhhh. Lots of lorries passing us going the other way from Lisbon. After 20 miles of really good surface it turned a bit rough for about 6 Mile's,  not too bad though and then back on good smooth tar mac.

Fields of Grape vines in their autumn glory shining in the sun, passed two women of the night on the side of the road, looking for some business.

Stopped in Vila Franca Lidl for fruit and veg and milk, we had lunch here,  now 21°.

Carried on and the ground turned much dryer here and sandy, many trees had their bark taken off from the bottom, half way up and numbers painted on.

More long straight roads with good surface, a pleasure to drive on, now on N10. Then onto a little side road and what seemed like a rural road through farm land, oh dear not looking too good for our stop tonight , but about 1 Mile along it opened up, toilet and shower block, restaurant,  then down into 3 separate parking areas for motorhomes , quite a few here, parked overlooking the Dam.  British neighbours,  Ken and Mo, with a mini schnauzer called Chester, saw us arrive at Fatima before they left. Their daughter also lives in Streatham....small world.

Had a chat with them then back for a cuppa,  then the forecast rain arrived.....the dirt car park will probably turn very muddy, so decided not to go and support the restaurant which was a shame.

Spanish Omelet and vegetables for dinner. 

Again wifi signal too weak to put photos on.

Wed 22 Nov 8° Fatima

Relaxing day catching up on paperwork etc. Lots of incoming motorhomes and some leaving me very busy, popular place. A convoy of 7 German A Class motorhomes arrived , got out their chairs and table and sat drinking beer. Looks more like a motorhome rally here today.

Tony walked back over to the other entrance, got a photo of a red heart sculpture, lots of shops there at main entrance got a souvenir tea towel.

He asked a man about the wax limbs and body parts, he explained that if someone is sick in a particular part of their body or baby is unwell, they can put that particular effigy or get someone else to do it for them, on the Furnace to ask for healing and ride them of the disease. We sort of thought that might be the reason, but it was still very creepy seeing the melting body parts.

Pork schnitzel, roast kumera, onions and red pepper, brussels and carrots for dinner with gravy. Had a glass of the Portuguese Vinho Verde.

Temperature stayed cool all day.

Wifi signal too weak to put photos on,

Tues 21 Nov 11° Aveiro - Fatima

Warm morning, we walked across the dirt carpark to the Canal with a couple of gondola wannabes.....motorised....not quite what I would call little Venice, but a nice ride up the canal for the tourists.

We passed an artificial square football field for some young boys playing football, very good for the little ones.

Road surface not too bad overall so far pretty good, just the cobbled roads in,  through and out of the towns and villages makes for a  bumpy ride in and out, but most the roads are very good.

Flatter down here, hope we have seen the end of the mountains for a while, lots of vegetable crops.

A lack of P places to pull over for lunch, don't know where the trucks have their breaks.

Stopped for diesel, much dearer here at average €1.38 , spotted it at €1.28 so got €40 and gpl was .64 got 12 ltrs €7.91, served again, the smell of hot roast pork was coming from the adjacent restaurant so Tony got 2 pork rolls for our lunch and 2 cooked pork schnitzel for tomorrow's dinner.

It was 19° as we arrived at our free stop in Fatima, lovely area, 10 dedicated large motorhome bays with own picnic table and bench seats. Had our lunch then googled how far to the Shrine, said 35mins walk,  so we decided to explore the area.

Huge car park with lots of gardens and picnic areas with a church, so walked through and OMG it opened up to the amazing marble square which had been likened to St Peters in Rome. So there it was just behind us, the Sanctuary of Fatima with the Shrine of the Virgin Mary all just there....and it was free.....have been to churches and cathedrals that have asked for payment not a patch to this magnificent place.

There were Catholic Pilgrims on their knees walking down the dedicated path to the shrine, some had knee pads, then they carried on around the building housing the shrine and the Immaculate Heart of the Virgin Mary, and the chapel of the apparitions where Mary was said to have been seen, 100 years ago in 1917, so this is the Jubilee year.

The bells were rung frequently at no apparent time, 10 past the hour for example and often played a whole little tune.

 The large church with the 2  tombs of the little shepherds, was one end of the large square, then walking down several marble steps , through the square to the other end was a massive auditorium,  with photos of pilgrims over the years. As we were leaving,  I walked on to get a photo of the giant rosary and Tony witnessed a beggar who was sitting in the doorway, being kicked and manhandled away by a security guard and telling off a man who had put money in her bowl. Tony yelled at him about not being a very Christian thing to do and he just dismissed him with hand gestures to go away. That well and truly took the shine off the place.

Beef casserole with lime infused rice for dinner with speciality Portuguese Green Wine, which isn't really green to look at, slightly spritzig, very nice and went very well with lime rice.

At 7.30pm we walked back to see the area lit up, mass was being held in the shrine and several novice nuns were walking on their knees down the pilgrim path and round the shrine. We went over to look at the large candle area and were shocked to see large wax efergies of people, heads/skull and a leg being burnt, melted in a big Furnace type pit. Very macabre and creepy.....I walked away rather quickly, didn't like that at all, Tony walked around the back of the shrine and saw the priests open the door to the pilgrims who had been crawling around the chapel of apparitions, where the shrine of Mary's immaculate heart is, and gave them a special plenary indulgence and holy communion.

Macabre melting of efergies of people, heads and a leg.....very creepy

Novice nuns on knees crawling around the chapel of apparitions and shrine of the Virgin Mary Immaculate Heart

So an amazing place to visit even for the non religious, although I have no understanding of the rituals that the pilgrims perform, it was certainly worth coming.