Beech's 1st moho adventure

[Podney]

Man that looks awesome...the downside to travelling alone ..i don't eat out often ☹ feel a plonker sat there on my ownsome

Well don’t!
Just smile at the couples who aren't having a conversation.
And take a book.

 

[Podney]

Now,I know you’re not stooooopid,and youre not wet behind the ears,but............
......do be careful on those fantastic beaches on the west coast. I have seen numerous incidents where lifeguards have had to rescue folk caught in rip-tides,and knew one guy who was a very good swimmer who drowned in that area. The beaches north of there for 30 miles or so are wonderful for surfers but take care.
Sorry to be a mis.but seen it happen and not something you forget.

This weekend coming is “different” in Portugal. It’s All Saints Day on Sunday,Monday is some special day. Youre not meant to travel “out of area “ until Tuesday 6a.m.

Its worth checking the rules. Some funsters on here live in Portugal so may advise,but gov website is worth a looky looky!

 

[Helen Ariel]

Now,I know you’re not stooooopid,and youre not wet behind the ears,but............
......do be careful on those fantastic beaches on the west coast. I have seen numerous incidents where lifeguards have had to rescue folk caught in rip-tides,and knew one guy who was a very good swimmer who drowned in that area. The beaches north of there for 30 miles or so are wonderful for surfers but take care.
Sorry to be a mis.but seen it happen and not something you forget.

This weekend coming is “different” in Portugal. It’s All Saints Day on Sunday,Monday is some special day. Youre not meant to travel “out of area “ until Tuesday 6a.m.

Its worth checking the rules. Some funsters on here live in Portugal so may advise,but gov website is worth a looky looky!

Good advice. I lived in Australia many years ago and have the utmost respect for the ocean. We came south to Sagres as it’ll be a bit smaller (and warmer) here for the next few days. Also, we are staying put over the long weekend due to the 4 day travel restrictions in place. Cheers, Paul

 

[Helen Ariel]

One of my best days of the trip today! We have arrived at Sagres, a place we were very much hoping we'd like enough to stay for awhile as we are weary from travelling and living in carparks. It has multiple beaches facing different directions and sheltered with high cliffs at the sides so good for surf, swim and sunbathing in various conditions. Only downside is the campsite is a 30 min walk to the town and beaches and had mixed reviews.

We stayed last night in the carpark right by the beaches, then went for a surf on the southern facing beach, then watched the insane 30ft waves crashing up the cliffs, sending spray 100ft up the cliffs at Tonel beach.

After a quick lunch we drove through the town, noting restaurants and a fish shop that we'd like to go to, over to another very sheltered beach near the harbour and situated by a very posh resort. 3 lovely beaches to choose from and the place just has a very relaxed, friendly vibe and the forecast is brilliant for the next week.

So the only remaining piece of the puzzle was the campsite and whether we would be happy making it our base for awhile.

Whilst DH used the services near the entrance I took Beech in search of the perfect pitch......and I think I found the best one of the site and that suits our needs really well.

My criteria were... a nice flat pitch because we will be moving the van daily to drive to the beaches so the less things to sort, like levellers, the better, a spot that gets the afternoon/evening sun for as long as possible because I love the sun and at this time of year it's not about for that long and I want to be able to sit out and read in my chair, not too busy with comings and goings of others because it sets Beech off barking when other dogs go by but not completely dead as it's nice to have someone to get chatting to and somewhere to put up our washing line.

It's a big site with lots of tall pines making most pitches shady but at the very far end I found my dream pitch.

There's no-one in the adjacent pitches at the moment and i don't think they are hugely popular as there is no electric down this end but the next pitch over on each side has semi permanent looking setups so hopefully not to much changeover and I also really liked the music coming out of one of the vans and it means we won't feel worried to put on music of our own from time to time.

Behind us is just rugged countryside and in front is a grassy space that would probably have tents in the summer season so not overlooked at all. We'll get sun on the panels morning and afternoon and the batteries will get topped up with a regular drive anyway.

We feel so content here that we have done a bit of a deal for a 2 week stay for 14e a night and this includes the Orbitur membership card so if we stay longer or at any of their other sites we get 20% off.

More pics tomorrow but this was me enjoying being able to sit out after the sun had set about 6pm.

 

[Just smiffy]

It’s a nice area around Sagres, I stayed at the fort car park a couple of nights then at a stop over looking praia de Mareta beach, there’s a nice ice-cream shop by the roundabout..

the intermarche supermarket has a motorhome service station too, very handy..

enjoy...

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[Northernraider]

Loved sagres i think its the best part of the algarve ...i stayed in the fort carpark too ... height of summer though and it was packed

 

[Helen Ariel]

We spent our first night in the fort car park too Northernraider and Just smiffy

It wasn’t as busy out of season but still about 25 vans of various sizes parked for the night.

 

[Podney]

Have you been to the museum yet? I don’t know if it’s open at the mo,but worth a look.

 

[Helen Ariel]

Have you been to the museum yet? I don’t know if it’s open at the mo,but worth a look.

Didn’t know there was one! Will check it out if its open and update you.

 

[Podney]

Didn’t know there was one! Will check it out if its open and update you.

It’s the one at the point at Sagres,not far from where you parked the first night. Henry the Navigator and all that.

There,and at Cape St Vincent,you may also see flocks of migrating birds on their long journey south. They may have all gone through by now though. Migration.........one of the wonders of nature! How do they do that???

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[Helen Ariel]

Epic day today for me in my beginner body boarding journey. 2 solid hours out in the ocean, no injuries or bashings or feeling scared just beautiful but still challenging waves and a heap of progress for me learning timings, which waves to leave and which to go for, got 3 or 4 really brilliant rides on the clean face of the wave and then all the way in to the beach.

When we got back to the van we got chatting to a guy who had parked up next to us who had been travelling alone since the beginning of October from Bath and ended up going for a bite of lunch with him. Swapped numbers and I'm sure we'll see him again now that we're staying put for awhile.

Spent the rest of the day watching the shit hot surfers on Beliche beach and then went to stock up on food and drink at the Intermarche.

Well the day just got even better for me and I'm a bit embarrassed to say why but basically it involves my favourite tipple which I've not had since leaving the uk. I cleaned out the supermarket of Stowford Press

Home to the campsite, put away all our lovely clean, sun dried laundry and fired up the bbq for the perfect end to a perfect day

 

[Helen Ariel]

Winner winner chicken dinner! Got a reduced price, huge free range chicken at Lidl. I was a bit surprised to find it complete with giblets, a bag of blood and some feathers still attached but it made a lovely roast. All done in one roasting tray except for the runner beans.

Well earned after a couple of days of surfing and a long walk today.

Surf was still quite big today!

 

[Just smiffy]

Looks tasty, love the big lumps of garlic....

 

[Helen Ariel]

Looks tasty, love the big lumps of garlic....

Good for the blood!

 

[Podney]

Loverly grub!

Where are you off to next? Nosy bugger I am!

Are you going to any more of the surfing beaches just north from you,or heading East towards Lagos? Hope the sun comes out again for you.

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[bigtree]

There’s a cracking beach just back up the coast at Bordeira.

 

[Helen Ariel]

Loverly grub!

Where are you off to next? Nosy bugger I am!

Are you going to any more of the surfing beaches just north from you,or heading East towards Lagos? Hope the sun comes out again for you.

We are staying put for at least the next couple of weeks on the campsite just outside of town. Got a great deal and happy to use it as a base to explore this part of Portugal. Weather is mixed for the next couple of days, but the surf forecast is picking up again!

We could end up being here for a few weeks!

 

[Helen Ariel]

Beautiful sunrise this morning. It seems to get light really quickly here so before I'd managed to jump out of bed some of the beautiful pink had already gone from the sky.

The rest of the day was pretty cloudy.

We checked out the local market and picked up some veggies but there was no fresh fish unfortunately then we did a short drive to check another beach that our new friend had mentioned, Zavial.

Another lovely, sandy cove and it had some small surf with a couple of surf schools out. Slightly bigger surf forecast tomorrow so I'm keen to go back.

A quick lidl shop and then home to the campsite for a quiet afternoon. I'm not minding the less glorious weather as it's a nice excuse to bimble round the van and get some chores done.

I made a couple of sourdough pittas to go with chicken kebabs, garlic sauce and THE most expensive corn on the cob I've ever eaten! I'm not sure if we got a tourist tax but after checking the receipt from the market and wondering how we had spent 10e on a few veg we discovered the 2 sweetcorn were 3.60e! They were deliciously sweet and tender though so it kinda made up for it.

Apologies if the posts become a little more mundane for the next few weeks as we take a break from touring.

 

[James-Alex]

Beautiful sunrise this morning. It seems to get light really quickly here so before I'd managed to jump out of bed some of the beautiful pink had already gone from the sky.
View attachment 437979View attachment 437980
The rest of the day was pretty cloudy.

We checked out the local market and picked up some veggies but there was no fresh fish unfortunately then we did a short drive to check another beach that our new friend had mentioned, Zavial.

Another lovely, sandy cove and it had some small surf with a couple of surf schools out. Slightly bigger surf forecast tomorrow so I'm keen to go back.

A quick lidl shop and then home to the campsite for a quiet afternoon. I'm not minding the less glorious weather as it's a nice excuse to bimble round the van and get some chores done.

I made a couple of sourdough pittas to go with chicken kebabs, garlic sauce and THE most expensive corn on the cob I've ever eaten! I'm not sure if we got a tourist tax but after checking the receipt from the market and wondering how we had spent 10e on a few veg we discovered the 2 sweetcorn were 3.60e! They were deliciously sweet and tender though so it kinda made up for it.
View attachment 437985
View attachment 437986View attachment 437987
Apologies if the posts become a little more mundane for the next few weeks as we take a break from touring.

Still great to see what beech and humans are doing

 

[Podney]

Beautiful sunrise this morning. It seems to get light really quickly here so before I'd managed to jump out of bed some of the beautiful pink had already gone from the sky.
View attachment 437979View attachment 437980
The rest of the day was pretty cloudy.

We checked out the local market and picked up some veggies but there was no fresh fish unfortunately then we did a short drive to check another beach that our new friend had mentioned, Zavial.

Another lovely, sandy cove and it had some small surf with a couple of surf schools out. Slightly bigger surf forecast tomorrow so I'm keen to go back.

A quick lidl shop and then home to the campsite for a quiet afternoon. I'm not minding the less glorious weather as it's a nice excuse to bimble round the van and get some chores done.

I made a couple of sourdough pittas to go with chicken kebabs, garlic sauce and THE most expensive corn on the cob I've ever eaten! I'm not sure if we got a tourist tax but after checking the receipt from the market and wondering how we had spent 10e on a few veg we discovered the 2 sweetcorn were 3.60e! They were deliciously sweet and tender though so it kinda made up for it.
View attachment 437985
View attachment 437986View attachment 437987
Apologies if the posts become a little more mundane for the next few weeks as we take a break from touring.

Don’t apologise!

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[Podney]

“no fresh fish”.............I don’t belieeeeeeeeeeeeeeve it!

Have you been down(very down) to the harbour where the fishermen(other genders are available) bring in their catch.
Its at the far end where the concrete jetty sticks out.
If you go up the steps there is a restaurant where they serve the best fish in Sagres. It’s above the scruffy fishy area!

 

[Helen Ariel]

“no fresh fish”.............I don’t belieeeeeeeeeeeeeeve it!

Have you been down(very down) to the harbour where the fishermen(other genders are available) bring in their catch.
Its at the far end where the concrete jetty sticks out.
If you go up the steps there is a restaurant where they serve the best fish in Sagres. It’s above the scruffy fishy area!

Not yet but we did drive past and wondered whether we could get some there. I thought maybe no fish today due to the public holiday yesterday....

 

[BreweryDave]

Yes, public holiday weekend, also, usually no ‘fresh’ fish on Mondays as the fishing boats don’t go out on Sundays, and the markets are closed

 

[Helen Ariel]

It was really windy yesterday so we drove over to the lighthouse at Fortaleza De São Vicente the most South Westerly point of Portugal. The swell was quite strong so it was mesmerising watching the ocean move up and down the cliff.

Then we headed to my favourite beach, Mareta, on the South Coast and a bit more sheltered from the Northerly wind.

Beech enjoyed a bit of a surf.

Today the forecast is bright, breezy and cool 16 degrees high and the humans are hoping for a surf.

 

[Jimbohorlicks]

Frost here today, so enjoy your 16 degrees.

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[Podney]

I will never tire of going to Cape St. Vincent,I think just to breathe in the fresh air is the best medicine there is!
Lots of sheltered beaches along that stretch all the way to Lagos where it starts to get busier......but not at the moment!!!

 

[Just smiffy]

Is there any/many motorhomes parked up at the back of the beach by mar à vista restaurant...? We parked there for a few days, great vista...

 

[Helen Ariel]

Is there any/many motorhomes parked up at the back of the beach by mar à vista restaurant...? We parked there for a few days, great vista...

A few but the GNR have been knocking them up early in the mornings!

 

[busby]

I will never tire of going to Cape St. Vincent,I think just to breathe in the fresh air is the best medicine there is!
Lots of sheltered beaches along that stretch all the way to Lagos where it starts to get busier......but not at the moment!!!

Used to be a food van there with the sign LAST HAMBURGER BEFORE AMERICA,, BUSBY.

 

[bigtree]

Used to be a food van there with the sign LAST HAMBURGER BEFORE AMERICA,, BUSBY.

Yep, saw it.

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