Guincho & Cascais

Ever closer to the capital city, we're on the west coast at Guincho, one kilometre from the vast windswept beach and a few kilometres from the lively, quite upmarket holiday resort of Cascais. There's lots to see and we're here for three nights before moving on to Lisbon.

Its a bank holiday - which explains the hoards of Portuguese having a wonderful day by the sea. Apparently, Lisbon is very quiet!

Next day we head out to Sintra, famous and historic and, as wonderful as it is, absolutely packed with holidaymakers.

We walk the old town and attempt the Michelin Guide suggested driving tour of the Serra de Sintra, an area full of palaces and castles but resolve to return by train from Lisbon next week without car and, hopefully, fewer holidaymakers.

Still, the café toilets were interesting... (apologies to those of a sensitive nature).

Heading back, we stop at Cabo da Roca, the most westerly point of Europe.

The nearest Europe will ever get to the USA:

We spend the late afternoon watching the incredible antics of windsurfers on our 'local' beach at Guincho.

Our last day sees a visit to the National Palace & Gardens of Quilez, dubbed the Portuguese Versailles.... and impressive it is, too.

Lisbon tomorrow all being well... That could be pretty amazing.. so much to see, so much to do...

Join us?

São Pedro de Moel

Inching towards Lisbon, a short trip of around 90km with the 'van brings us to the coastal town of São Pedro de Moel which has a campsite that's a great base for exploring Sue's well researched sites of interest. It's so good that we've decided to stay for three nights. 

We've been exploring some fascinating stuff- so more to come.... But Vinho Verde calls - desculpe...

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Normal service resumes.... So:

After arriving at this excellent Orbitur site, we pitch the 'van on the sloping pitch and head off to Nazaré, a coastal holiday town full of holidaying Portuguese - but all the better for that. We ride the funicular to the upper town where street vendors hopefully display their (mostly attractive) goods then walk down to the point which is a world renowned surfing area. 

Apparently, Atlantic waves from each side of the cliffs diffract around the point and interfere constructively which, with the right conditions, can produce waves of up to 30m. Terrifying. We  watch videos of surfers on these waves which, to me looks almost suicidal. There's a brilliant centre here explaining all this in detail and the analysis and impact of the deep ocean trench at this point. 

Anyway, before heading back we lighten up and eat a traditional Portuguese meal of pork and clams....

Monday arrives and, after an unusually long deep sleep for me (at leat that's what my smartwatch tells me), duly rested, we head off to Tomar a historic town which is home to the Convento de Christo, originally constructed by the Knights Templar. Wonderful. Just look at this call to prayer horn..

Heading back to base we spend time exploring the Mosteiro da Batalha, its architecture renowned as an example of Portuguese Gothic art. There is so much history in this small country. 

Tuesday sees us having a restful day in our 'home town' of São Pedro de Moel, walking to the lighthouse. It's warm and so, for the first time on this trip, we cook and eat outside - the (new) cooking machine working a treat.

We keep extending our stay here but Wednesday is set to be the last day as we head out to see one of the most beautiful and renowned Cistercian abbeys, Mosteiro de Santa Maria, at Alcobaça. Fascinating.

Finally we head to the medieval city of Óbidos, protected by a massive perimeter wall... We walk the somewhat terrifying perimeter ramparts, with no barriers between us and a somewhat lengthy drop to oblivion. 

It's a beautiful place to spend a couple of hours though, with plenty of nice street restaurants, and historic buildings. Even the many gift shops don't detract.

....well it's not quite finally because there's Lidl to visit and also BP to fuel the car with a present of 98 octane petrol as we're towing again. So we do all that and now it's time to think about our next destination. That'll be Guincho, not so far from Lisbon; see you there, then, all being well.

Captivating Coimbra

We're in Coimbra's municipal campsite - which is fine, apart from the two groups of motorhomers taking up a large number of  potential pitches, meaning that we're a little squashed in. Still, we're touring so that hardly matters for fwo nights.

We arrive from Aveiro around midday, pitch the van and head off to the large coastal city of Figueira da Foz which has a vast, fine sandy beach, some up-market looking hotels but, for us, it lacks a little character. 

We walk the length of the entire beachfront but are surprised by the scarcity of enticing restaurants. Nice place, though. 

We return to find the 'van surrounded by campervans but next to us is a little Portuguese caravan and we are just able to squeeze the car in between with the owner's cooperation. We have a nice chat to our new Australian motorhome neighbours in a French-plated van.

We wake up the next day to promising sunshine with an interesting day ahead. Coimbra is a centre of historic interest, in which the large and famous university has played its part. We motor in and walk around the old town which, although crumbling in places, exudes character. The university students tend to live together, almost communally,  in 'republics', each having their own distinct characteristics. 

The university itself is well worth the visit. It's getting hot but we have a great time absorbing the town's character as we work our way around some 'must see' sights. We finish our visit to this town with a great lunch at a little side street restaurant.

The University Square 

Lunch....

Before returning 'home', we head for the immensely impressive Roman site at Conimbriga. Wonderful - but we're a little surprised to see the mosaics baking uncovered in the hot sun. 

Aldi then home and prep for the trip to Sao Pedro de Moerel tomorrow. See you there?

Portugal! (Aviero)

 Our first stop in Portugal...

..is Aveiro ( well not quite, we're camped in Barra but, as you see, we're a short bus ride away.) 

There's lots to see and say about Aveiro but, after the uplifting trip here, over the the mountainous, green central spine of the country, it's time to relax tonight before we catch that bus tomorrow. More then, after this:

Taking the local bus from Barra lands us right in the centre of Aviero; its easy to see why this delightful town is known as 'Little Venice' with its network of canals plied by decorated wide bottomed boats (molicieros), once full of harvested seaweed, now tourists. We take the canal trip, visit the sights, feel the atmosphere and enjoy a meal of locally caught sea bass washed down with a glass of duaro. Great start. The link above says more about this fascinating historic place than I can - and more eloquently, obviously.

The Canal Central 

Church at Barra, near to the campsite 

The facade of the Museu de Arte Nova

A great place to eat

Think it's the city of Coimbra tomorrow - if we can get into the site 🤞

Heading South...

 We decide to leave the day before our crossing, spending the night at the CAMC campsite near Folkestone so that we can relax, check everything works and we haven't forgotten something critical.

Leaving our Folkstone stopover after a (very) early shower we head for Le Shuttle, speed through a seamless check-in and security check, wait in the queue for French passport check behind a rather tasty McLaren then park the outfit and head for a nice Starbucks coffee and snack before embarquement on an earlier than booked crossing. This is why we love Le Shuttle.

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The decision to travel on Sunday was a good one. Although it, as expected, proves impossible to park at a serviced aire which are full of HGVs, we settle for a relaxed lunch in the 'van at a small aire. 

The running to Le Mans was extremely straightforward (gold star to the new motor - more comments in the 'car' tab) and we're now sitting in the 'van at our stopover campsite, Le Pont Remain, feeling quite chilled, even after driving through a torrential thunderstorm. Bordeaux or perhaps further tomorrow, all being well.

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....and we make it (in pouring rain) past Bordeaux to Camping Val de l'Eyre at Salles but the rain kindly stops for us to pitch the 'van. 

A wet journey it was indeed - but free of camions again because it's a public holiday so keeping to a steady cruising speed was possible, apart from the Bordeaux ring road of course. Let's lie back, have a cuppa and chill for a while.

España tomorrow! We're aiming for Tordesillas with an overnight at Camping el Astral which is around 550km - so a longer day if we make it. Our normal plan is to have a relaxing late afternoon and evening so let's see.

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Well, here we are after a longer day, setting off at 8.45am and arriving here at 5pm for the journey of around 560km.

The legal limit for towing in Spain is 80km/h for our 4 tonne outfit which means, if you stick to this, you become a mobile road-block for the train of heavy lorries just released from holiday captivity. Common sense prevails but we take a relaxed approach with a couple of stops - one for a rather nice chorizo tortilla on the outskirts of San Sebastián. As is becoming the norm, the XC60 happily coped with all the challenges it faced, including some fairly long, steep climbs through breathtaking scenery.

Nice site, nice town - pity about the rain. Still we're feeling good - and it's uplifting to be in our second home country again.

Portugal tomorrow, ABW - so that's the end of this post about getting there...... See you in our destination country then?