23rd October (sunny and hot with late afternoon thunderstorm) 66 km

We had the whole camping part completely to ourselves apart from a guy in a hammock about 100 metres away.  Of course being 100 metres away didn’t stop Pete from hearing him chatting on his phone in the middle of the night and in his usual inquisitive way, he wondered who he might be chatting to at this time of night. He must have lay there listening to him for awhile before his curiosity got the better of him and he made the fateful mistake of rousing me from my beautifully deep sleep, to ask me where the phone was so he could check the time. It was 1.45am.  If I stopped all movement and held my breath, I could hear the guy quietly talking in the distance.  Why this should keep Pete awake I don’t know – just as I don’t know why after thirty years of marriage he still thinks waking me up in the middle of the night is a good idea.  Even if he presented me with a box of chocolates and a bouquet of flowers, I still wouldn’t be impressed.  I told him to only wake me if he could see the aurora borealis or if our lives were in danger and fumed for the next hour and a half before I could finally get back to sleep again.

Woke at 7.40am to a beautiful day and began packing up the tent quietly – mainly because we weren’t talking to each other.  While Pete went inside to pay and reclaim his passport which they insisted on holding for the night, I tried uploading the blog, but the wifi was too slow.  Even though the camp owner took a lifetime dealing with the two guys in front of us, who we think were questioning their rate.  Who’s going to quibble over 11.30 euros for the night? 

Pete here - Off we cycled , heading for Sines, a larger town in this area, but first we had to pass through another large town of Vila Nova de Santo Andre, where we called into an Intermarche to pick up supplies. When we arrived, they had a nice café out the front and so we treated ourselves to a café grande, a beautiful savoury roll each and a cake to share….delicious. Then we shopped.

Found a great road alongside the autostrada, which we had jumped on for a while, because no one was on it. But after getting beeped to get off, we found the old main road, with even less people on it. Made great time on here and it took us most of the way to the town of Sines, where the first building we saw was a Mc Donalds. As Julia hadn’t finished publishing the blog, we decided to stop here. Got set up with free power and I ordered two coffees off the board, which is how all Mc Donalds operate in Europe. However, the size they show you on the board, was not what we expected and we cracked up when they arrived. They were those thimble size, waste of space coffees, which tasted disgusting, so, we didn’t drink them.

The power station responsible for the warm water we swam
in at lunchtime.  Since then however, I've noticed a nose
growing out of Pete's armpit and an earlobe on my shin.

Blog published and we were off again. This time heading for the Hot Water Beach that Ralph had mentioned yesterday. Came upon a beautifully surfaced coastal road and not far in was a gorgeous beach and bay. Straight in for a dip. Thought we might get a body surf, but the waves were too far out to catch and then dumping on the shore. Still, it was wet and the sea temperature was definitely warmer than what we have been experiencing – but it wasn’t hot.  Which was good because we needed a cool down. After swimming we enjoyed our lunch on the beach before spending the rest of the afternoon on great roads, often on the coast and making good headway.

The viws at Porto Covo were spectacular

Did not know they had snakes in Portugal.

At Porto Covo, another gorgeous town, we stopped to admire the scenery as they had some spectacular cliffs with steps down to the coves in between.  After that we had an ice cream in the quaint surroundings of the town. It had been warm all day and very humid and as much as we were hoping for another swim, it wasn’t happening, because now, we were moving inland. The road was still good and once again the going was good. Our target for the day had been Vila Nova de Milfontes and we cruised in here having covered 66kms at 3.30pm.

Checked in at the campground, which was lovely and very reasonably priced at 10 Euros per night, before taking a ride into, what appears to be a very modern town, for a look see. Off down to the beach, which was great, but too dodgy for swimming, so a swim in the estuary was instead the go. Cool and refreshing, but just what we needed.

Great riding today

The estuary at Vila Nova de Milafontes

As we’d entered the water, it had begun to rain and the odd clap of thunder was also present. Completed the swim and rode back to camp, checking firstly on a restaurant for a meal tonight…no sardines tonight babe…..then picking up a drink and some nibbles, before flying back to camp, just in time to shelter from a huge downpour and a thunderstorm, which soaked our vestibule, but we remained snug in our inner tent. We really got dumped on, so it was pleasing to see the tent stand up to it. Whilst out for our swim we had checked out the other campsite down the road a short distance, for no other reason than their restaurant was open. Hence it was, at 7.30pm, we made our way along the dimly lit street, guided only by the light of our head torch, to the eating place.

Julia went for the salmon and veges, whilst I tried something new, in the Meat from the black pig. Man oh man, if you want a fantastic meal of pork, then this is it. I have no idea what or how they cook it, but even Julia said after tasting a few pieces of mine, that she wished she had ordered it. We followed that with cheesecake for me….very average. Cookie for Julia, a twist on Tiramisu and to finish, even though I said we would leave the coffees, the waiter still brought us two. And guess what type they were….yep.. thimble bloody coffees. Disgusting. Ju wouldn’t drink hers and I drank mine and then followed it with a slug of her wine, to clear my mouth.

A particularly nice home on our way to the campground.

Lots of apartmrnts such as these not just in Vila Nova de Milafontes but all the small towns round this area.

The rain, which had done its dash before we left for our meal, still hadn’t reappeared and we’re hoping that we don’t get any during the night. I was wanting a shower as it’s been so humid and we’ve only had a couple of swims, but after the meal I couldn’t be bothered, so will get one in the morning.

Julia has given me fair warning about not disturbing her in the night, but who is to say it will be me. Night time is the time that goblins and pixies come out to play.