Sunday, 14 December 2014

Rain falls mainly in Spain, Portugal here we come!

Sat 13th

The forecast rain arrived shortly after 9.30am, thankfully we had packed the van ready to move. It was very wet and windy for most of the day so we hunkered down in the van. We parked overlooking the port in Mazagon and spent some time reading and catching up on things on the internet. Our mifi worked brilliantly again. The rain stopped enough for us to get out for a walk along the beach and around the port to get some exercise and fresh air!


bit wet


In the evening we drove to a beach carpark 3 km along the coast and settled in for another free night alongside a very posh Parador hotel.

We walked down the steep hill to the beach, the rain damage was very evident. The cliffs were sand, the patterns and shapes created by the rain were amazing.


water damage


amazing sand cliffs near Mazagon




Sun 14th

It was very windy with lots of heavy rain squalls throughout the night so we had a long lie (again) with tea at about 9am. After breakfast the rain eased for a bit so we walked down to the beach again to take some pics.

We had intended to stop at Isla Cristina for our last night in Spain, but as it was still raining when we got there we changed plans – Portugal here we come!

Quick shop in Lidl for some basics and off we went. We had decided to register for the motorways in Portugal as I had read about some people not bothering (as many do) then being stopped by the Police at a much later date and asked to pay all their outstanding tolls plus a hefty fine! There is a lot of controversy about the EU funded motorways and the relatively new toll system, but their number plate recognition system certainly seems to work.

Castro Marim was very close to the border and yet another free autocaravannas parking spot. We found a nice wide slot and parked up. The aire was soon full and the late arrivals parked nearby in the middle of town.

After lunch we adjusted our clocks back one hour as we were now on GMT, only downside is that it will now be dark at 5.30pm. We must try to get up earlier to take advantage of the earlier sunrise (fat chance of that methinks!)


Portugal - Castro Marim



Xmas lights are on


A quick walk up to the nearby castle revealed a nice little town that was a real mix of buildings. Some were very old and some new, also some were in very poor condition. Is this typical of what we will see in the next few weeks in Portugal?


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