Porto Covo, Setubal Portugal

19th November – 23rd November 2017

As we made our way along the coast on the most horrendous road, with me gripping the seat and praying for no punctures we found the most wonderful spot to stop for lunch. We parked up looking out over the most beautiful beach, Chloe couldn’t wait to get out of the Motorhome, I think she has got use to the smell of the beach now and is like a dog possessed if she is anywhere near one. The weather was perfect and so we decided to stay a while and enjoy the beach and the weather. This is the life. We packed up as the sun started to set and headed to Porto Covo.

As with most places we only ever say, oh we will stay a couple of nights but we ended up staying 4 nights. The site is one of the best that we have stayed in and there is only 3 other Motorhomes with us and the most fantastic swimming pool that David was brave enough to try, but even he said it nearly gave him a heart attack it was so cold, there was no way I was going in after that ! The small town of Porto Covo is a pretty little town with a scattering of restaurants and shops, that are only ever open on a Sunday. Now Sundays are an interesting day in Portugal as everybody dresses up in their finest and heads out, or it seems to me they do. It is a nice sight to see, all the family gathering for lunch or sitting drinking coffee and eating the famous pasteis de nata, similar to a small custard tart and rather delicious.

We eat lunch in a great traditional restaurant with David ordering a beef steak, well when it turns up it is so huge it was lapping over the side of the plate, this was good news for Chloe as a doggy bag was called for and Chloe ate a rather delicious meal the next day.

Now, this is a girl thing but I am desperate to get my legs waxed and I found a beauty salon in this small town believe it or not and excitement entailed. David translated the writing on the window of the treatments that are offered and waxing is one of them. I run in and am greeted by a Portuguese lady who speaks no English but luckily the lady having her nails done does. Appt made in half an hour, I return and exit with the smoothest legs and a smile so wide on my face, being over half the price what I usually pay in the UK.

After 4 nights we headed off with my smooth legs toward Lagos our destination for Christmas and New Year, making one more stop along the way. This time we ventured into the world of wild camping. Now anything off road and I get nervous, David looked on Google Earth and found what would be an ideal place to stop near Aljezur on the coast. The roads in Portugal are not great unless you take a Motorway but the small roads to these costal towns send my heart racing, we approach a small village which looks like a mecha for surfers and descend down the road at a vertical drop and then up again and onto a track with me shouting, should we be going down

here? We park up on the edge of this cliff and look out over the Atlantic coast, the view was just stunning. It is one of the best sunsets I have ever seen and when darkness fell and we went outside the stars lit up the sky. It was all worth it, just stunning.