Nerja, Spain (By Day)

After getting up relatively early we went for a walk into the town again to have a look at the beach. There were 2 or 3 small beaches in the town itself but we decided to walk to the bigger one just outside the town. It was a stoney beach, but really nice. The water was freezing but that too was not that bad seeing it was so hot. We made the decision to stay at the beach for the day and head off to the next spot at 6pm...this may not have been our best decision as you will discover shortly, but at the time it was nice to just chill at the beach. I bought a beach rugby ball and when playing with the in the water definitely got some funny looks from the locals, not being used to seeing a ball that wasn’t round that you kicked rather than passed.
We grabbed some lunch from the supermarket at the beach and a couple of 1 litre beers! We swam, ate, drank, slept, tanned and passed the footy around till about 5pm. Reluctantly we packed up our gear and headed back to the van to make our way to the next spot....Puerto De Mazarron.

Nerja, Spain (By Night)

Today we had a smallish sleep in and hit the road around 11am. We drove most of the day and arrived in Nerja just before sunset. This was a last minute decission, all I had read was it had some really nice beaches. We got there about 8pm, Aims and I went for a walk to find a bathroom while Jo and Jake started to get the dinner ready. It was Sunday night so we really didn’t expected anything to be open. The place we found to park was a huge dirt car park but it was full of cars and campers. Aims and I followed the direction of all the people and found ourselves in a busy little coastal town centre. There were people everywhere and most of them were speaking English. There were hundreds of restaurants, bars, horse drawn carts for the tourists and about 20 people doing portraits of tourists in the square. We decided to call the other 2 and get them down to have a look sooner rather than later as we did not know what time it may close. After a little bit confusion we finally met up and it was a unanimous decision to find a restaurant for beers and Paella! The pasta would have to wait another night.
The restaurant was a little touristy but a little way away from the main square so not too bad. The Paella was fantastic! Probably could have eaten another 2 pans worth. We then retired to the van at about midnight and all went to sleep very satisfied.

Gibraltar

8am was the proposed departure time and we only ran late by 10 mins which was a record for the team. The campsite was about 8kms out of town along the road but only about 5kms along the beach so we decided to walk to Tarifa town centre to get the bus in to Gibraltar. It was a clear morning on the beach, no wind like the day before. All was going well till we got about 4/5 of the way to Tarifa. We were met by a 30 metre wide channel that was probably 1.5 metres at it’s deepest. We sat on the sand for a bit and waited. Jake went out and checked the depth but it was just a little too deep as we needed to wear these clothes for the rest of the day so we couldn’t get them too wet. Luckily the tide was on our side so after about 45 mins waiting we were able to cross. We continued to Tarifa and when we got there the bus station had no one tending it so we had no idea where to go. We walk to the information centre got the bus timetable, and as it was still nearly 2 hours before the first bus to Gibraltar we decided to have a wonder around the old town of Tarifa.
It wasn’t really very interesting...the only interesting part was that you could catch a ferry to Morocco in 50 mins. And the reason it was called Tarifa was because it was the first place to charge a fee on the boats in the port.
We finally got our bus and arrived in Gibraltar at 1pm. It was a very strange place, like all of a sudden being back in London. As it is stilled ruled by Great Britian, they are on the £. And they have all the same shops, even Morrisons (a supermarket in London)!
The reason we left so early that morning was in the hope that we might find a pub that was showing the Wallabies game....unfortunately as the bus was so late we missed the game, which sucked because there were pubs that did show it. Oh well, next time.
We sat and had a drink and our pre made sandwiches (got to love cost cutting). After studying the map we went exploring. We wondered through the centre of the town, and caught the cable car to the top. From there the view was spectacular. Jake and Aims were not so keen on it but I think they still enjoyed the sights. We then began the walk back down the rock. First stop was the monkeys, cute but disgusting at the same time.
We then went into St Michael’s cave, the Romans believed this cave to be bottomless. They now use it for concerts. From here we had a 2 km walk to the other end of the rock to see the tunnels of the great siege which happened in 1782 and then again over the years, most recently by the british in WWII.
From there it was a short walk back down the hill and then back into Spain to catch the bus back to Tarifa. We walked to the supermarket just in time to grab dinner and then made it back to camp by about 9.30pm. Over all we probably walked a total of 12kms that day so we were all very tired. After a nice dinner it was bed time. Don’t actually remember hitting the pillow.

Oh and for those people that were wondering the Wallabies Won! Bring the All Blacks!

Tarifa, Spain

We were back on the road by 9am with a 3 hour drive to our next destination. Tarifa. Known for its great beach and lots of wind. We passed about 500 wind farms on the way to the campsite. Once we set up camp for the next 2 day we went for a walk along the beach and it was not hard to see why 1000’s of people flock to Tarifa in the peak seasons to windsurf and kitesurf. Once back at the campsite, and seeing no one else in the water at the beach besides the kitesurfer’s we decided the pool was the safer option.
After a swim and BBQ we hit the hay for an early rise the next morning.

Cadiz, Spain

After a few hours sleep....maybe 5, we got up and had a look around Cadiz. We walked along the main road and then back again along the beach. The beach was really nice but no one swimming. This was the day that MJ had reportedly died which we discovered through Portugese newspapers and was later confirmed through a text message from Jo’s mum. We were all shocked but it was strange to not be surrounded my all the media hype that we would have got at home.

Sagres, Portugal

We were packed and ready to hit the road by 10 the next morning. The plan for today was to make up on some time and km’s as we had stayed an extra night in both Porto and Lagos. After a stop off at Sagres we aimed to drive to Tavira. Sagres was pretty amazing. It wasn’t hard to see why the Portugese had built this strong hold on the point of the country. The cliffs were easily 70 metres high in some sections and from that vantage point you could anything coming from miles around. We wondered the grounds for a bit and then it was time to hit the road again. After a good 3 hours driving we arrived in Tavira. We drove around for a bit but couldn’t really find a good place to free camp. We parked and went into a shopping centre and found a place that had free wi-fi. The decision was made that we would grab a bite to eat and then continue on to Cadiz, about another 4 hours drive. This would see us saying goodbye to Portugal and hello to Spain again. We grabbed some all you can eat Chinese and with tummy’s very very full we were on the road again.
We left Tavira around 9pm and ended up arriving in Cadiz at 3am....we found a place to on the beach with a few campers already there and pulled up stumps for the night.

Lagos Night Out

The next day in Lagos was another nice lazy day. We spent the majority of time hanging by the pool enjoying the warm weather. In the afternoon we headed into Lagos again to have another look around. We got back to the campsite at a reasonable hour, had dinner and had a relatively early night....probably a good thing considering the previous night.

Porto Covo and Lagos

We set the alarm for 8am to get up and get going to Lagos....we realised that the time on the mobile phone that we used for an alarm was not set to Portuguese time so we actually got up at 7am...good in a way but bad in another. We went for a walk into Porto Covo and had a look around town. We had a quick bite to eat for Breaky and then we set off for Lagos. About 2 more hours down the cost. We got the the campsite at around 1pm and again realised that the campsite had a really nice pool. Needless to say that due to the weather the pool would be the number 1 destination.
As we had all been to Lagos last year we didn’t feel the need to do any sight seeing so we stayed by the pool all afternoon. We then had a great BBQ dinner and got ready for a night on the town. Jake had heard that Lagos was “the Ios on land”....A call that we didn’t not thnik was really true from the last time we had visited. But last time was off season and by 9-10pm the place was starting to pick up. Lots of bars and people trying to sway us into there bars with the offers of cheaps drinks or 2 for 1 offers. We bar hopped for a while and sampled a few of the offers. By about 1am we had all had enough and jumped a cab back to the campsite....stumbled into bed and passed out!

Lisbon

The campsite in Lisbon has a 7pm check out time so we decided to take advantage of this and leave for the next spot in the evening. We did some washing and walked across to the nearby shopping centre and got some groceries. We then went for a swim and had showers as we would be free camping tonight. We packed up and hit the road at around 7pm bound for Porto Covo. After a couple of wrong turns and some narrow roads we found a good place to stop for the night. We all were fairly tired so we setup the beds and went straight to sleep.

Road To Lisbon

Our next stop is Lisbon. About 4 hours drive and 300kms all on one highway. We left Porto at about 8am and arrived in Lisbon at midday. Seeing as though the temperature in Lisbon was said to be 38 degrees we decided to take advantage of the pool facilities at the campsite and head into Lisbon later that night. After about 3 hours of swimming and lounging by the pool we all had showers and headed into town. We caught the bus from the campsite and got off at what we thought was the city centre....we were wrong. Only by about 5 kms. We had a look at the markets at this spot and had a beer in Maccas! “I’m lovin’ it!”
We then jumped on the tram and headed closer into the city. We wondered around for about 2 hours, being Sunday alot was closed. We then found a cool little restaurant at the top of the hill, just outside the castle. We enjoyed some authentic Portuguese cuisine. Jake and I tackled the mixed meat platter...oh yeah, it was good....not 100% sure of all the meats that we consumed but they were all tasty. We left the city, after waiting 40 mins for a bus that never came we got a cab. We all went to bed full tonight!

Porto

Seeing as though the forecast was for another hot day we got up relatively early and caught the bus into Porto. With Jake as our tour guide we headed for the centre of Porto and the old town. Our first stop was to climb Clergymen Church and Tower, 225 stairs to climb, 76 meters from the ground but worth it for the views. We then headed for the Cathedral and then down to the water.
We found the Porto fruit markets and got about 4 kilos of cherries, strawberries, nectarines and grapes, all for €13. By this time it was around 1pm and getting hotter every minute. We came to a joint decision to head back to the campsite and head to the beach.
We dropped our bits and pieces off at the van, got our stuff and headed down to the beach. The waves were dumping right on the shore so it made it difficult to get out. You had to time your run perfectly and run as hard as you can through the wave...Jake and I attempted it a few times and only came of second best once or twice.

Road to Porto

So after the previous day's heatwave we decided to try and get the majority of work out of the way before the heat set in. 6am we set the alarm and were on the road by 7am. All was going to plan until we crossed into Portugal. I think we spent about 4 hours travelling up hill!. We never realised that it was such a mountainous country. Then when we reached Porto we had real trouble finding the campsite.
Eventually we got here at 4pm....so 11 hours of travelling later. Once here it was time to set up and get some groceries....after some bad directions in Portuguese and a fair bit of walking we found the place and got the essentials. Got home and cooked a fantastic BBQ!. Time for sone €1 Euro for 1 Litre beers and bed. Tomorrow some sight seeing of Porto and beach!!

Road to León

After some great weather in San Sebastian it was time to embark on the 2 longest driving days of the trip. The plan was to cross from San Sebastian in Spain to Porto in Portugal in the space of 2 days. A total of 800kms and really should have only taken about 5 hours a day....but what we didn't take into account was that Sarsha is a 16 year old, 3.5 tonne lazy lass!!! and when majority of driving is in 40 degree heat or climbing hills, she is VERY slow! The trip to Leon was made trickiest because we left late and were driving through the hottest part of the day.
Once we arrived in Leon we had a fair bit of trouble finding the campsite and when we did it was in the middle of nowhere. Once we got our spot we had 15 mins before the pool closed and as all of us were ready to melt after a long day on the road we rushed to go for a dip....only to find that the pool was empty and was being refurbished. We then decided to walk into town to have a bite to eat as we had not been able to find a grocerie store on the way. There was one restaurant in this little town and it was a set menu....the waitress spoke No english and we spoke minimal Spanish, so we order 1 of each entree and main course and kept our fingers crossed. Luckily the food was pretty good and we manged to get out of trouble with full bellies. and not so empty pockets. We were treated to a pretty magical sunset over the corn fields near our campsite. So although it was a long day all ended well.