The end of Portugal???

Awoke this morning to the not-so-calming noise of the sea crashing on the rocks below us. A lovely location to find, to stay at, and to wake at, but throughout the night I had several "agh!" moments when I thought we were being blown away, so strong was the wind at times! 

We had our breakfast in gleaming sunlight, then the usual ritual of tidying bedding and beds away before the "scaldy wash" happened; the remaining boiled water left in the kettle was put in the bathroom bowl, a small amount of cold water was added, the soap was lathered up and Jasper and Maya had a face wash to freshen up. Now of course it isn't really scalding hot water at all, it's just they both make such a fuss about it and always complain it's too hot, we have named this simple activity the "scaldy wash", which I am sure they both secretly love!

We set off to the most south-western point of Portugal, Sagres. Passing through several small villages and towns along the way I was amazed by the beauty of the simple architecture, bright white walls with a brilliant shade of blue framing the doors and windows. This interspersed with the obligatory red geraniums was just lovely! The town of Porto Covo was simply stunning, and we wished that we had had time to stop for a coffee, or beer as some of the locals were, but then we noticed that it was only 9:30am!!! Onwards we went, with me navigating and taking photos along the way, Ed driving and enjoying (I think) listening to some cool tunes on the Ipod, Jasper and Maya playing Top Trumps and then weaving loom bands - yes, we still have several thousand of those annoying things in our van.

Lunch time was spent in the car park at Sagres. On our arrival into the town we noticed several surf shops and lots of English signage for surf schools, bars, shops etc. and then suddenly, a huge fortified compound appeared similar to the Lands End complex in England. Ed's reaction was typical; "We're not paying to go in there!" So instead we enjoyed the stunning views from outside the walls, and relished in the delight that we had saved ourselves €12!!!

Moving on, we quickly found the seaside resort of Praia De Luz, and followed directions to the chosen ACSI campsite so that we would get a good discount. The weather was still stunning, (almost too hot!) so we quickly scrambled the washing together and organised the first load. On collecting that, I met a lovely English lady who had also stayed at Porto Covo cliff top, and in fact had just done a run of 11 nights free beach side camping! We chatted for ages before she started her washing and I collected mine!!! 

Later on, after some more washing, school work and then swimming/diving, we had a visit from the lady and her husband. We all introduced ourselves...hello Vivian and John if you are reading this! They gave us some great advice on where to stay, and even loaned us a book listing Aires in Spain and Portugal. In turn we loaned them our very valuable France Passion handbook, which if you remember became our bible when we were in France. Tomorrow night we wil reconvene and swap back!!! I hope!

Ed has been on a recce visit to the beach tonight. It's not far away, so our plan is to cycle there tomorrow and see what the weather has in store for us, it's not rained today...yet! So most of our washing is dry, just not ironed (sorry Mum if you are reading this!). Saturday will be interesting as we have plans to meet up with Ed's first headteacher Ray who we haven't seen for 10 years! He and his wife Anne are on holiday on Lagos along with another former colleague of Ed's, so it will be a bit of an old school reunion! 

Having spent last night by the sea, I need more sleep!!! 

Clare