Sudoku, Strays, Cliffs, and Clocks!

20th March - 2nd April 2011

When we arrived on the Algarve we headed straight to one of our favourite wild camping spots from last year at Boca do Rio near Salema.

A favourite with motorhomers: Boca do Rio

It doesn't get much better than this!

The far western corner of the Algarve is a conservation area and development is prohibited. It means that this stretch of coast is pretty unspoilt; the rugged coastline dotted with high cliffs, cove beaches, golden sands and a few small fishing villages.  

Salema

Fishing boats at Salema

The Portuguese Land's End: Cape Saint Vincent

There are quite a few motorhomes in this part of the world, mostly from Germany, the Netherlands, and the UK. A lot of retired couples spend the winter down here, staying for several months to escape the worst of the UK weather....and who can blame them!!

No motorhome parking allowed in Fuseta!

There aren’t many facilities down here apart from at campsites and it can be quite frustrating waiting at the only free water tap for miles around while some hippy/crusty/surfer types do all their washing and then spend another half hour giving themselves a good scrub down! Being English we of course said nothing and waited our turn in line.... for an hour!!!

We spent a couple of days camped at Ingrina beach which is hugely popular with surfers. It was here that we nearly adopted a stray dog who seemed to attach herself to us – nothing to do with the barbeque which we left outside the van overnight and which looked remarkably clean the following morning! 

The dog seemed to be sleeping under the van. She followed us on an hour-long walk along the cliffs to the neighbouring beach at Zavial and hung around while we had our lunch. Charlie also seemed quite fond of her, which is quite rare for our moody old pooch! We even started to think through the practicalities of getting her home but in the end we had to be sensible and leave her there. It was heartbreaking when we left though as she chased the van down the road for nearly half a mile.

Charlie with a new friend

Zavial beach

Whilst staying on the Algarve we’d planned to do nothing apart from eating, drinking and sleeping. We managed this pretty well but managed to fit quite a bit of sudoku into our busy schedules too! Oh and reading the Portuguese English-language newspaper. Good grief - they could do with a few plain English lessons! Their sentences are so long you could die of either boredom or asphyxiation just reading the front page! 

Alvor is a charming little town to spend a bit of time in. Not as built up as some of its neighbouring towns and resorts, it still has a lively harbour and main street where fresh fish is cooked outside on grills in front of the restaurants. It also has a beautiful stretch of beach with huge rocks and cliffs at the far end.

Charlie near Alvor

We got chatting to an English couple in Alvor who were a little confused about which time zone they were in. This, mixed with the fact that the clocks had just changed, had lead to quite a bit of confusion in their van - something we could sympathise with having had the same problem last year!

One of our favourite spots on the Algarve remains Ferragudo, primarily for the popular wild camping spot which has a great view of the town and across the estuary to Portimao and Praia da Rocha.

Ferragudo

A highlight of this trip so far was the fantastic cliff-top walk at Benagil. Sink holes, caves and tiny bays that are unreachable by foot litter this stretch of coast. The landscape has been created over thousands of years as the porous limestone has been eroded by the sea, rainwater, rivers and streams.

Cliff top near Benagil

You do have to watch your step and there were a few time that Charlie got a little too close to the edge for comfort in her desperate attempts to get down to the sea for a swim. The most dramatic recent rock fall here was in 1998 when an arch collapsed to form a new stack.

As you head east the coastline completely changes and you come to the huge sand spit islands that are connected to the coast in places by narrow causeways and shuttle ferries. The one at Tavira is one of the largest and we followed the miniature railway line across the mud flats from Pedras del Rei to the huge stretch of golden sand which was pretty much deserted.

The crossing at Pedras del Rei

Railway out to the beach on Ihla de Tavira

An amazing beach on Ilha de Tavira

A collection of anchors on Ilha de Tavira

As our favourite ice-cream stall in Tavira was closed, we moved on to a nearby beach for the night where we met up with the same confused English couple and again helped them out when they realised they had no wine to cook their fish in! We got some good tips from them about our journey north so it was a fair swap! 

Tavira

For our last day in Portugal we headed inland following the course of the Guadilara river which forms the southern border between Spain and Portugal, to Alcoutim. 

The river Guadilara en route to Alcoutim

A lovely little town, Alcoutim faces a pretty much identical town across the river in Spain. They even have matching forts!

Alcoutim

The Algarve News we saw in Alcoutim featured an article about Charles and Camilla’s visit to Portugal. We like to think they will have sampled one of the countries traditional pastries – the Belem tart – and mocked up what this may have looked like! Further evidence that we really have had too much time on our hands!!

So for the second time in as many years we crossed the Guadilara river and entered Spain heading for Seville. This being our second trip along the Algarve, we were surprised at just how much we've loved it. If we were a few years older and able to do so, I think we'd spend our winters down here too!

View March 20th - April 2nd 2011 in a larger map