Thursday 24th March 2011

Said our good byes to Ryan, Claire & Molly, an English couple and friendly spaniel who had parked behind us the past couple of nights. It’s the first dog we’ve seen Sarah happily stroke! Set of for Lisbon along a red road which had great scenery and wild life. Along one really straight stretch of road all the telegraph poles and most of the trees by the side of the road had Storks and their huge nests sitting on top of them, we stopped so Sarah could take a photograph of them. Then a little further we saw a 4’ snake slithering across the road, didn’t stop for that one!

Missed our junction onto the next red road due to poor signage and ended up on the toll road earlier than planned. We think the signage is deliberate, by the time you see the small Lisbon finger board your past it and off towards the toll road! Stopped at a service station for fuel and lunch. The fuel is really expensive, we filled the van from empty in France for 60 euros, today I put 58lts in and it cost us 90 euros! Everyone had said Portugal was cheap, not for the bloody fuel it’s not! After fuelling up we pulled into the lorry park to stop for lunch. After a few minutes we noticed (they weren’t exactly subtle!) four or five Japanese men walking round Bella having a good look, we felt a bit like goldfish! Sarah said if she saw one of them take a photo she was going to charge them! That’s my girl!

 After a quick stop we continued along the toll road (they classed us as a lorry and charged us likewise), before making our way towards the coast south of Lisbon. Found the Orbitur site easily enough and booked in. Advised which pitches were more suited to Bella and with the help of the grounds men/women parked on a nice sunny pitch. It does back onto the road so we’ll see how noisy it is? After setting up Lynn and I went for a walk and found a local small supermarket where we bought a few supplies, including a bottle of red wine the owner indicated was good. Opened it on our return to the van and sat outside drinking it with some black olives. The wine is dry but very nice and drinkable, as you can tell by the fact we’d nearly finished it before the sun went behind the trees! So if the above doesn’t make sense don’t blame me blame the wine!