Much confusion was sewn in Team Basil yesterday when for no apparent reason our MiFi device stopped working. The MiFi device is like a very simple mobile phone, without the phone elements. We put a data SIM card into the MiFi device and it connects to the nearest 3G phone signal and then Sarah and I can connect our phones, computer, Ipad and Kindles to the MiFi device. This gives connectivity to my computer (where I write this blog), Sarah’s Ipad and the Kindles none of which have a data SIM.
The MiFi device worked perfectly throughout our 8 month trip last year and enabled me to post the blog from 19 different countries, so I was mystified as to why it had suddenly stopped. A phone call to the very helpful Motorhome WiFi who had supplied the MiFi device solved the mystery. Before we left in September I had bought a new data SIM which allowed 24Gb of data over the period of a year. What had not been clear was that there was a limit of 12Gb in any one month and we have now hit that limit!! So we have no working MiFi device until about 1stOctober when the next data period begins, so I’m afraid blog posts will be limited to whenever I have got a WiFi connection, such as today or I can source a temporary data SIM from a Portuguese phone shop.
Now that your eyes have glazed over, that’s enough technical stuff, except to say that I now know there is something else to check before we set off next time!
On Saturday we decided to stay another day at Parque de Campismo do Paco because, over a delicious swordfish steak at the campsite restaurant the night before, we discovered from some other British travellers that the Festival of Food was indeed taking place in the nearby town of Portinho, which was within walking distance.
We walked a couple of kilometers along the river and across a bridge into Portinho, which, judging from its harbour had once been a small fishing village but had now become a low key seaside resort. It was out of season and really quite quiet. It was easy to find the “Festival of Food” because it was really the only thing going on in town, but I’m afraid it was a big disappointment. There were no samples to try and really no hot food at all. It was, in reality, a very small farmers market without many farmers! We wandered amongst the stalls dutifully but nothing took our fancy. There was someone selling enormous jars of local honey, but Basil already has more than half the jar of honey left that we bought at a rather better market in Greece last year.
Food “Festival”
Portinho had nothing else of much interest to detain us, save for a small flea market which seemed to have nobody manning any of the stalls, and so we eventually found another bridge which transported us to the beach on “our” side of the river and the dogs had a play before we headed back. We had, by now, definitely exhausted the charms of Parque de Campismo do Paco and its surroundings and we therefore decided to head on the next day.
Flea market with more fleas than market
Sarah was still keen to spend time next to the sea and so I found another ACSI site further south, near the sea, and about 20km north of Porto. Our Sunday journey in Basil was not one of our best. Again eschewing any toll roads we found that of all the countries we have visited Portugal must have the greatest love of the cobble! Not only in villages, where they actually make good sense because they physically reduce speed, but also on some of their country roads, where exceeding 20 mph makes Basil’s fillings fall out. There was also at least one moment where SatNav asked us to turn down a road and I took one look and refused. So all in all it was a slow and uncomfortable trip. It was also hot, with Spain and Portugal experiencing a late heatwave and temperatures approaching 30 degrees. Luckily we have aircon in Basil’s cab and near the sea there is a pleasant breeze.
We eventually arrived in Vila Cha camping in Facho (41.299139, -8.731611 €17 ACSI) where we were shoehorned into the smallest pitch we’ve ever occupied. Initially I was most disgruntled at the site generally, especially the way vans are crammed in, but in our case at least our pitch is quite private which is particularly good for Mabel who tends to get upset at the slightest sight of another dog.
Basil’s new cramped accommodation
The beach, including rockpools, is only about a five minute walk away and so Sarah and the dogs went off to explore, including being “greeted” by a St. Bernard guard dog, while I stayed behind and spent a fruitless afternoon trying to sort out the MiFi device.
Our biggest guard dog to date. Photo courtesy Sarah
Today we have both been and explored the surrounding area. There is a boardwalk which has been built for miles, in both directions, along the beachfront. Presumably the investment in the boardwalk was made in the hope that it would bring other developments into the area, but so far that has not really happened. As we walked along the front we could see that the villages were really old fishing communities which have had a few small holiday homes built amongst them, but with none of the expected paraphernalia. Fishing boats were still drawn up on the sands and washing was hanging out on the beach, as it presumably had for generations.
Fishing boats
Why not do your drying on the beach?
Everywhere we’ve been in both Spain and Portugal we have been greeted by guard dogs of every shape and size, who bark, snarl and hurl themselves at gates at an attempt to get at us. I for one would find it very wearing to have a dog barking incessantly either in my own house or that of a neighbour, but it seems to be de rigour here. Occasionally we see a dog kept in a cruelly small kennel, or chained up, but mostly they are just running loose. Some keep us amused by jumping up, so periodically we see their snarling snout appear above a high wall before disappearing to prepare for another jump. Today one enterprising Labrador cross managed to jump up onto a five foot fence and balance on the top. If it had wanted it could have jumped down on our side, but something seemed to prevent it from leaving its own enclosure, which is just as well for us. So far we have not come across many stray dogs but the local cats have given our two dogs some enjoyment!
The boardwalk
Beach
As lunchtime approached we passed a little cafe which seemed to have plenty of locals eating in it and as we were peering for a menu a woman came out and explained in very broken English that there were two choices – fish or meat! The fish was fresh sardines, which sold it to us. We sat and watched an elderly man barbecue everybody’s sardines which we then ate with simple boiled potatoes and the most fantastic chewy wholemeal homemade bread, all washed down with half a litre of Vinho Verde. A super lunch for the extortionate price of €20. Sarah even had a view of the sea!
Our sardines being cooked
I have been plotting our journey through Portugal for the next few days before we cross back into Spain. What has not been decided is whether we are going to spend any more time next to the sea before my plan swings into action. Once we leave the Atlantic coast I think it will be at least two weeks before we emerge on Spain’s Mediterranean shore.
*All photos today from my iPhone. I thought I wouldn’t take my big camera because it was just another beach, but now I wish I had taken it.