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Thursday 31 May 2012

30th May CASTELO BRANCO

Well today has had it’s ups and downs. We had a lazy morning then at 1.00 we went to Mark and Glen’s place; it’s a lovely 5.5 acres of, mainly, olive trees; half the land is completely enclosed by a six foot wall built from huge stones. Their house isn’t big, but it’s got room for two floors and again it’s built from huge stones – they’re in the process of putting in the second floor and reroofing. Brett helped them lug out the old roof joists, then they took us for drinks and cake at their local cafe; they go there daily and have the same order every day (coffee and a slice of chocolate cake each).

We took them to Fonte dos Clerigos; Mark is an engineer, he knows how to work out what size beams are required for what span of roof, and the bad news is that it looks as if we’ll have to have a pillar in the middle of both the large buildings, if we don’t want to partition them up. We are only allowed to work with wood – if we wanted to use concrete beams or RSJs we would have to employ an architect, a Portuguese builder and apply for planning permission. The good news is that he agreed that one of the roofs looks fine and shouldn’t need replacing (it already has concrete beams).
As we were showing them around our land we spotted a man, in the field next door, who turned out to be our English neighbour, Gary; he only moved in four days ago. He invited us all in to have a look around his place; he literally lives in two small sheds, with tin roofs and concrete floors. One shed has his bed, a bookcase and toilet (a bucket with a, cut off upside down, traffic cone in it – for a seat) and in the other shed he stored his clothes, food and bottles of water; as he only eats raw food he doesn’t need a kitchen!

He told us he’s been broken into two days running; things are missing and his possessions have been strewn around but no entry appeared to have been forced and the doors and windows were still locked. He thinks it could be the family who sold the place to him, as they could still have keys. He’s reported it to the police but the local policeman happens to be the son of the people who sold it to him (so he would be investigating his own family); the policeman suggested it could have been gipsies. By now a worried Mark and Glen had left; they had travelled to the village in their open truck, containing all their building equipment and tools, which was parked half way along the track to our farm (it was fine).

As Brett was locking up the buildings I was standing by the tank near the house, (which is no longer going to be a plunge pool, well not until it’s been cleaned out and is full of completely clear water), and I saw what I think was an adder swimming in it – it was about a foot long, brown with a diamond pattern running down it’s spine. How cool is that? And scary! Apparently their bites are seldom fatal!

29th May CASTELO BRANCO

What an exciting day we’ve had today; just after breakfast Nick knocked on the door to give us a bottle of sparkling wine as a house warming gift. It’s sad, he’s off to Holland this week to take his seventeen year old dog to the vet; looking at the dog struggling you can see it’s time for him to go but it will break Nick’s heart. He says this vet (who is also a regular/proper vet) has been treating his dog for years by dowsing him (yep, two crossed sticks, like water dowsing): he reckons that’s why he’s lived to such a grand old age. When Nick comes back he’s hoping to be renting this club just outside Lisbon where he’s going to organise music festivals and raves – he keeps talking about five week long festivals – I don’t think it’s our ‘cup of tea’, but we’d definitely go if he invited us to the gala opening!

Not long after Nick left Brett saw the man from the Mitsubishi showroom driving around the campsite so, as we assumed he was looking for us, we drove to the showroom – our new truck was there!!!!! It’s very immaculate looking, clean, and shiny; it’s already had the tow bar attached and the load liner installed, but it won’t be ready for us to collect until Thursday – it’s Brett’s birthday on Sunday, perfect timing as I can’t think of anything else to give him! We’re not actually convinced we can drive it away on Thursday, although that’s when we’re paying the balance, as we have to come back the next day (Friday) to arrange the insurance; we couldn’t understand why it couldn’t all happen on the same day.

Tomorrow we’re (well Brett’s) going to help Mark and Glen lift some heavy beams at their place; I’m just going along for the ride and because I’m nosy. Then they’re going to come to the farm to give us advice on our roofs. It’s all very chummy here on the campsite, we’re like an ex-pat community!

Tuesday 29 May 2012

28th May CASTELO BRANCO

It was very hot today and I take back what I said about getting acclimatized to the heat – I’m not! We went to Fonte dos Clerigos for the day, as we drove up the track we passed Mr Luis working in his son’s garden. We parked halfway along the track; we’re sure we’ll be able to get the van to the farm but we don’t want to drive the narrow part too often, so we’ll wait until we’ve got the truck then we can take the camper there and leave it until we come back to Britain.

We measured all the buildings again and the ‘plunge pools’ and looked at floor levels and composition; then we took lots of ‘before’ photos, whilst reminding ourselves how the Barn had looked before we started converting it (for reassurance).
The back of studio and gym

Front of studio and gym

Possibly generator and kiln shed

Front of 'house'

These will become french doors onto the patio

Inside the 'house', this one room is 21' x 18.8'

The original fireplace and chimney!

We walked our land discussing where the track and field boundaries would go; unfortunately the wild lupins will have to come out as they are poisonous to ruminants (they’ll need to be pulled up individually). I was rather overwhelmed with the amount of work we’ve got to do, but it will be fine once we start and progress can be seen; the worst thing is seeing the land not being grazed and all the weeds going to seed.

Mr Luis turned up around 4.00 to water his vegetables; he had walked up as his moped is ‘kaput’ (his word) so we gave him a lift back in our van, he then invited us to go for a drink at the cafe in the village – Mr Luis drank three bottles of beer, Brett had one coke and I had an orange juice (we think Mr Luis rather likes to drink, which might explain his emotional state and crying all the time!). We then drove Mr Luis to his house and said “Boa Tarde” to Mrs Luis who seemed very pleased to see us; we were invited in but we declined as it gets a little bit awkward once we have exhausted all our Portuguese phrases!

On the way back to Castelo Branco we passed a lay-by where cherries were being sold from the back of trucks – we bought another 2.5 kilos!!! They’re nowhere near as good as the ones we bought straight from the farm, it’s probably a couple of days since they were picked; next time we’ll definitely go back towards Fundao to get them.

We bought some bottles of beer (145/litre); when we got back to the campsite we had a small celebration with Nick, Mark and Glen (Mark’s brother who turned up last week) to celebrate us getting the keys (well being shown where they’re hidden). Mark and Glen have scaffold towers and other useful tools which they’ve suggested we can use when they come back to Britain in four months time; which is brilliant as we would have needed to buy some scaffolding to do the roofs. It works favourably for them too, as they don’t want to leave too their tools exposed at their property, they will be secure with us. Their place is between us and Castelo Branco, they’ll be going back for a few months (to earn money) and then come out again to work on their house.

27th May CASTELO BRANCO

Wood is incredibly expensive here – Mark has been pricing up roof beams, floor joists and planking (which has saved us a boring job); so we’ve decided to rethink our veranda. Originally we were planning on decking with wooden rails; now we’re thinking of a tiled veranda (same tiles as the house) with a block built wall surround, which we can render and paint the same colour as the house, then I can put potted plants on it (pelargoniums).

We’ve finished the cherries (apart from the cooked ones for my breakfast tomorrow), so I think we might have to have another trip to Fundao this week.






26th May CASTELO BRANCO

We have had a lovely day today; this morning we went to Penamacor, which will be our nearest small town. The town is built on a hill, the old part has medieval houses, narrow cobbled streets and lanes with a castle (well the tower) at the very top; and absolutely fabulous views across the valley to Spain. We had lunch in a little cafe, watching the world go by, it was all very relaxing – we could get used to the ‘cafe culture’ lifestyle.

After lunch we drove halfway along the track to Donkey Quinta and snook into the farm, we had about two hours there before Mr Luis and his daughter appeared! Mr Luis has taken his chickens, pigeons and donkey away and most of the sheds are cleared out; he didn’t actually give us the keys, but he showed us where he hid them!! He gave us some more lettuce, and told Brett that we could have some his potatoes when they were ready – he also has beans, onions, courgettes, tomatoes, cabbages growing; so I think we’ll be ok for vegetables through the summer. We’re meeting him back there on Monday – I think that’s for the handover, but of course he will be back daily to tend his vegetables!
The 'plunge pool' and path to top vegetable garden

25th May CASTELO BRANCO

It’s been another sunny day and we’re definitely getting used to the heat; I was a bit worried at first that I wouldn’t be able to cope. It’s funny, when we were working and going abroad was a two week holiday once or twice a year, we wanted to tan as quickly as possible; so every time we went outside we’d head for ‘the sunny side of the street’, now I’m searching out the shade. We are still tanned but undressed we look weird; Brett looks as if he’s wearing a t-shirt and shorts in flesh pink (his head and neck are especially brown), and I look as if I’m wearing a vest and long shorts (my face looks like a panda in negative, pale eyes where I’ve been wearing sun glasses) – not a pretty sight, I keep telling Brett that once we get to the farm I’m going to garden in the nude – he’s says it will give Mr Luis a heart attack!

Last night I pipped and cooked up some cherries with fresh lemon juice, I had this with yoghurt for breakfast; lemons are really cheap here I can buy a big bagful for less than a euro and they are all unwaxed so the rind and zest is edible – we don’t have lemon trees on the farm, I will be planting some. So far, at the quinta, we have identified figs, kumquats, oranges, apples, pears, peaches and (not identified) quite a few trees which Mr Luis said have fruit which grow big (grapefruit size) and round, and is used for conserve – it is furry (like a peach), we’ll just have to wait and see. I want to put in avocado, kiwi, lemon, lime, and of course cherries.
We think we’ll be back in Britain in a month or so; we want to arrange for our tools and furniture to be shipped out, sort out what is happening to the Barn, and sell the van; selling the van will be a wrench but there’s no point in keeping it because we know once we have animals it will become obsolete.

Today we were both feel a bit crap (lurgy wise) so I felt that a bit of retail therapy might cheer us up (despite having spent lots of money recently we have nothing physical to show for it at the moment!); I explained it to Brett saying “if I was a girl I would want to go out and buy shoes” – I don’t think I’m not a girl, just not the shoe buying type (he understood). Anyway we went out and bought a couple of sun loungers; we can use them outside the van at the campsite (and leave them there when we travel out and about, so they won’t take up room in the van).

Friday 25 May 2012

24th May CASTELO BRANCO (still!)

We’re starting to get a little bit bored waiting to get access to our property; there’s so much work we want to do and we feel like we’re wasting time. OK, we can compare the price of things we need to purchase; but we can’t actually buy anything until we’re there, as there’s no unused storage space on the van. The two ring stove we bought last week has to be moved to the front when the van is parked, to the back when we’re driving and every night the gas cylinder has to be moved so that we can make up our bed.

We’re still looking at walking tractors, so today we went back to Fundao, Brett had seen some when we were there last week; unfortunately they were all second hand, and not much cheaper than new ones (everything keeps its value here). We don’t want to risk buying second hand as we are not mechanics.
While we were there we had an explore of the town; there’s a main street which is quite modern then there’s an older area which is a maze of cobbled streets with more shops and lots of restaurants and bars.
Fundao old town
The cherries are ripe!!!! All along the road on the approach to Fundao there were stalls selling boxes of cherries; we stopped at a house and the lady was literally picking the cherries, for the box we bought, as we arrived – it cost 5 for a 2.5K box, that 2€ (£1.64) a kilo. And they are absolutely delicious; we haven’t got cherry trees at the farm – I will be planting some.
2.5 Kilos of Cherries
I drove back from Fundao!!!! I haven’t driven since we left home so I thought perhaps I ought to get some practise in before we became a two car family! It was absolutely fine; I don’t know why I had this mental block about doing it, I’m used to driving big vehicles and I have driven abroad before (but never the two together). Being a passenger for several months has helped as I am familiar with road positioning and road signage.

We were driving (Brett) around a roundabout this afternoon when we heard something metallic bouncing away from the van and into the verge – it was the end of our exhaust, the two rivets that held it on had rusted off; it’s not an important part of the exhaust, just the last 18”, the exhaust still sounds the same, but it’s another job for when we get back to the UK.
Poor old Brett has caught my lurgy so now the two of us are coughing and spluttering in unison.

23rd May CASTELO BRANCO

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOTHER!

We spent the morning at the Zona Industrial comparing prices in the builder’s merchants and agricultural stores. We were quite encourage by the price of floor tiles; we’ll be able to tile the whole of the house for around 900. We were very discouraged by the price of tractors – nearly as much as the truck (and they only had one seat!); so we’re going to buy a walking tractor (cultivator) for the time being (we might think about getting a second hand tractor in a few years time); meanwhile we’ll pay a man from the village, to come in with his tractor, when we need a big area cultivated. We did ask about buying Mr Luis walking tractor, but he told the estate agent that it wasn’t in very good working order, so he didn’t want to sell it to us; which we thought was very honest of him.
The agricultural store sells poultry and rabbits; there were ducklings (about a day or two old), chicks, some that were definitely eating birds  (good solid legs) and some that looks like layers, quail and turkey chicks, and rabbits (again for eating) they were big and white, with black markings. It was all rather distressing; they were squashed into tiny cages with wire bases (which look very uncomfortable for their feet). This is the main problem I have with the Portuguese, their lack of compassion for animals, I hate to see the dogs tied up and cowering (not to mention their incessant barking throughout the night), and the tethered horses, donkeys, sheep (even lambs) and goats – all out in the blazing sun. Not that it doesn’t happen in the UK - battery hens and factory farming etc, which is all done behind closed doors; so perhaps the Portuguese are just more honest?

We were in the last store looking at generators when suddenly the lights and music were turned off and the staff started walking out – it was 1.00, lunch time (I don’t think that anyone had noticed us in there, if we hadn’t have moved I’m sure we’d have been locked in).
Today has been quite productive we’ve chosen a generator, sourced some cheap tiles and have come to a decision about a tractor v cultivator. We think it will be even better when we go to Fundao as it is a farming town, so we should have more choice. Mark (someone who’s also staying on the campsite whilst he renovates a property, that he bought from the same estate agents as us) is busily sourcing materials for his house too, which is great because he then he shares what he’s found out with us, today he was looking a roofing joists.

We have been trying different Portuguese fare; we like the individual custard tarts, sometimes with short crust pastry (I prefer these) and sometimes in puff (Brett prefers these). Today we chose something that looked a bit like Greek shortbread (a very short biscuit made with almonds which I like to make for Christmas); however these turned out to be a little balls of puff pastry with a kind of very thin royal icing over it – they are weird, we’re eating them as we’re craving something sweet, but they’re not satisfying the craving!

Wednesday 23 May 2012

22nd May CASTELO BRANCO

So we went to OUR new property at 11.00 to meet with Mr Luis; we walked the boundary – it felt just like we were viewing the place again. We had gone with notebook, tape measure and camera hoping to determine the size of the buildings we have to work with – Mr Luis came too! It was all a little bit soul destroying – we’ve paid for the place but it still felt like Mr Luis owned it.

The bad news: His chickens, pigeons and donkey are still there and he didn’t give us the keys!!! It was quite hard to communicate as he has no English, just Portuguese and French and we have a little French and a little less Portuguese. We agreed that it would be a good idea to communicate through the estate agent.
The good news: Our well water is drinkable, this is extremely good news as it means we don’t have to dig a bore hole – which will save us a minimum of 3000€, and even then there’s no guarantee it would be drinkable. We have two wells both are full of pond weed and frogs (so it doesn’t look particularly drinkable) however, as the water is pumped from 7m down, it comes out is crystal clear and pure – it tastes just like ..... water! He said the wells haven’t run dry in thirty years; which is absolutely brilliant as water is a huge asset around here.

Good news cont.: Brett saw an animal’s route under one of our boundary fences and asked what animal it was – it was wild boar; Mr Luis said that recently he had seen two large boars with ten piglets on the farm. Brett asked if the boar was edible, he said yes it was very good to eat! (Brett is already planning on buying a shotgun!).
More good news: the vines are growing now and there’re a lot more than I had a first realised; Mr Luis said that there was enough vines for 200L of wine!!!!!

Mr Luis had done some tidying since we were last here and one of the rooms looks quite habitable already; the roof is sound with a concrete floor so we’ll have somewhere to live (camp) whilst we’re doing the place up.
We have agreed to buy the water pump, which can fill one of our water tanks or, as I like to call it, the plunge pool (8’ x 8’ x 4’ deep), in an hour; we’re also buying a machine which separates olive leaves from the olives and a machine for crushing grapes; all three for 140, a bargain as a new water pump is about 350. Mr Luis is leaving us some tools, nets (for collecting olives), some barrels and a few other bits and pieces too. He also gave us some freshly laid eggs and a couple of lettuce – can’t wait until the potatoes are ready!

We went to see the estate agent; she said that because the sale had been so quick Mr Luis hadn’t had time to move and that we need to give him a week to move his belongings (they’re so laid back here, that wouldn’t happen in Britain once you’ve got your money you have to be out). Mr Luis is a lovely old man so of course we agreed to give him a week to move; so now we’re hanging around and window shopping for all the things we’re going to need to buy – generator, barbeque, roof, tractor, trailer ................ we’re also trying to think of ways we can use 500L of olive oil (you definitely can’t sell it in Portugal) – so far we’ve come up with: Siop Laria (how many litres do you think you can sell Will & Jess?), Christmas presents (we’ll be making Fonte dos Clerigos  Hampers!), running our tractor, and perhaps a central heating boiler. There won’t be any problem getting through the 200L of wine!!!

21st May CASTELO BRANCO

It’s ours!!!!!! Well technically it’s Brett’s; apparently the deed can only be in one name and as I have children the inheritance laws wouldn’t allow me to will it to Brett so it had to be in his name and then he made a Portuguese will (to will it to me) – the truck is going to be in my name (costs nearly as much!!). After paying all the taxes, solicitor’s and notary’s fees (and of course the 46750 for the house) we have worked out that in real money (sterling) it has actually cost us £41329 – that’s ridiculous for 13.3 acres plus two big buildings.

At 12.00 noon we went to the Notary’s office along with the owner (Luis Aleixo de Figueiredo, plus his wife and daughter), our solicitor (Liliana), our translators (Leo and Erica), plus the secretary from the estate agent (Liliana). The notary read everything out in Portuguese and then our solicitor, the estate agent’s secretary, our interpreters and sometimes even the notary translated bits that they thought were relevant into English. We gave the owner a cheque for 40000 plus 750 cash (the estate agents had asked us previously to give it to him like this as, they said, he had some shopping to do); the owner immediately handed the cash to the estate agent’s secretary (who went bright red and said, give it to me later – or words to that effect); we concluded from this exchange that that was the balance of their fees (they’d already had a bank transfer of 6000€, our deposit) so they made 6750 (nearly 15%)!!!! No wonder they are so pushy.
 Mr Luis (for some reason they call him that rather than Senor Figueiredo) then insisted on buying everyone a drink to celebrate; he kept crying (he did it when we were viewing the property too) which made us feel mean, but he assured us he definitely wanted to sell. We have an appointment with him tomorrow morning when he wants to walk us around the boundaries (again) and hand over the keys, he says he’s leaving us some equipment that he wants to show us too (a water pump, olive harvesting apparatus etc) – apparently his chickens and donkey are still there, we actually have this worry that he’s still going to turn up every morning and continue to work the land!

Mr Luis also told us that the olive trees produce enough olives for 500 litres of olive oil; apparently you take your olives to the local press and they will tell you how many kilos of olives they want in return for 1 litre of oil; Mr Luis says in Penamacor, our nearest press, they exchange 10 kilos for one litre of oil (which means we could be harvesting five tonnes of olives!). Leo and Erica said that the exchange rate can vary between 7 to 12 kilos/litre (no money changes hands).
We took Leo and Erica (and their baby, Aurora, and Erica’s dad) out to lunch to celebrate; we had lots of snacky food plus drinks and it came to a grand total of 1275 – it is very cheap to eat out here.

Once again we’re feeling a bit flat after such a momentous occasion; I suppose it hasn’t sunk in yet. We’re still working on our house design – it’s all changed again.

20Th May CASTELO BRANCO

I’m feeling so much better today; I slept well and I can breathe again.

We went to the Zona Industrial (retail park) to look at generators and barbeques; we need a generator when we’re first at the farm, living in the camper van, to keep the batteries topped up – we thought that we could buy one that could then be used out and about for running tools, cement mixers etc. And of course the barbeque will ultimately be used in our outdoor kitchen.
We spent the afternoon designing our house!! The buildings have so much potential; we know we want a large kitchen so we’ve earmarked the 21’ x 18’5’ room for that; but then the other rooms, we keep coming up with new ideas, and changing our minds. We don’t need a huge living room (it will probably only be used for a few months in the winter) so 14’ x 12’ is ample, our bedroom we would like about 14’ x 14’ (similar size to Pentwyn Farm), I want a larder, somewhere cool to keep preserves and produce, obviously a bathroom, but again it doesn’t need to be massive. Visitor initially will be put up in the house, but we plan to have a couple of bedrooms, in the other building, above the gym and studio.

19th May CASTELO BRANCO

I had a crap night coughing and spluttering continuously, at 5.45 I decided to get up when it got to 6.00, then I woke up at 7.45 – so I had 2 hours sleep. But I’m very happy today – I had a phone call from Henry, from Thailand; they’ve nearly finished their course and take their exams on Tuesday, hopefully they’ll get employment with one of the dive schools once they’re qualified.

As I wasn’t feeling well we decided to have a ‘video and sweets’ day, we found ‘dime’ bar chocolate (my favourite) in the local supermarket which was good as lots of foreign sweets don’t taste right to our palate. The first film was a black and white classic with Peter Seller ‘The Smallest Show on Earth’, the acting was atrocious and the storyline was poor but because of this it was fairly funny and quite charming (I wouldn’t recommend it though!).
Next we watched ‘Paranormal Activity’ which was a scary film with annoying characters who didn’t act normally; if I was being haunted I wouldn’t stay in the house, with all the lights off, waiting for something to happen, whilst filming it! And the plot - it was as if the director had said “ok guys let’s brainstorm, what’s scary?” and then everything was included but without any continuity and the ending didn’t tie in ... another film I wouldn’t recommend; I don’t think we’ll bother with ‘Paranormal Activity Two’!

18th May CASTELO BRANCO

We’ve spent so much money today and that’s only the start of it. First thing we went to the Mitsubishi dealer to pay our deposit for the truck (1000); we had to get the bank to write us a cheque – that cost 610. Next we went to pay the taxes for the farm, 5% for agricultural (rustic) land and .8% stamp duty (271150), then we had to get out 500 cash to pay for our lawyer, plus cash for our translators, the notary takes ‘multibanco’ card so we didn’t have to get money out for that.

By Monday we’ll be the proud owners of ‘Fonte dos Clerigos’!
I have got a cold, I’ve been feeling absolutely lousy for four days now – who gets a bloody cold in the summer?

When we were in Portugal a couple of months ago I was buying Vinho Verde (1L) from Minipreço (supermarket) on special offer for .79, now it’s 179 – Brett keeps telling me it’s still cheap, but I remember the reduced price, it’s a very palatable wine (but I can get 1L rose for .75 and it’s not bad), decisions, decisions............!!!!

Friday 18 May 2012

17th May CASTELO BRANCO

We’ve bought a truck!!!! We went into the Mitsubishi dealer in Castelo Branco today and asked (in Portuguese) if they could give us a better price than yesterday’s quotes – we got the basic L200 for 24000, a saving of 900 on yesterday and a huge saving of 5200 on the Toyota we were contemplating at the beginning of the week – which should pay for the roof. We have to wait two weeks for it to be delivered.

We didn’t hear from the estate agent today, so of course now I’m getting worried that it’s all going to go pear shaped! We texted out solicitor to see if she could find our what’s happening – haven’t heard back from her either, maybe they’re all in it together? We only contacted them yesterday to say that our money was available so perhaps I’m panicking a bit prematurely!

7.00 p.m. Update: We’ve just had a phone call from the estate agent (they work late!); tomorrow at 2.30 p.m. we go to pay the taxes for the property and then on Monday 12.00 noon we sign the Escritura Pública de Compra e Venda i.e. we complete!!! That’s twelve days since we made our offer – twelve days!








16th May CASTELO BRANCO

I know I like to complain but I will also give credit where it’s due; we contacted our British bank, Intelligent Finance, on Wednesday (to transfer the deposit to estate agents) and on Thursday (to transfer money to our new Portuguese bank account) they said that the money would leave our bank 11.00 a.m. the following day and could take up to 3 working days to reach Portugal – in both cases the money arrived the same day it left Britain, I was very surprised and impressed.

The estate agent seemed to think that we might be able to exchange by the end of the week, she said that Liliana (her secretary) would make some phone calls (to: the owner, the notary, our lawyer etc), to coordinate the exchange, and ring us this afternoon – oh dear, she didn’t! If she hasn’t contacted us by Friday we’ll go back in to talk to them.

Today we had a lovely drive to Fundao; the town is quite high up and overlooks a huge flat plain with lots of small farming communities. The region is known for cherry growing (it has a special microclimate), the cherries are just starting to ripen, I can’t wait they’re one of my favourite fruits; Fundao will be our local town when we move; it has a ‘Lidl’ so Brett’s happy as he’ll be able to get English tea.

The trip was to look for a truck, I am so bored with looking at vehicles; our first stop was Mitsubishi. Brett told the salesman that our budget was 25000€; he gave us a price of 27000 for the deluxe model (Mitsubishi L200) and the basic (work) model he got down to 24900€, both with a tow bar and load liner thrown in. They did have a couple of second hand trucks one was 3 years old and he could let us have it for 25500 (no tow bar or load liner, and 70000 kilometres on the clock) or an 8 year old for 18500 but with 168000 kilometres and no warranty. We found another garage with some older trucks but even the 12 years olds were still priced at 12000€; vehicles are classed as a luxury here and they keep their value, Brett reckons they depreciate by 1000€ a year, not like Britain where a 1/3 of the value goes in the first couple of years  – bottom line is we still don’t know what to do (NO, we do not want to travel by donkey, speaking of which we had great difficulty persuading the estate agents that we didn’t want to keep the donkey who lives at the farm).

15th May CASTELO BRANCO

I was kept awake, last night, by ‘the frog chorus’ (not Paul McCartney’s version!) real frogs croaking, they were very loud; I don’t know why there’s so many around at the moment it’s too late for mating season (in Wales that’s March, I know because we used to see them when we were walking around the field at 4.00 a.m. during lambing) and I don’t think there’s any water around here either, but they’ve been at it for the past couple of nights (they’re louder than the birds and dogs!).
Flippin’ heck, we went back to the Toyota dealer to get a quote for the basic (work model) truck, without all the expensive extras i.e. Toyota ‘touch system’, Sat Nav, reversing camera, chrome accessories, steps, metal box (this would have a much cheaper slatted wooden box), air conditioning, big wheels, chunky tyres, cruise control, plush upholstery, a choice of colour etc accordingly we expected a vastly reduced price (we were hoping around 5000) huh, the quote was for ..... 27400€, we don’t believe it (said in a Victor Meldrew accent) we might as well go for the expensive option and have all the ‘toys’ included – tomorrow, or the next day, we’ll go to Fundao and look at second hand garages there.
Since we’ve been back from the barragem I’ve been sneezing and snuffling, my eyes are itchy and I have a sore throat and headache; I don’t think it’s a cold I think it’s an allergy as it feels similar to what I had the last time I was there, I do hope it goes soon.

The estate agent phoned to say our deposit had arrived in their account, and then our lawyer texted to say the checks were fine and that Mr Luis (owner) was available to do the escritura (deeds) as soon as possible; so first thing tomorrow we’ll go to the bank to check that the money has transferred, then we will go to the estate agents to discuss completion – wow it’s not like Britain!

We washed all our bedding this afternoon, even the patchwork quilt; there’re some very deep sinks, provided by the campsite, with cold water under very high pressure which are great for rinsing the washing – you get absolutely drenched whilst doing it but that’s actually a bonus in this heat!

14th May CASTELO BRANCO

We went to see our lawyer today; she confirmed everything the estate agents had told us about the legality of us converting the building into a house – we had thought that perhaps they weren’t being completely honest as they were trying to sell it to us. She told us most of the work she needs to do, before we can complete, can be done online and she’d get back to us within 24 hours to discuss completion dates!!!

We went to look at vehicles today too; Brett is very keen on a Toyota Hilux 4x4, we were shown a ‘Trial’ which has lots of extras that we don’t need (Toyota ‘touch system’ - built in computer, Sat Nav, reversing camera etc. air conditioning, chrome - skirts, wheels and mirrors; all very flash) for a mere 29000 (there’s a 23% tax on cars here, they are very expensive) oh yes and this one only had 3 seats, the 5 seater (basic model) cost 5000 more (the more seats the more tax paid, I don’t really understand) – tomorrow we’re going to enquire about the basic 3 seater. We did look at used models but the 2 – 3 year olds tended to be more (because they had even more extras) and they only started dropping in price once they get to 10 years+ and as we’re not mechanics we want something reliable.
It’s still hot here; but as we’re camped under trees it’s bearable – it must have been 40°+ at the barragem, this is much more pleasant (10.00 this evening and it was down to 26°). On the plus side we’re completely up to date with our washing apart from the bedding which we’re going to do tomorrow; we can’t wait for the day when we plumb in our washing machine (actually it wouldn’t be so bad if we had a mangle, it’s the wringing out that’s hard work).

Monday 14 May 2012

13th May BARRAGEM DE POVOA - CASTELO BRANCO

So much for my brilliant idea of getting stuff done early before the day heated up, it was baking hot by 8.00 a.m. this morning! Of course as the van had been in the shade last night it was now in direct sunlight and the temperature was rising rapidly – we moved further along the road under some huge Acer trees, obviously under the flight path the local storks, every so often there would be the ‘knocking’ call of the incoming parent bird.
If you look carefully between the parent stork's legs you can see two baby storks (just)
William phone this morning with dire warnings about the impending collapse of the euro; typical as soon as we change our money into euros there’s a crisis , at least we got a good exchange rate on Friday,  we worked out that we were better off by £2000 by exchanging now rather than when we first arrived (and it was £500 better than exchanging on Thursday – we don’t want to check the exchange rate anymore or look at farms for sale!!!!).

As it was too hot at the barragem we came back to the campsite after lunch – at least here we can have copious cold showers! Brett spent the afternoon on his kindle looking at cars for sale nearby and checking on the state of the Euro-zone  – it was very slow.

12th May CASTELO BRANCO - BARRAGEM DE POVOA

I was up at 6.30 again, it was lovely and cool sitting outside drinking coffee. It’s getting quite difficult to sleep; the daytime temperature is in the 30s and the temperature in the van, at night, doesn’t drop much below 28° (poor us!!), we definitely need a fan.

We bought our supplies for the weekend and then drove to the barragem, near Nisa, we were last there at the end of February.
We went for a walk on arrival, I was interested to see if there was anyone living in the ‘shanty town’ – there wasn’t.
Shanty town

While we were walking we kept hearing this ‘knocking’ noise, a bit like a woodpecker, then we realised it was the call that some of the storks were making as they flew overhead. We had already seen that the storks on their nests now have baby storklings (made up word!) and this was the noise that the parent bird made as it was approaching the nest; just before they came to rest on the nest the occupying stork would fly away and the baby storks (usually two) would start bobbing up and down making this mewing sound – it was just like watching a nature film.

We had thought that, as we would be close to water, it might be slightly cooler than in town, we were wrong it was incredibly hot! We paddled, the water got deep quite quickly and my shorts got wet, I didn’t mind, I was so hot – in the end I just sat down in the water, fully dressed (dress, shorts and underwear), it was blissful, I lay there floating on my back.
The Portuguese use the barragems like a country park; there are car parks, picnic tables and barbeque areas at the entrance, but most people ignore the designated areas and drive down to the water’s edge parking under trees. There were a number of families here when we arrived, some of them had put up tents (even though there’s a notice saying no camping*) and in the middle of the afternoon they all disappeared inside for a siesta – so we went into the van and followed suit!

Tonight we had a Thai chicken curry for dinner; usually we make our curry paste using a food processor, today we had to chop up all the solid ingredients (garlic, ginger, chillies, basil, coriander) as small as possible and then pound them to a paste in one of the smallest mortar and pestles ever! (tinned coconut milk is expensive here 249) – anyway it was very nice!
10.00 p.m. the temperature in the van is still 30° even with all the windows, door and skylights open.

* camping – when we park up in aires (which is what this barragem is, it has the camping car logo at the entrance, and it’s in our aire book (bible!)), we’re not supposed:
·         to put up awnings (which is why we didn’t bother to get one)
·         hang out washing
·         put tables and chairs (or other paraphernalia) out side

All of the above is considered ‘camping’, technically we are solely parking – which is why we’re allowed to stay here overnight and people in tents aren’t (though they did!).

11th May CASTELO BRANCO

I slept really well and was woken by the dawn chorus; I was sitting outside the van, drinking coffee, by 6.30 a.m. watching the sun rise. It’s quite cool at 6.30 in the morning, so this is the time we will most likely need get up to do any strenuous chores – we can always have a siesta in the middle of the day.

We were rapidly running out of gas again, and this time we haven’t been able to find anyone to refill our (British) bottles. The gas bottles in Britain use a completely different regulator to the bottles in Portugal, so we thought we needed to buy a Portuguese regulator as well as the gas bottle; but of course nothing is ever that simple, for some reason our (British) regulator is built into the van which makes it impossible to fit the Portuguese regulator without cutting/disconnecting pipes and even then the locker, for the gas bottles, isn’t tall enough for the foreign bottles!!!! So today we bought ourselves an independent double burner stove, plus bottle and regulator (130), this will ultimately go in our outside kitchen at Donkey Quinta (sorry, Fonte dos Clerigos) next to the barbeque and bread oven, it also means we’ll still have a cooker once we’ve sold the van.
Tonight we went out for a meal with a couple of blokes who are staying on the site long term (one has just bought a house that he’s doing up and the other one is a music producer who does the European trance festivals). Castelo Branco is not a touristy town so the restaurant we went to served traditional peasant style Portuguese food; between the four of us we had ........ 1 x soup, 4 x main meals, 4 x puddings, 8 x beers and 2 x coffees ............. the total bill came to 38€20, that’s less than £8 a head!!! The waiter was this lovely young boy who went off and translated the menu into English, he wrote everything down so that we could understand him – we left him a generous tip! Nick (the producer guy) was our driver; he drank two beers whilst constantly nipping outside to smoking dope; he drove us back to the campsite, in the dark, one handed whilst speaking on the phone! I don’t think we’ll take up his offer of a lift into town again!

Tomorrow we’re going back to the barragem for a couple of days, as nothing will happen here over the weekend, and we’ll come back here on Monday for our appointment with the solicitor.

Friday 11 May 2012

10th May CASTELO BRANCO

I didn’t sleep well; I was too excited, I had so many images of Donkey Quinta (NO!!! Fonte Dos Clerigos) swarming inside in my head, what it looks like now, what it will look like with animals, how we’re going to design the house. We are so lucky!
It was exceedingly hot when we went to bed but by the early hours it had cooled off rather a lot and although I wanted the extra bed clothes I couldn’t quite find the impetus to get out of bed and fetch any – so I just lay there in a chilly excited state listening to the birds singing; they literally sing all night here, they don’t stop when it’s dark, they are still singing full out at midnight and then the dawn chorus starts around 5.30 a.m. – the birds are joined by more birds (including cockerels), frogs, dogs, cicadas and sheep bells and ......... anything else that can make a noise, for about an hour there’s this cacophony of sound, it’s actually quite soothing.

This morning we opened a Portuguese bank account, it was all very easy; then we went into the estate agents, to get copies of the paperwork for the farm, so that we can get the legal side of the process checked out by a solicitor – we need to confirm that the land actually belongs to the seller and that there are no outstanding debts/mortgages on it (if there were WE would become liable for them once we owned the farm). The estate agent informed us that the temperature was going to climb to 35°!!! Today has been VERY hot.

Then we phoned our British bank and asked them to transfer 90000€ (no, not all for the farm we need to buy a vehicle (extremely expensive in Portugal), a generator and to have the roof replaced) to our Portuguese bank, it’s going to take at least 3 working days (it’s out of our British account already – where is it? somewhere in the internet! And why does it take so long, it’s not as if the money is physically shifted from bank to bank) it’s quite worrying waiting for it to arrive in our new account; we could have completed by the end of next week; I keep writing this, oh I do hope my next week post doesn’t start “Huh, and I thought we would have been completed by now but ........”.

It’s been hotter today, at 10 p.m. it was still 31°C – that’s hot.

9th May CASTELO BRANCO

OMG, we’ve bought Donkey Quinta!!!!! Only it’s not really called Donkey Quinta it’s called Fonte Dos Clerigos – Spring of the Clerics. We went into the estate agents before lunch, did some haggling (Brett) and by 2.00 we’d arranged the transfer of the deposit from our bank in Britain to the estate agent’s bank – so ‘no going back’! It’s a really quick and easy process (as long as all the paperwork is in order, and ours is) we could be completed by the end of next week.

Portugal is a little different to Britain; when you sell in Britain once you have completed you have to move out (obviously!) and anything you leave behind belongs to the buyers. Well here we’re told it is customary practise (goodwill) that when one of these small farms is sold (and I’m not sure how legal this is) that the seller can come back and harvest the crops he’s planted – our seller put in potatoes last week (they take about 4 months to grow) so that means he’s allowed to come back and pick them in September? And there was me being all smug about him keeping the vegetable patch up; I will be scrumping!.
The estate agent took us to get our fiscal numbers, so we can pay taxes (yippee) and tomorrow we’ll be opening a Portuguese bank account – it’s all a little bit scary.  It’s weird we’ve been so keen to get this and this afternoon we’re both feeling rather flat; hopefully we’ll start feeling excited soon.

Later the same evening ....................... We’ve just eaten; we bought a ½ kilo of giant prawns (rather expensive, 8 prawns cost 13.67 or £11.20) and a bottle of, what we thought was champagne type wine, but turned out to be a fizzy red wine (one of the few things that Brett will drink is champagne, he didn’t like the ‘warmish’ red fizzy!) for our celebration meal; the prawns were lovely (and quite filling) and I enjoyed the wine! We’re getting very excited now – we’re planning our house, it’s going to be so bloody fantastic (as all our visitors will see).
The weather is HOT again (hoorah we managed to do our washing), it’s  now 10.00 p.m. and it’s still 28°C; Friday is supposed to be 30°C – I spent a long time this evening cutting the sleeves out of all my tops.

8th May CASTELO BRANCO

We contacted the young couple (Leo & Erica) who showed us around the Monsanto properties to ask their advice about the buying process etc; they invited us to visit them this afternoon, after we’d been to view Donkey Quinta.

As we had some time to spare this morning we thought we would look into getting a dongle so that we could have our own internet access. Ha ha ha, the lady in the shop didn’t speak English (but she had a computer, so she used a translation programme), we were there for at least half an hour at one point all three of us were laughing our heads off at the absurdity of the situation and we still didn’t get it, she more or less told us not to bother as it was too expensive (or that’s what we thought she was trying to tell us).
DONKEY QUINTA: We spent ages there this afternoon measuring all the buildings and taking photos – we love it! The land is absolutely covered with wild flowers lupins, lavender, sweet peas I just can’t describe how pretty it all is.
Mountain backdrop to one of 'our' olive groves

Spot the donkey amongst the olive trees

The ground is covered in wild lavender
And the buildings; well ok they are block built, but they are BIG. The one we are going to turn into a house has three rooms (side by side) 22 x18.5 (living room with a sofa bed for guests), 21’ x 18.5’ (kitchen), 7’ x 12’ (boot room/utility) and another room (off kitchen) 20’ x 12’ (bedroom and bathroom, there are also another couple of smaller buildings, connected by the tumble down donkey shed, which could be added to the house. The other structure is well over a hundred metres away, and this has two rooms 16’ x 20’ (studio) and 14’ x 20’ (gym); this building is high enough to have a second storey which eventually could be a couple of guest bedrooms (accessible by an outside stair case) – we’ve got it all worked out! While we were there we saw a grouse who apparently is a regular visitor to the farm (the current owner feeds her).

We had a brilliant visit to Leo and Erica; their place is through the woods (horrible access), they have 20 acres, but no natural water source, and they are living the ‘good life’. They are completely ‘off grid’; they have a bore hole, solar panels and a windmill, solar heated hot water and a sawdust toilet – most of which we will have to have at Donkey Quinta; it gave us so much confidence talking to them, they are lovely generous people and were willing to share everything that they’ve learnt in the two years they’ve been in Portugal – their house also started life as a block built shed. So ....................... tomorrow we’re going to put in an offer on Donkey Quinta!

The weather has started to improve over the last couple of days and it’s beginning to get quite warm now.


7th May CASTEL BRANCO

We went to see the estate agents first thing; we have an appointment to see the property tomorrow at 3.00 – they said that it was still on the market at the moment but they’re expecting this man to put in an offer!!! Yea, right, estate agent talk to try to panic you into buying (I hope!).

6th May CASTEL BRANCO

We had one of our lazy days; we took a long walk around Castelo Branco (of course there were no shops open as it was Sunday) and then we went back to the campsite.

I did some washing and dyed my hair and then we watched this absolutely crap film ’30 Days of Night’ it was so badly directed; it was one of those films where there are long meaningful pauses before the characters speak, the plot was weak and the characters were unlikeable – still it passed the evening!

5th May TORRE DE MONCORVO - CASTELO BRANCO

We woke up to blue skies and warmth, it was so nice after all the miserable rain we’ve been having. We drove to Donkey Quinta; well as far as we have ever been in the van, each time we’ve visited before we’ve parked up and then travelled the track in the back of the estate agents car. This time we parked up and walked the track (about a mile) with a tape measure; the van is 85” wide, we wanted to see how far along the track we could drive the van without damage – we are now quite optimistic that with carefully manoeuvring (and the trimming of some low branches) we should be able to drive the van all the way to Donkey Quinta, we are so happy!

It was lovely walking along the track, the scenery is breathtaking. With mountains in the background and the scent of orange blossom in the air; orange and olive groves and vineyards line the track,
and growing in the verges are a mass of wildflowers including foxgloves, lavender, sweetpea, campion, rocket, cranesbill and a host of other flowers I’ve yet to learn the names of.
The birds were singing and the cicadas  were making their noise (rubbing their wing cases?) and we saw a rabbit run across the track, it was idyllic. We will be contacting the estate agents on Monday.
We’ve come back to the campsite we used when we were viewing properties in this area the first time around, two months ago; we’re hoping that tomorrow we’ll be able to do some washing, we haven’t been able to do any for about a month and we’re running out of clothes.

4th May BRAGANCA - TORRE DE MONCORVO

It rained all night.
Trees 'dripping' with lichen!

We had a shortish drive to an aire today at Torre de Moncorvo; it looked as if Sat Nav thought it would only take us 20 minutes until we realised that she had put her clock back an hour when we crossed the border (and we hadn’t realised to).
The aire is right at the top of the village overlooking the surrounding countryside, with fabulous far reaching views of olive groves and terraces. It does feel rather exposed when the wind blows!
View from aire
As we needed food for dinner we were looking out for a shop, as we drove, but didn’t find one until we entered the village (the local Supermercado), of course it was shut for siesta time (which is different timing in Portugal to Spain). When it did open it was absolutely rubbish; all the cold counters were empty there was no cheese, milk, meat, or bread and the only vegetables were a couple of onions, a lettuce and some potatoes. So dinner was pancakes with lemon juice and sugar, chocolate chip cookies (Brett) and wine (me)!

Friday 4 May 2012

3rd May LEON – BRAGANCA

It rained and rained in the night. Today we had another long boring journey across the plains of Spain in the rain – 125 miles, and then we were back in Portugal; and back on windy country roads with goats and cattle in the fields alongside, run down houses with wood smoke coming out of their chimneys (I love that smell) and around a bend in the road an old lady, by herself, with a stick and umbrella herding her half dozen cows along the road to be milked (I could tell that by the size of their udders). This scene made our day, this is the village life we want when we final settle (in Portugal?).
Photo taken through the windscreen of the van (and through rain)
We had to book into a campsite as there are no aires in this area. Braganca is in a National Park (Parque Natural de Montezinho) in Northern Portugal; in the summer it will be extremely picturesque, at the moment it’s pretty but very damp and squelchy, the trees are absolutely dripping with lichen (which to me is a sign of perpetual dampness!).

We paid 2 for internet access (which, considering we’d paid for it, was very slow and kept disconnecting) I spent hours uploading the last thirteen posts of my blog (phew!).

Thursday 3 May 2012

2nd May LEON

Everything was open this morning!! We walked through the shopping centre to get to the city centre and there was a pet shop with a puppy in the window – he was pleading with his eyes for us to buy him, it was so sad; of course I wanted to get him!

We did the Cathedral (Gothic) and yes, there was some yummy glass, the audio tour said its glass was on a par with Chatres. As always the photos don’t do justice to the beauty of the windows.
Fabulous glass, well worth a visit



Leon has a very understated Gaudy building, Casa de los Botines; it’s big but not particularly whacky, in fact if I hadn’t known it was a Gaudy I wouldn’t have guessed it was.
Casa de los Botines

We wandered along narrow Gothic alleyways and came across an amazing shop selling all the accoutrements for charcuterie making – sausage skins (intestines), string, etc.
This is so our kind of shop!
Whilst wandering we happened upon a non touristy area; lots of Spaniards were sitting around socialising outside cafes eating (tapas) and drinking and there was a vegetable market taking place in the square.
A 'real' market



1st May VITORIA GASTEIZ – LEON

We (Brett) had a very long drive today 180 miles across the plains of Spain (and yes it did rain); it was a very boring journey, it just went on and on, and the countryside was very uninspiring mainly fields of cereal, no houses or roads. We had a couple of strange occurrences though; at the start of the journey a lorry passed us, he was honking his horn and waving out of his window at us – we thought there was something wrong with the van, or that the bikes had fallen off! But nothing appeared to be up, then I realised that we could see him, as he drove past, therefore it must have been a right hand drive vehicle and maybe he was British and he was just being friendly? Then, about 100 miles later, a Portuguese lorry passed us; the passenger wound down his window and he was waving and smiling at us (in a friendly manner, not a ‘there’s something wrong’ manner) – now what was that all about? We have absolutely no idea.

So we arrived in Leon and decided to have a look around the town to see if there was anywhere nice to eat and to buy some food anyway as we’ve run out of most stuff (and we like to have ingredients just in case we’re caught short) – there was nowhere open (well there were some bars FULL of men playing cards) but even the shopping centre was shut at 6.00 p.m. now I know we’re not good with this siesta thing but this was ridiculous. We consulted our ‘Rough Guide to Spain’ only to find that 1st May is a National holiday i.e. and all the shops are shut, so it was left over two day old pasta and tomato salad for dinner (yum!).
We’re going to stay here for a couple of nights; tomorrow we’re going to visit the Cathedral – there’s supposed to be some nice glass in there.

30th Apr HENDAYE PLAGE - VITORIA GASTEIZ

We’re back in Spain and I swear it’s feeling warmer already!

Vitoria Gasteiz is the Basque capital  and quite a big city; to reach it we drove through mountains (there’s still snow on some).
The square, Vitoria Gasteiz

And just off the square, alongside ancient cobbled steps leading to the church, THIS monstosity a moving walkway!!
 We cycled into the city to have a look around and got back to the van just before this magnificent thunderstorm struck. It was really close, the lightening lighting up the inside of the van seconds before the thunder clap; I shut all the blinds – I’m a bit like a ostrich if I can’t see it it can’t hurt me, (one night when we were in bed in the Barn there was a thunderstorm and I made Brett get up and go down stairs to hide from it! He of course thinks I’m mad.).
After the thunderstorm we kept hearing these huge bangs, we had a look around but couldn’t see anything, it went on for ages (it sounded likegun fire and bobs, a war zone, but as there weren’t any police cars racing around we didn’t think it was actually anything sinister); then we heard a few fireworks going off – but nothing particularly visual, it was the noise that was the point of the whole display.

When we were in Hendaye Plage yesterday, and on our way here today, we observed that many road signs and place names were written in two separate languages; the second language looking rather like Russian with lots of k’s, z’s and x’s – it dawned on us, after a while, that this was the Basque language.
All I knew about the Basques was what I’d heard on the news (i.e. about ETA violence etc) I didn’t realise that Basques aren’t French or Spanish at all, in fact “they may be the last surviving representatives of Europe’s aboriginal population” (The Rough Guide to Spain),  a study of their genes has shown that they predate all European settlers. They are “a distinct people, generally with a different build from the French and Spanish and a different blood group distribution from the rest of Europe” and “Skull fragments of late Cro-Magnon man believed to date from the Palaeolithic era, around 9000BC, have been shown to be identical to present-day Basque cranial formation” – so we spent the day looking for a Neanderthal man type person, but we didn’t see one!




29th Apr DAX - HENDAYE PLAGE

“Mr Blue Sky, Mr Blue Sky” ................... Hoorah, it stopped raining at 2.00 a.m. and by 9.00 blue sky was showing through the clouds, our dispositions were much lighter today (we really are affected by the weather – SAD syndrome).

Sat Nav worked ok today and we were back at the coast by lunch time. The aire provides parking for 8 vans, there were already 14 parked up; so we tucked ourselves in and waited for someone to move. After waiting for a couple of hours we managed to park in an official parking space for the night, but lots more vans arrived after us; there’s too many vans and less and less spaces and it’s only April, I hate to think what it’ll be like in the summer.
France has far more camper vans on the road than Spain or Portugal, and lots of the ones we saw there were French. Initially we thought that camper vans were well cater for in France, the French aire book has 1600 entries compared to 47 (Portugal) and 91 (Spain) but there appears to have been a backlash over the last couple of years; many of the aires are closed, height barriers have been erected, free aires have meters and charge for water etc and, as in this town, all the parking close to the beach says camper vans prohibited. The aire at Cadillac had a notice that I roughly translated; the gist of it was “due to repeated exploitation the aire de service had been withdrawn”; so now when we set of in the morning we’re wondering how far we’ll need to travel before we can settle for the day.

Hendaye Plage is a surfer’s beach, with huge crashing waves; practically everyone you pass is wearing a wet suit or changing out of one. Fortunately we went for a walk around the town before lunch as it had started raining heavily by 3.00p.m and continued off and on for the rest of the afternoon.
We’ve been in France for 10 days now and not managed to get on the internet except for a one time parked outside MacDonald’s where we checked our emails (very slow) and last night when we remembered that our ‘Kindles’ had an internet setting – ha ha and we thought MacDonald’s was slow our poor old ‘Kindles’ ground to a halt, we could see we had messages, but we couldn’t open them – very frustrating. We’ll be back in Spain tomorrow, so hopefully we’ll start getting internet access and I’ll be able to post my blog again!

We had a distressing communication from the people we sold the farm to; gale force winds, this morning, have wreaked havoc at the farm - six trees down (through boundary fences), sheds blown over fence and down bank/field and our polytunnel cover wrecked, fortunately the house and cottage seem to be ok..

28th Apr CADILLAC - DAX

Woke up to rain again! It’s worse than Wales; at least there we could dry our coats and do our laundry. We waited for the rain to stop so that we could go to the market – it didn’t, but we went anyway. It was exactly how you picture a French market; there was lots of home grown fruit and vegetables for sale, homemade (goats) cheese, charcuterie and livestock – goslings at 11 and four week old chicks 260. There was one stall (vegetables) where the man was drinking a bottle of red wine (10.30 a.m.) he was very jolly. I even saw a couple of men wearing berets!

Our aire was 90 miles away, thanks to Sat Nav we travelled 120 miles; she had nearly got us to our destination (according to her). Brett was saying “this can’t be right” as we’re driving down smaller and smaller roads (tracks), me saying “no, it looks fine” (I was checking her route and it looked as if we were nearly there), when she suddenly says “recalculating, make a U turn” –her screen was showing our correct destination with the flag a few hundred feet away, then it disappeared and we were left with a screen of ‘unpaved roads’ miles from anywhere. When we re-entered the coordinates for the aire (we used the same ones we’d been following up until that point, they were saved in ‘favourites’) it was 10 miles away – what was that all about?
Anyway her detour was quite interesting; at one point we were stopped by the Gendarmes, a big tree had fallen across the road (we think it was due to the flooding, the roots had been washed away) so we had to wait while it was moved and we saw fields and fields of ducks – they were having a whale of a time in the puddles, I don’t think they normally have access to water (except to drink).
It’s now rained constantly for 24 hours; after we arrived at the aire we waited and waited for it to stop, so that we could explore and go to buy food, in the end we had no choice but to venture out in the wet. Dax is a spa town, we saw the steam coming off the thermal waters but we couldn’t touch it, as it was behind a high metal fence, you obviously have to pay to get in and it wasn’t open at 8.30 0n a Saturday evening. We were parked close to the river, there was supposed to be a floating restaurant near the aire but we didn’t see it; the river was very swollen, there were steps leading down to a riverside walk the water was halfway up them and the walkway was well below the water level.