22nd Mar CASTRO MARIM – MONTE GORDO

We needed to find a campsite today as my bike battery hasn’t been charged since we left home; and as we’re not doing a lot of driving at the moment the campervan battery also needs charging (by campervan battery I mean the one that runs the electrics in the habitation area, not the engine battery).

I keep noticing errors when I check that my posts have been published; unfortunately I can’t edit a post once it’s been published as I’m using the Portuguese version of blogspot and I can’t understand how to do it – it’s niggling me!!

So we’re now booked into the campsite at Monte Gordo 8.83€ inclusive of electricity and free internet (the last site wanted to charge 3€ for electricity and 1€ an hour for internet!) so we’re much happier here. Unlike the last site (Colditz) which was very sterile (lots of regulations and charges) this site has a similar laidback feel as the site we stayed on for five day at Olhao; and again there are quite a few full timers with their individualised plots – the in thing here is windmills made from plastic water bottles (I will be taking photos tomorrow). I haven’t used the toilets here but I have it on good authority (Brett’s – he had to go in to empty our waste) that there’s just a hole in the ground that you have to squat over – thank goodness we have our own!!!

Monte Gordo is within spitting distance of Spain; it has a nice feel to it, with a big sandy beach, and lots of restaurants and bars; a 2 mile cycle ride took us to Vila Real de Santo Antonia where the river forms the border with Spain.

There’s a marina with some very nice boats (which we lusted after) and lots of fish (Brett says trout – but that’s what he always says!) in the very clear sea – and “No” Henry we haven’t been fishing yet! We’re going to return to Vila Real and explore further tomorrow.

Marina at Vila Real de Santo Antonia

As I had internet access I googled ‘dyed pigeons’ – apparently it’s a Spanish pigeon fancier’s practise, for bird identification when racing (kind of what we figured).