Hello again viewers.
I hope you are all well and ready for Christmas.
Last time I was in Quarteira licking my wounds (Ugh!) and here it is.
The beach is about 500 yds from the campsite then it takes about 10 minutes to cycle along the promenade to the centre (or 45 minutes to limp).
Most of the town is new but there are some nice old bits.
A couple of km away is Vilamoura. Very up market marina. Lots of restaurants and shops, but dead at this time of year.
Sunset at Quateira.
and another
I left there on the 17th, heading east. I thought I'd try a camp site at Olhao, just the other side of Faro. It was heaving with ex-patriates looking for winter sun. There were no beaches nearby (they are on offshore islands) only salt marshes so I'm not sure why it was so popular unless they were all ornithologists.
So next day I decided that it was time to leave Portugal (after one last cup of tea).
...and head for Spain.
Unfortunately I had to drive right past Seville. It is a city I want to visit but I didn't think my foot would take it.
I ended up in El Puerto de Sanata Maria.
Next day I took the boat accross the bay to visit Cadiz.
A load of Americans beat me to it.
Nice city and a bit a more managable size than Seville.


Now I'm at a site near Conile de la Frontera - south of Cadiz. I've been here 4 days and staying another 3. It is in a pleasant quiet rural area. 2 km from shops
and 2 km from the beach.




I'm having Christmas dinner with a couple of neighbouring "gypsies". I wish you all a peaceful happy time.

Next destination is the Malaga area for New Year. Next post from there perhaps.
X

Hello again.

I'm now in the Algarve - a bit sooner than I planned - more on that later.

Last time I was in Biarritz. I left there on the 8th and headed accross the border and along the north coast of Spain.

Past Bilbao (I visited there last year)

Stopped at Santillano Del Mar - looked like a nice place but the weather was awful so no photos.

Next day carried on heading west.

The roads have changed since they made the maps for my TomTom (which can be a bit confusing).

...and they're still changing.

Stayed at a great campsite at Luarca
Right on the clifftop.

Nice town too. Next day went west for a bit (more bridges)

...and tunnels.

Then turned south. Over the mountains and past Santiago.

...and the weather improved

Stopped at Baiona.
...and ate the best steak I think I've ever had.

Whilst I was walking to the restaurant I stumbled down a large step (not looking where I was going) and landed rather heavily on a pinecone(!) with my left foot. The pinecone was fine (as far as I could tell) but I couldn't walk for a while.

The next day I crossed into Portugal and, as my foot was quite painful I went to the A&E unit of a hospital somewhere south of Porto.

The upshot is I have to take it easy for a few weeks so I decided to head straight for the south coast. I've been here in Quarteira for 3 days now and I'll probably stay a bit longer. If you want to see exactly where click on this: http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=37.067634,+-8.084559&jsv=139e&sll=53.800651,-4.064941&sspn=9.271372,28.125&ie=UTF8&geocode=FXKbNQIdsaOE_w

I'll let you know what it's like here once I've seen a bit more of it.

Bye for now.

Hi
I´m in Spain now. Struggling with a Spanish keyboard!
Here are some pictures from week 1.
Left Dover at early at 8:15
First night parked near the harbour at Calais

At first I avoided motorways. Pretty but slow.
Interesting bridge

Stopped at Villers Bocage

Changeable weather

Always wanted to see Mont St. Michel.

Another bridge.

Thursday night at La Rochelle. Nice town...
nicer if it wasn't dark and raining.

Friday was very stormy

It tried to brighten up

Dune Pilot - biggest sand dune in Europe

Endless beach and dunes and big scary breakers.

Stopped at biscarrosse (Filling up with water).

Saturday and Sunday stayed at Biarritz

Best Surf in Europe (can you see the 3 brave surfers?)

Sunday weather calmer so everyone is out surfing (I would have joined them, but I forgot my wetsuit).

Spain in the distance.