Chiclana de la Frontera. (Day 2)

Last night it was once again pleasant to be able to hear the sound of the sea, something we both commented on. We were late up this morning, a little jet lagged from yesterday's rush to get here before darkness fell, and the hour change in time.

By sitting up in bed, and opening the sun roof it's possible to take photos, here was the view at 8 this morning.

After breakfast, we moved Marge so she was sideways on to the sea, our view now complete, there was no reason to move on, so we decided to stay for another night. A short walk from us was a new toilet and shower facility. Excellent! John set off, washing kit in hand. After a while he returned, having run the water, realising it would not turn from cold to hot. A cleaning lady has be in attendance all day, she probably thought that'll teach you freeloading English! So it was showers in Marge, putting up with her leaky pipe work.

Then, before lunch, we walked out along the seafront and back through the small town. Outside one of the beachfront cafes a woman of around eighty sat. She had been 'nipped and tucked' within an inch of her life, and looked liked she'd been sucked into the chair, her posture a little worrying! Another woman passed by, in a lycra bodysuit, she'd been sucked into, it fitted where it touched. Obviously anything goes here.

Due to staying a second day we will not be running the engine, so to ensure we keep our household supply batteries fully topped up John has deployed the auxiliary solar panel using the side door and our washing line. It gives an extra 2 amps of charge on top of our roof panels.

(see if you can spot Marge behind the sand dunes)

We don't want to sound complaining, but the heat during the afternoon was a little too much. So we ventured in to the sun lit waters of the Atlantic for a paddle. The sea temperature here is quite cold, and we noticed that not many people ventured far in to it.

On the beach, we picked up a complete oyster shell, filled with the compacted sand of time. We will take it home with us, adding it to our collection of other objects we have found whilst away on our travels, such as marble from Pompeii, and a small piece of interesting driftwood found on a beach on the Adriatic coast.

Fatigued by the heat, we spent the rest of the afternoon reading and observing the behaviour of a single German man in the van in front. He has two large video camera's, one either side of his roof rack at the rear of the van, and strips of LED lighting under his roof box. Very security conscious. His behaviour reminded us of a member of our family. Shortly after half an hour of male grooming, a small car drew up, with a man and two woman in it. The male driver knocked on the side of the Germans van, and the rest is just speculation for a good story! He appears to still be alone. I think we'd recognise one of the women from yesterday's hedgerow, as they were so distinguishable with their one eyebrow look!

This evening, we are looking forward to another stunning sunset. Tomorrow, Marge will be back on the road ,she has a lot of places to see in this area, before moving on to the Costa del Sol.

Chiclana de la Frontera

Last night we took a final stroll around Tavira and took a last few photos before retiring to Marge.

Two weeks ago, the Algarve encountered heavy rain, the first in five months. It was on that particular day that we drove across the border from Spain, encountering a wet, miserable town in Northern Portugal. Today, we were leaving Southern Portugal and the weather could could not have been different. Dry, blue skies, and a temperature around 30c at lunchtime.

We had intended just to travel for a short while, stopping just over the border into Southern Spain. But in this particular area, it is difficult to find suitable overnight stops.

Just before lunch, we passed through the Portuguese town of Castro Marim, stopping at the aire to offload Marge's wast water, and top up with some for drinking. We could see the castle up on the hill, and decided to park up Marge and take a look. Being a little reckless, we paid the entry fee. 1.10 euros for one adult, and 0.55 cents for John, who decided he was near enough to sixty five to qualify for the concession.

The castle was a large ruin, with one room dedicated to the gruesome torture of medieval times, all rather unpleasant and upsetting.

However, the views from the castle walls were amazing, across the town, salt pans and into Spain. The stop at Castro Marim was unplanned, so it was pass lunchtime by the time we left, crossing into Spain at two fifteen Portuguese time, which suddenly became three fifteen Spanish time. "Bienvenido al sur de Espana Marge". "Welcome to Southern Spain Marge". We left Portugal with mixed feelings. We'd enjoyed the low speed limits, the fact the young people did not buzz around on scooters, the scenery, the Atlantic coast, the geology and the fact we could park Marge almost anywhere overnight. We did not like the price of diesel, mountain roads, the fact the Portuguese drivers do not indicate, and the barking dogs. But all that said, we will be back one day to explore more of the country, away from the coast, and brave the mountains. Of all the countries we have visited, they have all left us wanting to see more.

Our planned overnight stop this evening was scuppered by a circus, that was in the town for three nights. After some investigation, the next stop that seemed nice and safe was a two and a half hour drive in the direction of Cadiz. So we set off, luckily having an hour of our lives in hand, as we were still on Portuguese time. The journey involved negotiating the ring road of Seville, which being a Saturday was relatively quiet, but all the same, we were glad when we drove over the suspension bridge and out of the city. A city that as we approached it, stretched as far as the eye could see.

Our arrival at Playa de la Barossa beach, Chiclana de la Frontera, Andulucia, at eight fifteen this evening, coincided with a fabulous sunset. After, as darkness fell, we took a short walk out, in the sky a chewed pie of a moon shone, casting its silvery light on to the waters of the Atlantic. Despite the long day, and hours of driving, we were glad we had made the choice to come here.

Tavira

After leaving Sandra and Gloria yesterday, we decided to move across to the other side of Albufeira, and found a place to stay near the cliff top. It was almost dark, so we stood and watched the sunset. There was another English van there, occupied by two young men, but we felt uncertain about them and decided to move.

After some investigation, we came across two French vans close by, in parking spaces at the end of a residential area. After some language problems, we understood from the Frenchman, that a man had been driving by taking photographs of the vans. Shortly after, said man, came along in his car and photographed us. There were no signs stating vans could not park there, which John pointed out to the mystery photographer, who then disgruntled, hastily drove off.

Last night was once again punctuated by the sound of barking dogs, alongside the rush of the wind through the pine trees.

After breakfast we took a walk down to Falaise beach, walking along the boardwalks over the sand between the colourful sunshades, then up the wooden walkway built into the unstable cliffs, and on to the cliff top, keeping away from the edge, as the drop down was sheer. Down on the beach, a recent plane load of Brits posed for photographs wearing shorts, T-shirts and trainers. We knew by this afternoon, they would have changed in to swimwear, and would be the next batch of English to succumb to sunburn.

Whilst we had enjoyed seeing the dramatic coastline, beaches and bright lights of the Algarve, we were not sorry to leave. Our roads this morning took us into the countryside a little, along yet more narrow roads, where we were surprised to see young women sat in hedgerows, and at road junctions. Did the choice of girl depend whether you were turning right or left? We commented the girls could not be considered glamorous, so probably best for any interested parties to cut and run.

At lunchtime, we arrived at Tavira, where we will stay overnight. There were already a few other vans here, mostly French, who as usual had spread themselves out over more than one space.

This afternoon, despite the heat, we ventured into the town, visiting the castle, from which there were views out over the town and towards the salt flats.

At one of the churches a wedding had just taken place, the bridegroom appeared to be Irish. Along with many other people, we lingered to look at the bride. The town has twenty one churches in total, but we resigned ourselves to looking at just a couple from the outside, as most are locked unless a service is on.

The town has many historical features, mansions with filigree balconies, and a Roman bridge, which we took to cross the Gilao river.

Tired from two nights of barking dogs, we returned to Marge for a rest.

Tonight's sleep will hopefully be more restful, that is after eleven o' clock, when the trains stop running on the line that runs over the bridge above us. Let's hope they don't resume too early in the morning. Gluttons for punishment aren't we!

Fiddler crabs on the estuary mud guarding their homes.