Along The Algarve

We followed the coastal route a few miles further west and stopped on a campsite in Moncarapacho, called Route 66 (N37°05'43" W7°46'28").  When we pulled up we thought we were on a set in the wild west!  Set in a lovely orange grove, it’s all very natural with a small field of horses and a couple of Shetland ponies.  The lady who runs it is Belgique and is very friendly; when we arrived she was cooking a paella for those who wanted it for 8€ including a bottle of wine - quite reasonable we thought but didn't fancy stopping for any!  The aire has a couple of basic showers and toilets and a washing machine and dryer.  It only cost 5€ a night plus wi-fi (more if you wanted electric), but all we needed was water to be self-sufficient!  The aire was full mostly with motorhomes from France, a couple from the UK, Holland, Belgium, Germany and one from Romania.

We took the scooter a couple of kms down the road to Fuzeta, a lovely, small fishing village that didn’t appear to be overrun with motorhomes and few tourists – perfect.

Feeling a bit out of shape, Mel decided he would try out the outside gym that was right next to the sea, but gave up after a minute - said it was too much like hard work!

From here we went down to Olhão, the largest fishing port on the Algarve.  We wondered along the riverfront gardens and into the old town. The streets are all cobbled and mainly pedestrianised.  

We then ventured back down to the port to sit outside a pleasant jazz bar in front of the replica of Caique Bom Sucesso (info alongside photograph).

Wine O'clock - cheers!

Today we moved further along the Algarve and visited Quinta da Marim, an environmental educational centre within the Parque Natural da Ria Formosa.  Recently elected as one of the 7 natural wonders of Portugal, it's a unique coastal dune barrier, running roughly parallel to the continent, providing a shallow, warm water lagoon carved into salt marshes, tidal flats and islets.  You follow a 3km long nature trail, where you can see a variety of aquatic birds and one of the country’s last remaining tidal mills, and remains of Roman salt pans.  It used to be refuge to aquatic poodles that were bred to dive into the water to help chase fish into the local fishermen’s nets.  Although still bred, more modern methods were introduced in the 1950’s.

Salt Marsh and Tidal Mill

Roman Salt Pan and View from Bird Hide

We had planned to stop on an aire near Vilamoura but unfortunately we arrived quite late (4.30pm) and it was full.  A Brit came out of the aire and told us of a place we could wild camp just down the way, which was fine because we had plenty of on board water and gas  Unfortunately, it had rained heavily during the night and we drove on to area and got stuck!! Half an hour later and with a bit of jacking up of the wheel and digging out we finally managed to get off.  Lesson learnt – don’t park on grass with a 3.5 ton motorhome when it has been raining!  

The remains of our 'great escape'!

As luck would have it, we managed to find a better one a bit further up next to the sea to wild camp,  along with about 20 other motorhomes, again mostly French, with a couple of Brits, Dutch, Swiss and Germans. 

We walked up to the cliffs and watched the fishermen and sunset - perfect!

Just landed a catch!

Sally x