Odeceixe

Yesterday’s windy weather was supposed to blow itself out overnight, but how wrong the forecasts were – it just kept on blowing a gale all through the night and, with the van parked on an exposed area of the coastline, it was like trying to sleep through turbulence on a transatlantic flight. Neither of us slept well, and this morning we were both feeling rough.

We had wanted to wild camp further up the coast, but with the wind continuing we decided to head inland where its more sheltered. On our way we stopped off at Cabo de São Vicente, the most westerly point in Europe. It was so much nicer than Lands End in the UK as it hasn’t been spoilt and turned into a theme park – all that’s there is a lighthouse and a small, discreet museum and shop.

America is somewhere over there…
Cabo de São Vicente

From there, we continued up the coast, stopping for a brew at Praia da Bordeira, and ended up at a camp site in the middle of a pine forest. It’s inland, so sheltered from the winds, though there’s not much to do here. It was nice and quiet until a group of about 30 British schoolkids turned up, but they’ve been well behaved so far so not a problem.

Praia da Bordeira

It’s Carol’s birthday on Monday, so tomorrow we’ll be moving further north to a campsite next to an old town by the coast, where we’ll be staying for two or three nights, as there are supposed to be some good seafood restaurants there.

Mike