Sunday 08/05/2016
Slept really well despite it raining all night and being quite chilly. The 3 season bags did their job and kept us warm and cosy. The campsite bar also appears to be a fancy wedding venue - it's a huge building and the guy running the place got the big open fire going so we had a nice evening before finally turning in for an early night.
There was a very light drizzle in the morning so we skipped breakfast and had to put our tent away wet as it was. The weather soon cleared and it wasn't cold but it was very windy, especially as we passed a couple of seriously flooded lakes which had waves on them like at the sea-side. We stopped for coffee and cakes before going through some lovely alp-like roads and villages. All very pretty but we had some time to kill before getting to the port so we stopped for more coffee which we enjoyed outside in the glorious sunshine - finally.
We decided to have a decent lunch so stopped at a lovely Taberna but we had real problems communicating and Google Translate got us nowhere. In the end we picked a random set meal from the menu. It was pretty substantial to say the least. Bread, cheese platter, large salad bowl, prawns, languistines, octopus, more prawns, crab balls, cake, a bottle of red and more coffee. It was a high quality feast that was certainly well worth the €30. Will be better than the slop on the ship.
We made the boat in plenty of time - it's a much smaller vessel and will take over 28hrs to get to Portsmouth - but we have a nice and big cabin with sea views. Let's hope that the crossing is smooth as I have doubts about how the bike next to mine is secured and I'm convinced that it will topple over on to my one! Not quite so many bikes on board this time but chatted to some guys that had been down to Morocco on their BMWs.
There is only one bar on the ship and one restaurant. It's the no-frills 'Economie' service, but it's fine and at least the bike parking wasn't as manic as last time! The sea is also getting pretty rough now that we're getting further from shore.
Tomorrow evening we will arrive in Portsmouth and will have just a short journey back home. It's been a good trip but we were really let down by the unusually cold and wet weather - especially whilst we were hoping to enjoy the Duaro valley. Ironically we understand that the UK has had a mini heatwave whilst we've been gone..... The bike also struggled with the bulk of two adults and all of our combined gear - will consider a more powerful bike next time or stick to riding solo! Also, next time I will invest in a Bluetooth headset if I'm travelling with someone as at times I wanted to speak to Krysia but couldn't (and vice-versa). When we are older, we will return in a camper-van and take 5 weeks like a retired Dutch couple that we met in the bar in Portugal.
Mileage: 1331
Beers: 20 + wierd coctail + 3 big vodka's + 3 big red vinos + 2 massive G&T + 4 white ports + 10 brandys + 1 red wine + 1 bottle of red
Ass pain: 2/10 (Krysia) / 1/10 (Me)
Mechanical issues: 0
Accidents: 0 (1 witnessed + 1 drop)
Coldness: 3/10
No comments:
Post a Comment