Enjoying Southern Portugal

I think it’s only fair to share with you my office setup for the day. Minus a wheel trim.

The temperature on this July afternoon is scheduled to be 41°C which surprisingly I’m handling rather well. In the background you can see my air conditioning system. It works pretty well!

We’ve spent the week exploring the Algarve. Visiting friends, socialising and discovering the most amazing hippy beach; which I’m sure wasn’t actually lost…

Peace…

If you’re looking for a friendly, non tourist beach with zero phone signal… Barranco Beach is where it’s at.

Lots of vans, friendly people, sunshine and… wind. This of course didn’t stop me trying out my €15 beach tent from Aldi.

My plan was to sleep under the stars that night, but the comfort of my van prevailed!

Ted and I visited friends Errol and Nanny who we have met up with each visit to Portugal. Lots of wine was consumed, followed by a fair amount of sleep.

Lesson almost learnt… Don’t drink wine. It makes me feel awful!

The pace has been relaxed, no fixed plans made, just going with the flow. The Pilot has been brilliant, though after over 2 months of living in her, I am somewhat missing the space of my Luton. However, I’m not missing the 18mpg that comes with it! Since leaving the UK, we have covered 2,700 miles in the Pilot and that’s cost just under £280 in total. I’m impressed!

Ted and I met a German gentleman who trains working Collies. He met Ted and was horrified at how little control I have over him! He kindly spent the afternoon with us, showing me how to train him to properly obey commands and whistles. We’re doing some training each day and he’s learning very quickly! He almost knows his name now.

We utilised nature’s van (and dog) washing facilities. Then got stuck on the gravel!

The three person inflatable kayak has been a great success. Really pleased I bought it. The 12V pump inflates it fully in less than five minutes. I spent an afternoon taking two German children kayaking around the lake and a fun afternoon was had by all. Including Ted, who swam the width of the lake to catch up with us, before getting into the boat!

Once finished with, it takes less than ten minutes to deflate, fold up and strap it to the back of the van. A superb purchase. For anyone considering an inflatable kayak, it’s the Sevylor Tahiti Plus Pro from Decathlon. The 12V pump is a must!!!

You can see my video of Ted kayaking here. The best part for him, of course, was being thrown overboard at the end! After about ten minutes of playing in the water, he rejoined me on the land! Unfortunately, I couldn’t host this video on YouTube because they class throwing a water obsessed dog into his dream lake as violent. Yet they’re happy for trolls to make awful videos of people and show beheading videos. Google, sort yourselves out.

So far, we haven’t spent a single night in Portugal with the side door closed. We just pull the net curtain (thanks Mum!) across and go to bed.

After these long, hard days of play and more play, Ted is exhausted. Spot the useless guard dog…

The Pilot now has sunflowers to match the Luton! Not to mention a great little USB fan!

What better place to spend the evening with a bottle of cold Sagres (see, I’m learning not to drink wine!!) and relax after a tough day…

We’re enjoying the water, scenery and of course, Mr Solar Face.

Rumour has it, back in England, it’s raining! This isn’t encouraging me to go back! Though I do have some exciting travel and business plans ahead for when I do (briefly!) return…  The world is my oyster, literally.