22 June – We crossed over the Rio Guadiana, which is the border between Spain and Portugal. It seems that all the borders in the EU have no checking at all.
We stopped at an “Aires” on the Algarve coast at Altura, right on another stunning beach with very warm water. This beach was very busy as the Portuguese school holidays have started. Still plenty of room as the beach seemed to go for ever.

23 June – Back down to the beach for a couple of hours before setting off down the coast to the Olhao McDonalds in an attempt to get our internet going at a known internet site. After 1.5 hours of frustration we still had no joy. Bugger! We asked a cleaner, as we left, if she knew of a place we could go to fix our computer. (We were convinced by now that with all the fiddling we had done we had stuffed something up.) Her response was “It’s not your computer, our internet has not been going all morning.”
We stopped at a camp which had internet and got straight on. We can only assume that the other sites we had tried were also not working!! Olhao turned out to be not a great choice as the camp seemed to be in an industrial area. The swimming pool was an extra charge. Before you entered the pool you walked thru automatic showers which reminded us of a sheep dip.

24 June – Our next camp was at Sagres on the extreme south western corner of Portugal. It is the western most point of mainland Europe.
On our way there we stopped at Lagos, a beautiful port town on a river. We went for a bike ride and decided to take a boat trip along the coast. The coast has been heavily eroded forming caves, pillars and rock archways. We transferred from our fishing boat into a small speed boat to explore these unusual features. Good value for 15 euro each.

25 June – We drove up to an historic fort right on the cliffs at Sagres. This was the sight where Prince Henry the Navigator ran the first navigation school around 1400. Very interesting with spectacular cliff top views. The place was so important to the Portuguese that the word sacred was derived from Sagres.
After lunch we headed into the hills along some rough roads and thru great scenery and lovely villages to an “Aires” about 50kms inland.

26 June – A stunning morning in a beautiful country hilly area. I gave Val another haircut. I am getting quite good and it may be my new vocation when I get home! We wound our back to the coast and spied a large group of campervans parked on the cliff tops at Porto Covo, our planned stop. There were 4 beaches just down from the park. We chose the largest for a sunbath and swims. The Atlantic was really pounding onto the beach. It made Piha look like a child’s paddling pool. I had a couple thrashes in the waves. When the tide turned it flattened slightly and Val had a dip. A beautiful cove however. I must at this stage comment on the beach dress code. Gone are the bare breasts, frowned upon in Portugal, but the ladies bikinis disappear up there bottoms. Very cheeky and makes reading on the beach difficult.

27 June – Woke to a dense sea fog which cleared quickly. We rode around the town and decided to stay another night. The day was lovely but the surf was even more violent. I did not even have a swim .We walked to the town for a meal. We both had pizzas. I had the traditional, cod, herbs, onions and cream. I would have to say it was the best pizza I have ever had.
28 June – Another sea fog. We drove up the coast to a seaside town near Lisbon (Lisboa) and will visit there tomorrow. We had some problems finding a camp for campervans. Several we tried did not provide any services. Eventually we found a great camp close to a nice beach.

29 June – We caught a local bus to the ferry terminal and sailed across the harbour to Lisbon. The local transport is really great with old men arguing, mothers with children etc. Again we paid the 15 euros and used the hop on hop off tourist bus to explore the city. At our first stop we to took a tram up the extremely steep winding hill for a view. The tram was full and a local guy informed me that a pick pocket was working on the tram. A verbal battle ensued between the pick pocket and the local guy. I kept my hand on my wallet which we transferred into Val’s bag as soon as possible.
The ride was worth it as the view was stunning. We sat in a little café and had lunch enjoying the view. This was the hottest day we have had so far, (38 degrees) and on top of an open air double decker tourist bus is not the coolest place especially as the driver stopped often when he was ahead of time. The commentary was very limited. All in all not the best tourist bus we have been on. Lisbon is a great mix of the modern and the slightly jaded old quarter. Lots of people around but we felt that it was less touristy than the other cities we had visited. Tomorrow marks the half way point of our trip. The time has really flown!