Vila Nova de Milfontes

 Monday 30/08/21

Milfontes, perched along the river bank at the mouth of the Mira

We've settled into a very relaxed, holiday-like routine here very easily, too easily, in fact.  We've done some walking, cycling and even a dip in the ocean and a spot of tanning.  It is very easy to relax here and the pace in the campsite has slowed down significantly after the bulk of the campers departed on Sunday.

Just look at the size of the tomatoes at the market

A rock-cairn garden along the beach.  Why? We don't know.

Everything seems to grow so well in Portugal

We've no firm plans to travel on at the moment, so will keep enjoying our 'holiday in Milfontes' for now.  

Vila Nova de Milfontes

 Saturday 28/08/21

It's hard to believe that our six week sit is over; the time has really flown.  The owner arrived back yesterday afternoon, we did our usual handover, went for a lovely dinner at a nearby restaurant and headed off this morning.

Stunning moon rising earlier in the week

The last week has been quite busy; once we had a firm handover date we  needed to sort the access road out.  The council had dumped gravel piles along the road shortly after we arrived and we had been hoping they would come and grade the piles onto the road as Bokkie wouldn't fit past them.  All attempts to get hold of the council failed so we took it upon ourselves to form a 'chain gang' of two and flatten the piles sufficiently to let Bokkie pass.  Luckily we picked the one misty, overcast morning to do it and had it sorted in a couple of backbreaking hours.

The darker side of house-sitting - road works ahead!

It doesn't take long for a curious crowd to gather

Unfortunately the next day, when returning on our bike, fully laden with groceries, Toni was so busy admiring our handiwork that she missed a ridge in the road and took a spectacular tumble on her bike.  She was sporting grazes all over her arm and huge lumps on her legs but luckily nothing was broken.  We were very impressed to find that the six eggs in the rucksack survived as well.  A lucky escape!

The pain is better now but Toni is still sporting some impressive bruises

We finished the rest of our cleaning and packing over the week and, with the handover completed it was time to depart.  We really loved the sit and are going to miss the place and the horses enormously.  Luckily, squeezing out of the main gates proved to be something of a non-event with Bokkie crawling up the hill and out without a problem.  

Charmeur was quite cut-up and even offered me a goodbye kiss.

The farewell committee gathered to wave us off

We're back in Milfontes, a Portuguese holiday town on a river mouth that we visited in 2019 and it is lovely and cool.  Completely different to last time we visited in winter, it is buzzing with local holidaymakers in spite of the cool weather and has a very relaxed feel about it. 

Bokkie back in camping mode

A misty, drizzly Milfontes. I know the sea is out there somewhere

We're planning to stay here for a couple of days (or more), and will then slowly make our way northwards to our next house-sit, near Viseu.

Travels around Santa Luzia

 Sunday 22/08/21

Our time at this house sit is slowly drawing to an end and we are starting to prepare ourselves for travelling again.  Bokkie has had a few repairs done and the washing and vacuuming has started in preparation of packing.

Mood lighting

We will never tire of the sunsets here.

We've had a fairly active week as the slightly cooler weather allowed us to get out to some of the local villages by bike.  Our Saturday cycle to Colos unfortunately damaged my rear tyre (admittedly it is almost 20 years old) so we will take it a bit easier until we can get to a bike store.  I have swapped one of Toni's tyres with mine to try and prolong it's life and we'll try not to do too much off-roading.

Vale de Santiago, a lovely village nearby

A pair of black pigs

Part of the cork harvest drying in Santa Luzia

We would never have found the bakery if we weren't told where it was 

We're not 100% sure when the owner actually gets back as he is going to go back to work in Lisbon first, so we haven't planned our next step.  We would like to get to the coast for a few days before heading north but it will depend on where we can get a booking.

Bonus pics.

Our Portuguese version of 'pap en wors'

The fruit and veg here is amazing, as are the pastries
Two Pasteis de Nata, an egg custard slice and two Carob 'Salami'

Bonus video:

We have discovered an Iberian grass snake living in the valve enclosure outside the lounge.  We get along fine!

Feeling the heat in Santa Luzia

 Sunday 15/08/21

Since we started off in our motorhome (1,012 days ago now) we avidly watch the weather forecast so we always have an idea of what is coming.  You're a bit more exposed to the weather when you don't have a house and it's a habit that has helped us more than once.

A glorious sunrise, looking and feeling fairly benign at this stage

Even though we knew there was a heat wave on it's way, apart from making sure we had enough groceries to avoid too much cycling in the heat, there wasn't that much we could do about it.  

We've been covering windows, spraying the roof and keeping the house closed all day as the temperature continued to rise, day after day.  The previously cool nights have all but disappeared and the cool breeze that used to give us respite in the evenings has dried up.  All we get now is a scorching wind in the peak heat of the afternoon that feels like the inside of a thermo-fan oven.

We didn't recognise Branco after she went for a mud roll in the dam

Yesterday peaked at just over 43°C, today was just over 40°C, but the week ahead promises to drop down to be in the mid-30's, which now feels much more manageable.  

It has been a long time since we've been exposed to temperatures like this and it has been quite humbling but also quite restrictive, as we are mainly staying indoors, trying to keep cool. We're hoping things become a bit more manageable so that we can increase our activity levels again.

We've been spraying the horses (and ourselves) to  keep cool

We tend to avoid joining them in the dust bath afterwards, preferring a cold shower

In other news: We've booked flights to South Africa at the end of September, holding thumbs (SA) and crossing fingers (UK) that we manage to get off the ground this time, at least we'll be well acclimatised to the pending African summer.

Enjoying local fare in Santa Luzia

 Sunday 08/08/21

Stunning sunset with rare clouds providing some colour

We were discussing today how our decision not to drive anywhere in Bokkie while on this sit has affected our experience.  

We have to buy all our grpceroes and dump all our rubbish by bicycle and this, coupled with the fact that each village around us has a few little shops with limited supplies, has led us to tour around more, visiting them all.  If we had driven, we would have probably done what we do in Brittany, buy enough supplies to last two weeks or so and shop at a nearby Lidl (or equivalent supermarket).  

Resting in Garvao, picked up two melons in Galharda and bread in Garvao

Doing everything by bicycle has made us interact so much more with our surrounding area and this really gives one a feel for the area.  We are sampling the most fantastic local produce and are having to carefully plan our trips and what we buy to manage our resources.  

We have cycled around in every direction from where we are staying and no longer take the most direct route, opting to go for new directions and exploring new villages along the way.  It's been lovely!

Taking a scenic detour to Colos

Lovely smooth Portuguese café in Colos marketplace

The shops are often hard to find; Google only shows some of them and most of the time they look just like someone's house. Unless there is an advertising board at the door (there are almost never signs on the walls) or the door is open and you see in, you wouldn't even know where the shops are.  

When we enquired after some bread in the supermarket in Garvao we were told not to buy the stale bread on the shelf but to go to the second doorway on the street around the corner.  We were struggling to understand (after all, all we can confidently say in Portuguese is, 'I am sorry but I can't speak Portuguese) so the shop owner took us and showed us to an open doorway.  There we found the local bakery, no sign to advertise it but the most fantastic baked goods inside.

Someone's stealing our prickly pear fruit - at least they alerted us to the fact that they were ripe

Very tasty but no matter how careful we were, we both ended up covered in tiny bristle-like thorns

Pedro, the bread-man outside Colos market. You have to queue up outside the van to get
 your fresh, tasty Alentejo rolls and bread.

Our haul on Saturday, all carried home from Colos in our backpacks

Each village also gets visited by the fishmonger, bread van and vegetable supplier at certain times.  The vans are often unmarked but each have a distinctive hooter to announce when they have arrived.  We were in Santa Luzia one morning when one arrived.  We wondered who it was and it was the queue of local cats that tipped us off that it was the fishmonger - even they knew which hooter to listen out for!

We have been eating very well, the fruit and veg is wonderful and the local meat, and black Iberian pork in particular, is stunning quality.

The horses are also happy with the new arrangements of hay supplementing their grass diet 

Bonus video - Equine Hoover

Chilling in Santa Luzia

 Monday 02/09/21

It might get a bit lonely but luckily we have some dancing girls to keep us company

We woke up this morning to a low mist that turned into an unexpected drizzle.  This is after two days of really strong winds, presumably the remnants of the storms that have been lashing the UK.  It has kept things cooler here which has been nice, we still have loads of sunshine most days and the house stays lovely and cool inside.

Gangs of Azure winged magpies move through noisily each day, they don't
sit still for long, though and are difficult to capture 

The soft morning light makes even dried weeds look pretty

You have to admit, this web looks very inviting

We had a lovely long cycle a few days ago, made longer by the fact that, without reading glasses, neither of us can see the map on our mobile phone so we got a bit 'disorientated'.  Luckily a friendly farmer advised us that we were heading the wrong way and we managed to find our route again.  We spent 2.5 hours on our bikes, almost all of it on gravel roads in the countryside, and it was fantastic.

The very pretty station at Funcheira.  We were hoping the café would be open but no luck.

Those in the UK will notice a more relaxed approach to getting passengers to the far platform.
In the UK there would be a bridge with lift access.

We're keeping ourselves busy and loving the relaxed lifestyle here.  Of course, if this was our own house there are a million jobs we could do, but one is a bit limited what you can take on at a house-sit.  We have started supplementing the horses feed by giving them hay and we were very popular while they enjoyed their sweet treat.

Bonus video

The horses seem to be energised by the cooler weather.