Transit to Portugal – the Algarve

After a week of free camping and staying on a great camperstop near Sanlúcar, we decided to head off to Portugal a day earlier than we’d planned. The regular strong winds had brought forward our desire to seek a bit of campsite civilisation on the Algarve – where we had lots of fond memories of touring in our two previous campers over 20 years ago. So, with a mix of excitement and trepidation (given we had observed on our last visit how the Algarve had already sold its soul to mass tourism in the 60s) we set off to cross the border in search of a campsite on the beaches of the sun-kissed coastline.

The journey around the famous nature park at Doñana was fairly uneventful, as much of it is not really visible from the roads that define its boundaries. (It’s another place on our list for a visit in the future.) Skirting Sevilla we headed west to the border, reading up about Portugal’s new electronic toll motorway network that requires registration as you cross the border – and sure enough as soon as we crossed over from the free Spanish side, there were the signs for foreign vehicles to pull over and register. We, however, had decided to avoid the Portuguese toll roads in favour of the less busy back roads, so we sailed pass the signs for foreigners instead. It looked from the map that we should be able to do the last leg across the border for free, but it wasn’t until we actually turned off the motorway and saw there wasn’t a sneaky toll-booth waiting for us, that we heaved a sigh of relief!

The relief was short lived though, as we’d also read that since the new motorway network had been built, signs for the free roads were scarce, in order to encourage greater use of the toll roads. And sure enough, navigation required 100% concentration from both driver and map reader to avoid being shunted back onto the motorway!

Our first planned destination was Olháo, where Mrs B’s brother and family have spent many a happy holiday. With two campsites nearby, and tales of campervans free parking near the port, our hopes were high for a quick and easy first night’s stop. However, the campsites weren’t quite what we had in mind (think rammed/virtually full, and a good yomp from town and beach) and the free camperstop was bleak and full of ‘no camping’ signs and enforcement by the local Policia. So after a walk along the seafront admiring the amazing range of seafood restaurants, we fell back on plan B: to try a place we had free camped over 20 years ago with the kids, in the grounds of a ruined seafront ‘factory’.

Convinced that we were seriously tempting fate after all this time, we arrived in Fábrica near Cacela Velha to find that the old ruins had been replaced by an amazing and enormous walled villa ...

– but that the rest of this bit of coast was as we remembered it – including a very nice restaurant that was still there! So, after finding a nearby spot to camp up and after a brief walk along the sandy shore, we washed and changed into our gladrags to head off for dinner.

And what a dinner it was, overlooking the fabulous sand-spit we used to get the boat out to, with the sun setting and an amazing Cataplana de pescado (fish and shellfish stew) to share with a bottle of local rosado. After polishing off enough food for at least four people, we wandered back to the van for a peaceful first night’s sleep in Portugal.

The next day started with fabulous views across the shimmering sea – and an exploration of a new ‘cabin-café’ that had sprung up since we last visited. After a couple of Portuguese versions of our favourite Spanish coffee (cortado) and pasteles de nata (custard tarts) we were set for the drive and what we assumed to be the next stage of a simple quest – a decent campsite on the beach. Long story short, it didn’t happen. Although it’s pretty easy to free camp (as we had the previous night) the camperstops that have sprung up in imitation of the French ‘Aires’ have (so far) lacked any of the charm and interest of their French counterparts, and are more akin to barren car parks – and pretty busy to boot! They are fine if that’s what you want – but we were on a mission for a bit of comfort!

It seems from talking to a few people (including the very helpful owner of one of the campsites we turned away from) that large numbers of French camper vanners who normally over winter in Morocco have returned to Europe as a safe option – with the knock on effect that places are a lot busier – both camperstops and campsites.

Realising that we were unlikely to find what we were looking for in the Algarve, we opted instead for a close-but-no-cigar option of a decent site with a pool where we could just chill for a couple of days before heading north.

And so we landed in pimp-my-campsite ‘Yelloh! Village’ in Espiche near Lagos. Part of the German owned ‘Leading Campings’ group that operates posh campsites across Europe, we were treated to fabulous views north to the Monchique mountain range and luxy facilities – and all for our ACSI discounted rate of €17 a night! 

Again, this site is rammed – except for the bit we’re in – as our fab views (the other side of a hill) also mean we cop the prevailing wind which most of the other campers seem to want to shelter from. As I write this under a starlit sky and just a few other campers for company on the windy side of the site, I somehow think it’s their loss – especially as the wind does (sometimes) die down at night and the sunsets are gorgeous! 

We only intended to stay a couple of nights – but the luxy pool and cool vibe kept us for four!

So, batteries recharged (that’s me and Mrs B – the van has been just fine even after a week off grid!) our next stop is another trip down memory lane – Comporta near Setubal – fingers crossed!

S.