After leaving the campsite in Muros we went straight to the supermercado and stocked up on all the good stuff, beer, wine, cheese and meat and headed off towards Vigo and the Portuguese border. We reached our first wild camp around 2 hours later, although the distance was only 40 miles our poor old van struggles slightly up hills, by struggle we mean it's 1st and 2nd gear screaming to the top.
Wild Camp 6: Boiro
A quiet beachside spot lined with Palm trees, a large open green with five or six BBQ areas behind us that led down to the riverside. The perfect backdrop, had the weather not been so hideous it would have been the perfect opportunity for a BBQ (we all know how much Jac Luckins loves a BBQ). There were two other camper vans when we arrived about 2pm both French, given our desperate lack of bilingual ability, there wasn't much conversation, merely sign language and big smiles. The local police arrived around 9pm to collect 6€ for a 24hr ticket. It rained most of the night and strong winds kept us awake.
 |
| A miserable view of the beach |
The following day was miserable, nevertheless we donned our wellies and waterproofs and braved it to take Oscar for a trot. Evidence of a pretty nasty storm was strewn across the beach in the form of dead seagulls, fish, some washed up fruit and lots of rubbish. Oscar took great delight in rolling around on the various dead creatures and eating rotten fruit before he found a toy monkey to rip the stuffing out of. We headed back and hung our very sensible head to toe waterproofs in our multi purpose drying/storage/laundry/wet room, which is really our bathroom although it's just about suitable for somebody the size of a borrower so we only use it as a bathroom in absolute emergencies. We set off for the next wild camping spot, approx 50 miles south.
 |
| Unimpressed by the bad weather in Boiro |
 |
| A dead fish washed up after the storm |
 |
| Another casualty, poor little guy |
Wild Camp 7: Arcade
A waterside spot with a beautiful view of a small marina and panoramic views of the fjord like bay. Opposite a skate park and small astro football pitch and a swimming beach a short walk away on the other side of the port where we walked Oscar as soon as we arrived.
 |
| The marina at Arcade |
 |
| The lonesome camper |
Oscar quickly made friends with a Dalmatian called Kiera, he wasted no time in becoming overly friendly and was (embarrassingly) rolling her around on the sand, pinning her down and climbing all over her as if he'd never seen another dog before. Luckily her owner spoke a little English, no awkward silences here. We chatted for a while whilst the dogs chased each other along the beach and in and out of the sea.
 |
| Oscar & Kiera playing on the beach |
The dogs were soon exhausted, when we said goodbye the lady shook our hands and in true European fashion gave us a kiss on the cheek, Jac not being very cultured forgot they kiss on both sides so went to walk away after just one smooch, leaving the poor lady hanging there, for what was only a second but looked and felt like minutes, not one to pass up the opportunity, Jac dashed straight back and sealed the deal with a second kiss on the other cheek. We continued along the beach which led to an outdoor excercise area and a couple of restaurants. We headed back to the camper and had homemade meatballs for dinner and shared a bottle of wine.
 |
| Arcade |
Our next wild camp spot was Tui, a short distance along the coast just past Vigo, however we decided instead to stay in Arcade for an extra night and head straight to Portugal the following morning.
 |
| The marina at night |
We got up late after laying in and wandered into the town. We went in search of a specific sign that you should have attached to your bicycle rack, they are not compulsory in France and Spain although we had been told they were a legal requirement in Portugal so decided we should get one if we didn't want to land ourselves a hefty fine from the Portuguese police. We came across a shop that sold absolutely everything you could think of from lawn mowers to hamster wheels. The shop assistant didn't speak any English so explaining what we were looking for was difficult, she phoned her English speaking friend who kindly directed us to a shop that would sell them however, when we arrived it was shut for siesta.
We are still trying to get to grips with the whole siesta business but fully understand why they take them, you can't beat a good cat nap in the afternoon sun! We headed back to the van for some lunch and a little siesta of our own. We woke up to a small group of kids playing on the football pitch opposite, there was enough of them for their own 5-a-side World Cup competition. We walked Oscar along the beach where we bumped into the Dalmatian again, this time Jac remembered the continental kiss on both cheeks so he didn't look like a fool twice in two days. When we got back, a couple more campers had arrived, one Dutch and one Irish. We got chatting to a very friendly Dutch lady who was travelling in the opposite direction as us, she had lots of information on Portugal and kindly gave us some maps and leaflets about what to see and do when we got there. We spent the rest of the night planning what we would do when we reached Porto over a little tapas dinner.
 |
| Camper van tapas |
We woke the next day to more rain but excited to get on our way to Portugal. We had our breakfast and went to get on our way only to find out we had a flat battery, the other two campers had left earlier that morning so with nobody else around and no jump leads we attempted to push the van (all 4 tonnes of it) to bump start it. By this time it was hammering with rain and eventually a kind Spanish man must have felt sorry for us and offered to help, he attached some rope to his van and towed us a little way to get it started. Battery light on, we finally started our journey to Portugal, across our second border about 60 miles south.
 |
| Crossing our second border |
It rained heavily the whole way and by the time we arrived in Portugal our battery was completely flat, our indicators were distant flickers that could barely be seen and the windscreen wipers were no longer moving. We rolled into the campsite in Ancora and found a pitch, the receptionist told us when we checked in that summer would start tomorrow. He wasn't wrong!
The campsite was beautiful, directly behind our pitch was the Rio Ancora and large waterfall. We planned to stay in Ancora for two nights and ended up staying for four although this wasn't so bad as it was 10€ a night and 1€ a beer. On Monday morning the receptionist called a mechanic out to look at our battery/alternator although he could not understand what Jac was saying so asked Kayleigh to translate Jac's English for him. Once that was all cleared up and everyone had a laugh at Jac's expenses the mechanic arrived a took the alternator out of the van. The next day was a national holiday so we didn't hear anything from the garage, by now we were starting to feel slightly panicked as we had arranged to meet Kayleigh's cousin Aaron in Porto on Thursday.
 |
| 1 Euro beer |
Those few days were spent enjoying the first real bit of sun we had seen since we left home, we also enjoyed the Vinho Verde which had been recommended by some friends we met in Spain, we tried red (tinto), white (branco) and rose. We liked them all so much we stocked up on another 6 bottles before we left for under 2€ each. The beach was a ten minute walk from the campsite and we even went for a little swim in the Rio Ancora. Finally we received the good news that the van would be ready Wednesday evening, we packed everything ready for an early start Thursday. Nothing like leaving it until the last minute!!
No comments:
Post a Comment