“No, Mr Bond. I expect you to die.”
And several other annoying 007 quotes fell from my lips as we performed a cheeky inspection of a house for sale in Ferragudo. The For Sale sign had caught our eye from the harbour so we’d climbed the hill to find a beautiful, sleek James Bond Movie-type house overlooking the beach, the river and the city of Portimão across the Arade. The gate was unlocked and nobody was home so… well wouldn’t you? The house was built into the hill; it had three levels with steel and chrome balconies, it had a small pool with a waterfall at one end, a barbecue area and the white rendering had little flecks of mica embedded which sparkled in the sun. It had an underground garage and raked gravel around the little paths in the garden. It was just gorgeous.
As regular readers will be bored with hearing by now, we sold our house before we came out here and haven’t found anywhere we really like yet – until now. We hadn’t considered moving abroad but, well, this place was amazing and property in Portugal is cheap, right? Wrong! We eagerly looked it up when we got back to Vince, thinking the place looked a million dollars – and guess what? It was a million – Euros eek! Did you hear that rude noise just then? That was the sound of our dreams deflating 🙁
We’d had an enjoyable day up to that point with an uppy-downy cycle round the point to the breakwater where we tied up the bikes and walked all the way to the end. It felt like we could just jump across to the other breakwater which stretches all the way out from Portimão, but we didn’t try – the water looked a bit chilly. As we strolled back for a coffee in the cliff-top restaurant we could see shoals of grey mullet feeding in the clear water all around the breakwater, defying the anglers who all seemed to be packing up empty-handed.
We stretched out our time in Ferragudo as long as we could – it’s a delightful place, but there comes a point when washing in a thimble of water, using only one light to save power, and using other people’s loos every single time you stop for coffee or a snack gets too much! Vince’s low water alarm was red and the battery gauges were yellow so this morning it was time to go.
As we left Ferragudo we stopped off at Lidl to re-stock the fridge as – oh yeah – we’d run out of food too. An hour’s drive west took us to Salema Eco Camping, about halfway to Sagres where we hope to meet up with some friends in the next day or two. I’d like to say we came here because we want to save the planet and that we’re eco-warriors with high principles. Truth to tell we’re here because it’s cheap – €11 per night, but hey, if we can do a bit for the planet too that’s a good thing, no?
The entrance to the site is a little scary as it peels off to the right down the side of a valley. Steep and twisty, it gave Vince’s steering and brakes a good workout and didn’t do a lot for my underpants either if I’m truthful. Gill helped by reading the signs out as we went – Zona 1… Zona 2… Zona 3… Zona Naturista… Zona 5… WHOA THERE BILLY! Zona Naturista? I don’t think so. Think of the sunburn – we’ll be averting our eyes and scurrying by as if the Devil himself were after us. We’re far too, well – British for any of that malarkey, thank you.
Naked hippies aside, it’s a lovely quiet site nestling in the trees in the valley. The only sound is birdsong – it’s surprising how we get used to the background noises of traffic, planes and people. There’s a peculiar hush surrounding the eco-park, broken only by the maniac groundsman screaming round the tight little roads in his noisy little tuk-tuk on two wheels. That doesn’t sound too silly until you remember that a tuk-tuk actually has three wheels. Man that guy can lean into a bend! I’m not sure how this driving behaviour ties in to the eco-credentials of the place, especially as he exits in a cloud of oily two-stroke fumes.
By the time we’d put everything back on charge, filled up with water, sorted the washing and had lunch, neither of us had the energy for the trek into town – we’ll explore tomorrow. In the meantime – I’m blogging, Gill’s reading, and as soon as I’ve sent this off to you we’ll be pouring ourselves an early evening sharpener then testing the data speed here for our Strictly fix. If it’s too s-l-o-o-w I’ll just have to download tonight’s episode in town tomorrow so no spoilers in the comments please!
Have a lovely weekend all x
Ok……we need to chat to you about this naturist thingy !!!
😀