ManWomanDogVan: April 2020

We remained in Zambujeira do Mar for the next 4 weeks, parked in a carpark just outside of the town and 5 minutes and 200 steps walk from the beach. The GNR came around every day (sometimes 2 or 3 times a day), but they were very nice, just making sure that we were OK. We ended up just waving at them most of the time. We did a lot of sunbathing on the beach, some walking, loads of reading, knitting and the occasional necessary empty/refill & shopping excursions, but not a great deal else.

There are LOADS of poly-tunnels in this area, mostly growing raspberries and also some HUGE strawberry fields. The workforce is mainly Nepalese. There is even a Nepalese restaurant in town (currently closed) as well as a Nepalese shop (open). I understand that they come and work here, because after 5 years they can get a Portuguese passport and thus access to the EU countries.

At the end of April we drove to Sines to refill the LPG and have moved along the coast a little to Praia do Malhao, another big and excellent beach. We spent a couple of weeks there, just hanging out. There were a few more people camping there and we have made a few new friends. We are slowly, slowly easing out of self-isolation a little.

Chek out the film made by one of our new friends, about this beach. It also seems to be a very popular spot with the local fisherman. Most of our new friends had a go too and they have caught some fish as well as octopus and they have showed us where to find mussels (we did collect some of those). We also found some crevettes (prawns), although they were too small to eat, but apparently they are very good as fishing bait. Hamish has bought a fishing rod too and was picking up tips from the others about how to go about fishing; he is yet to catch anything though.

April 2020 - Part 1 Map