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We left the Atlantic coast heading south towards the Med and the Algarve where we planned to stay for about 4 days. Along the way we once again took small scenic roads taking us up into the hills with small villages and passing lots of logging areas, another change of scenary and just as beautiful.
The camp site was the busiest yet with lots of Brits who were down on the Algarve for the winter in motorhomes and caravans. It was a bit of a disappointment at first having neighbours but we got used to it after a day or so.
We set off one morning on a bike ride to Albufeira to look for the old fishing port and a hotel we stayed in about 18 years ago. We cycled 26 miles on the way there including a 3 mile walk along a beach pushing the bikes as we thought we were nearly there and were taking a bit of a short cut but it turned out we were in the wrong bay and still had miles to cycle. It is now a sprawling resort like Benidorm filled with typical Brit bars and fish & chip cafes. The old town just about recognisable with the main square all dug up and the fish market undergoing renovation. It was nothing like the memories we had, perhaps its better never to re-visit. It only took 14 miles to cycle back when we knew where we were going!!
We walked into Villamora a few times and had a nice meal around the harbour although the weather on the Algarve was a bit unsettled. We erected out awning for the first time and had to pull it down in a hurry after a couple of days when we had heavy rain and it looked like it was on the verge of collapse under the strain.
There were a lot of people camping on the side of the beach and any available car park (wild camping). Some were old bangers with hippies but the majority were expensive motorhomes and they even had their satellite dishes all rigged up!! Portugal is one of the few countries which allow wild camping and people certainly take advantage of it.
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