Day 18/Dia 18 Had a relaxing day around home yesterday enjoying the scorching sunshine (almost as hot as the UK from what we’re hearing!) and getting ready for our first proper night out since leaving the UK. The site is generally nice, very big and busy and situated right by the beach with a vast expanse of sand dunes as part of the national park area. When I say right by the beach, the sand dunes are no more than 30 metres from our pitch but the whole site is surrounded by a big fence, a boit like Stalag 15 but without the watchtowers and machine guns! Plenty of Germans but no goose stepping and surprising no towels round the pool ! That said, whilst the fence is intended to stop anybody getting in, it also means there’s no getting out to the beach. I was looking for a lorry filled with hay to hide in and sneak past the guards but then realised you could just stroll through the front gate and nobody blinked an eye, not a pitchfork in sight ! So, it’s 800 metres to get to the sand dunes and beach that are only 30 metres away. We gave up half way and came back for a drink. LOL. The site has all the necessary amenities including a lovely pool and a live band played on the outside stage last night. Also surprisingly quiet. We realised that this site is also a Eurocamp which explains the many different nationalities and high number of English people compared to everywhere else we’ve been. It also means that there is a separate office/information room (unmanned) for Eurocamp guests and Sue just happened to pop in to see what she could find out and came out with 2 free books which made her day. She also noticed that there was a small stockpile of food, shampoo, condiments, etc that we assume the cleaners remove from the Eurocamp chalets when people leave and leave on the side with a sign saying ‘Please help yourself’….Well, it would be rude not to ! Shopping sorted ! We did chuckle at the fact we would never have dreamed of doing that before but hey, we’re trying to make our money last as long as possible and you’ve got to jut seize the moment. Every penny counts. Funny thing was that even though the sign said it was free, Sue hid what we took away in her bag and we both scuttled off looking both ways and feeling very shifty ! LOL Toilet watch (Sue love’s this bit…not ! LOL) So we’ve come to realise that we have been rather spoilt with the facilities and standard of hygiene we’ve experienced up to now. I knew I’d miss ‘Cath’ the cleaner as she has somehow now been named ! To be fair, the loos are clean enough but some of the doors don’t have locks and none of the toilets have seats, they did once but appear to have been broken and never replaced. Anyway, a little bit of handywork and we now have our own protector which we take each time we go ! However, I do have to mention the fact that whilst half of the loos have normal civilised, seat high pans to park your derrier on, half of them are specifically for the French ! Basically, somewhere to stand but just a hole in the ground……keep away from a frenchman’s feet ! I had to take a picture for those that have never been to France because it is just plain wrong and unnecessary in this day and age. I went to France over 35 years ago and they had them then and we thought it was disgusting but now, in 2014 ! Non Monsieur, NON ! It’s time they were introduced to Mr’s Armitage and Shanks ! Anyway, rant at the French over……for now ! So, we went into Cascais for a night out. It’s a proper resort with lovely little streets filled with shops, bars with live music and restaurants. There were even loads of Indian restaurants and the smell was very tempting especially as we had been craving a curry for days now, but we were there to party, not to eat and so we resisted the urge….for now ! I’d been to Cascais with my mate Bob back in 2004 to watch the European Championships and we’d gone to a nightclub with it’s own little beach inside. I’d always told Sue about how nice it was and we were determined to find it although I couldn’t remember if it was in Cascais or Estoril, 5 mins up the road, so we asked in a bar and were told it was in Estoril and was called Tamariz so we thought, we’ll probably only be here once so let’s go to Estoril and see the place at long last. Paid 5 euros in a Taxi and got dropped off outside. It wasn’t the same place at all, just a huge club next to the beach and not our type of thing. Also, Estoril didn’t have much going for it apart from what was apparently the biggest casino in Europe which doesn’t fit the bill when you’e travelling on a budget so we caught a taxi (ironic…LOL) straight back to Cascais. Talked to the Taxi driver on the way and he said that the club we were looking for was called Coconuts and it was in Cascais, with ‘was’ being the operative word. It had been gone sometime now and replaced with a hotel ! Dilemma solved, for 10 euros and an hour’s wasted time. LOL. Had a nice night listening to a bit of live music and realised that we’d also been spoilt up north with the low prices (1.70euros for a small beer and a glass of wine) because now we were being charged 10.70euros for a large beer and a vodka/lemonade. Hmmm, Lisbon prices methinks. Ah well, we were out for a few drinks and decided to bite the bullet. Didn’t have a lot as it happens, 4 drinks each, but it was enough and we came home at 2pm. This morning it became apparent that my wife has become a lightweight in terms of her drinking capacity ! Up for a nice bacon sarnie, cooked by me, of course, and then straight back to bed ! We had planned to go to Lisbon today but a relaxing day in the sunshine at home is the order of the day……..probably followed by a curry tonight ! MMmmmmm I can almost taste the spices already ! I love life ! ( Colin Hayes ) No worries!
Posted on: Sun, 27 Jul 2014 12:40:57 +0000
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