After a quick trip to Aldi, open 8am on a Sunday in Portugal, then breakfast, it was time for coffees and farewells. My parents are now heading north in Portugal, going to some spots they did not get to on their trip from U.K. to Lanzarote where they live 4 years ago. We are heading south onto Lisbon direction next. So we had a coffee with them at a little cafe nearby before we both hit the road.
We wanted to go to São Pedro de Moel and it’s lighthouse. This was a waypoint for us to sail by on our way down the Portuguese coast in 2008 and would come and see it by land. We have memories of a line of 7 lighthouses all visible passing along the Portuguese coast. There was also a great pull up spot at the beach near the lighthouse. The route there was fun, we were taken at one point down a single lane road with a big warning sign which we stopped to Google translate as it looked so worrying. It said road surface uneven and damaged, genius so much cheaper to erect a sign than fix it 😂 we were not worried in our four wheel drive so off we went to the slight surprise of some mountain bikers on the way. It was actually a lovely route through the dunes at the back of the continuous beach which is the North Portugal coast.
However, we soon arrived at São Pedro de Moel and pass by the well kept town to park up. We went for a nice walk with the dogs then returned to savour the view and enjoy the peace and quiet after a couple of days in towns and cities. We enjoyed a leisurely lunch in the van before we head off for a spot for the night.
We decided to by pass Nazare, as this is not the time of year for the big waves for which it is famous and it is quite built up. So we took the coast road any enjoyed the great views out to the Atlantic Ocean. It seemed there was sand each side of the road like the sand dunes extend some miles back from the shore. We drove round the beautiful circular beach of Sao Martino do Porto.
Finally reaching Foz do Arelho our spot for the night. We are parked up literally on the beach side, along with hundreds of other motorhomes due to its prime location. We happened to pick the spot next to the only other U.K. van on site with whom we swapped a few stories on places to visit.
The site has a fun feel to it, I gather it is Labour Day and Mother’s Day today. There are big family groups and a man walking round playing the accordion with his family in tow when we arrived. It is a bit cooler today and cloudy which the dogs are very much appreciating when we took them for a nice walk along the shore.
In for a Penney 