Muddy Marge

Comporta

We were glad we decided to spend another night at Praia de Sao Juliao. As we have mentioned before, this type of place is more us. We love being by the coast, whether at home or abroad, and do not think we will ever tire of its ever changing picture. Before we left this morning, Angela took John along the coast path to where she walked yesterday afternoon, as she did not want him to miss the unusual landscape. He likened it to the surface of Mars. We have found the geology in this area fascinating.

Above the rocks, and further down nearer the sea there were many fisherman. We noticed that they piled up stones to secure their fishing rods, leaving their hands free. 

At midday we set off, stopping to water Marge. Then it was time to take on the busy ring road around Lisbon.

Far out on the outskirts we were amazed at just how many high rise flats there were. The ring road then passed by Lisbon airport, the planes of Easyjet and Ryanair were so close by, they looked like they were parked on the road. As we left Lisbon, we could see in the wing mirrors of the van just how vast the city was.

Our outbound journey took us over the Vasco da Gama Bridge, which crosses the river Tagus, connecting Lisbon with Southern Portugal. It is over ten miles long, and we found it both exciting and fascinating crossing it. 

Once on route to southern Portugal, we noticed a big change. The towns seemed more affluent and the countryside more like France, with crops growing in the fields. The Portuguese we have encountered so far do not seem too big on gardening, any outside space they either totally neglect or fill with rubbish. We could see from the area we were in now, that home owners took a little more pride in their outside space. Many of the roads we travelled this afternoon passed through acres and acres of cork trees.

A cork tree must be twenty five years old before its outer layer of bark is stripped. This process is then repeated every ten years. An average cork tree lives to be two hundred years old. Under the trees we saw herds of cows and flocks of sheep grazing. They probably produce a good source of fertiliser for the trees, whilst keeping the ground clear.

On route to our overnight stop, we saw our first sign for the Algarve. We were nearing our objective. We dismissed the first recommended stop, and the second, which was in a nice town, but was not available as a fair was being set up, the one after that just didn't feel right.  So we headed for the town of Comporta, where on the aire, we came across an abundance of other vans from many different countries.

Taking a walk out on our arrival, as we had been travelling for a few hours today, we spotted at white horse grazing by the rice fields, also storks amongst the rice plants, and high up in their nests, some with their young. The local people take no notice of the storks, just as we are a little blase about the red kites that frequent the Chiltern Hills near to where we live.

A mist had rolled in from the nearby coast, and the watery sunset, with the rice fields in the foreground, was a typical Turner painting.