Andy & Gillie's Big Adventure!: May 2016

Obidos was a revelation. We found a delightful small campsite (not campgrounds anymore – that was for the States) and did some internet-based stuff (more of which later), before driving in the next morning to this 13^th Century town.

Without being too info-oriented, this town has apparently been destroyed and rebuilt several times in its history, but now boasts a rather marvellous wall around which we walked. The weather was balmy, if a bit breezy, and we were careful not to get blown off at certain times, as there’s parts with no protection from a long drop!

We then drove the relatively short distance to Estoril/Cascais that afternoon and found another lovely campsite with an eccentric view of what makes a suitable site – lots of low branches and long distances between power points. Whatever.

We stayed for three nights before driving another short distance to Lisbon, where we had a most enjoyable long(ish) lunch at one of the tourist restaurants on the Praca do 25 abril, followed by a fantastic ‘free’ walking tour of Lisbon, which was supposed to last about three hours, but ended up taking nearly four! Our guide Rafael was very knowledgeable and clearly in love with his native city. He showed us lots of places and things we would never have found on our own, or with a more ‘conventional’ tour and was brilliant throughout. Real value for money. If you’re going to Lisbon, check out the ‘Chill Out’ walking tour. Because You’re Worth It!

Four hours of walking then waiting for the last bus (hoping we were at the right stop!), so we were knackered when we got back to the campsite. Early night.

The next day was a bit of a trek to get to Lagos, but we found another great campsite, with amazing views and all the facilities – for only €19 a night! Planned on spending three nights there, but the best laid plans…

Cast your mind back, dear reader, to the reference at the top of the post about doing some Internet Stuff (IS) in Obidos. Well, part of that was applying for a part-time temporary post at a school in S London. Completely forgot about it and was spending some time last Tuesday doing some more IS, when the phone rang. We thought it was Vodaphone or someone and were extremely surprised to find out that it was Woodcote School on the line inviting me for interview!!!!!.....!!!...!!!

After some confusion, to-ing and fro-ing and wincing at cost of flights – this was returning to a holiday hot-spot at the start of the half-term holiday, don’t forget – we made all the necessary arrangements, including contacting brother Richard, organising a razor, shoes and a suit(!) and gasping at the 4.30 am get-up on interview day.

Included in our plans was also the need to get to a house in Lagoa – 50 ish kilometers east of Lagos – a day early to start a house sit for Lesley, who was travelling to Edinburgh to run a half-marathon!

Lesley kindly agreed to put Gillie up for an extra night while I went off to the UK for the interview. It was a bit of a whirlwind trip, naturally, but the upshot was a phone call on Friday morning as I was walking to the gate for the flight back offering me the job! Never too old...?

So, sorted for the autumn, we can enjoy a relaxed couple of months around Europe without having to scour the virtual pages of TES etc.

Our house sit is quite lovely – at the end of a gravel lane, quite remote with great views all round and three charming dogs and two very independent cats, all of whom have a very discerning ear, it must be said (see pix).

Had a couple of days chilling and currently waiting for a) England to finish Sri Lanka off – although it’s good they’ve finally found some backbone – and b) Molly A to receive a new clutch (mofo). So staying another extra night courtesy of Lesley, who has been very understanding.

Our plans take us back into Spain this week, aiming for a few nights around Sitges and Barcelona, before trying to dodge the undoubtedly persistent attentions of the paparazzi around St Tropez, Cannes, Nice etc Oh me. Soon…

PS. Hi there, what a week! We always say you never know what’s around the corner. Also last week we secured a house sit in Putney for the last two weeks in August, so at the moment (fingers tightly crossed xx) things seem to be going according to plan. (When we get the bill for Moll’s repair tomorrow, I may revise that statement!)

We are really enjoying Portugal and as it’s our first visit, expected it to be very much like Spain. Which in a way it is, but the feel is a lot different and I don’t know really how to explain it. I think I expected it to be grander and smarter than Spain, but it isn’t; it feels a lot more rural and has a certain wildness about it, which we really like. It’s been lovely living up on the top of a hill in our house sit, wandering through the fields of wild flowers with the dogs (just like the ‘Famous Five’ in the Enid Blyton stories. Thanks again Lesley for being so kind to us. However, it’s back on the road tomorrow, with hopefully a new clutch that will enable us to go up hills without resorting in the end to first gear and a funny smell. Happy travels… Love G xxx

High above the rooftops at Obidos

Down in the charming cobbled streets (at Obidos)

Bijou little camp site - sort of squeezed in here somehow!

Gentle stroll around the dunes at Cascais

One of many tiled houses in Lisbon

Statue of a lottery ticket seller (!) - Gillie rubbing his 'ticket' for luck...

'Spike house' - fascinating cultural centre with intriguing window art

Colourful houses in the Alfama area of Lisbon

The view at the end of the walk - It Was Worth It!

Yet another forlorn attempt by Gillie to be mistaken for a hobbit!

Gorgeous campsite near Obidos

As I said - a very discerning audience!

House and sitter with 'sittees'!

They won't miss one, surely?!

Romping through the flower meadows...

...Like something from Enid Blyton (I found this, honest Officer)

Well, it’s been exactly two months since we last shared our adventures with you, so we hope you will join us on our European adventures for the next three months.

We are camped in a lovely campsite at Bidart, just next to Biarritz. Our spot looks over the wild Atlantic. And it is wild. Wind and rain battered Molly Aswell last night and it’s been blowing a gale this morning. Fine weather for washing, as long as it doesn’t rain!

Since our last post we have enjoyed wonderful hospitality from friends and family as we travelled around the UK before setting off again to Australia to visit Holly and Emily for three weeks.

We were greeted on our return to Gatwick in March with the drama of Nine-Fingered Pat and One-Armed Dick. I’ll leave the details to your imagination, dear reader – suffice to say Chancery is now involved. This was after a very nice man from Customs and Excise put some cocaine in my bag as we waited at the baggage carousel!

Anyway, after a few days staying with Richard and Pat, we went to Scarborough, where we proceeded to go our separate ways for a week – Andy to National Student Drama Festival and Gillie to her friend Linda’s so that she could visit her relatives. That was the first time in 18 months we had been separated for more than a couple of hours. Kinda weird.

From thence we went on a whistle-stop tour of the UK making best use of our trusty Giffers’ Railcards and stayed with Chris and Maggie in Denby Dale – a welcome reunion with the quiz team and curry at the Palace Tandoori; then onto Marple for a couple of relaxing nights with Mick and Viv; in Fleet we were kindly hosted by Rob and Lynette, then Sandy and Nigel. Finally (for the moment) onto Hampton and staying with Sally and John, where we enjoyed a lovely six-hour lunch (!) with our hosts and Swedish friends and had a bit of a jam session – Andy on ukulele and Hans on guitar. We’re visiting Hans and Eva in Sweden in July, so hopefully an opportunity for more practice – we need it!

Our next stop, via an eternity in Beijing airport, was Sydney. It was great to see Holly and Emily again and we spent some lovely time with them both. One of the highlights was our two-day trip to Uluru – a birthday treat for the girls, but a surprise for Emily. It definitely doesn’t disappoint. We saw a beautiful sunrise at Uluru (Ayres Rock) and wandered through the Kata Tjuta National Park (Olgas), then went out for a sunset camel ride that was great fun and hilarious to boot! Truly bucket shop moments.

On our return to Sydney we spent 10 days house sitting for Kerry and David – whose house and dogs we had previously looked after when we were last in Sydney. It was lovely to see them all and I’m sure we’ll meet up again in the future. A sad farewell to the girls in Bondi, but heartened by the fact that we’ll see them both in the UK hopefully later this year.

There were no traumas awaiting us when we arrived at Heathrow (after another interminable wait at Beijing airport), so we spent the next few days looking for a new Molly, which we found eventually in Broadstairs, after much searching and some little concern. She’s quite a lot smaller than Molly Too (thankfully), but comfortable and clean – now. Our sojourn in Sheppey also marked Andy’s first public performance on the ukulele – at a jam session in The Heritage – the island’s first micro pub - where he was hopefully drowned out by Rhys and James on guitar and Ruth’s great singing.

We spent some time sorting Molly out and kitting her up, then set off for France last Sunday (8^th) via Dover-Calais ferry in beautiful sunshine. This stayed for our first drive and camp at a place called Etaples near Le Touquet in Normandy.

The next day was a mixture of showers and showers, so we moved on to Honfleur and spent a lovely couple of days exploring the ancient town and its environs and dodging the, er, showers. Leaving Honfleur, we discovered that Molly needed a lot of warning if we were going to ask her to go up steep hills after tight bends, so learnt quickly how to reverse down a hill with cars on one side and buildings, very close, on the other, plus cars wanting to ascend and descend the hill!

A decent drive to Rennes and some running repairs to Molly’s electrics, then a long slog down to St Jean d’Angely in the Poitou-Charente, in the rain. We found our first free camp in a lovely spot by the river, in the company of about 15 other campervans.

The next day was a bit of a trip down memory lane for us, as we set off for St Savinien and found – to our great surprise – the holiday cottages we owned there! It looks as though there’s a major refurbishment going on and the cottages looked a bit sad and unloved. Still, we saw them!

Another long slog brought us eventually to where we are now, very near Biarritz. It’s not actually raining at the moment, but it is very blustery and grey. We tried to put the washing on the line, but too much rain in the air, so sadly have given in to the lure of the tumble drier (sad face).

A word about the WC situation here in France. Without being indelicate, what is it with the French disdain for the humble loo seat?! None of the campsites and public loos have seats. Indeed some newer loos don’t even have the holes for fixing a seat to! What’s all that about?!

The next post will probably be from Portugal, where we hope it’s going to be warmer. Bye for now.

Actually, It’s been so difficult finding wifi and Gillie has been so slack writing her share of the post, that we are now in Portugal – having cut through Spain via Vitoria-Gasteiz and Salamanca. It’s Wednesday, so it must be Obidos!

Enough already.

PS Sorry about the delay, I just don’t know where the time goes (does this sound like a song??) also the wifi has been very iffy… We reached Portugal yesterday after a wettish drive through France, followed by a mountainous, beautiful drive through northern Spain and then into Portugal. On our way we stayed in Biarritz and decided it was a lovely place. The weather wasn’t too helpful while we were there, but we definitely got a feel for it and briefly became two of the ‘beautiful people’! [aren’t we always? – ed.]

The one thing that has struck us is how lush and green everything is. May is such a gorgeous month in the UK but we hadn’t realized how amazing it is in Europe. The trees are full of fresh green leaves and the wild flowers are out of this world. We’ve been driving past fields full of the reddest poppies you could imagine, just stunning! We’re camping at the moment in the middle of nowhere, in a pretty site owned, since December, by a lovely German couple. (It’s 10 euros a night and surrounded by (!) flowers). We’re actually near the ancient town of Obidos which we were going to visit today, but have decided to visit tomorrow, as a 4km bike ride seemed like too much effort on a glorious Wednesday afternoon…also did I mention the flowers?? We’re still getting used to Molly Aswell and her little ways. She’s really cute and compact, which means she’s much smaller than Molly Too, (also much easier to drive) so we have to use the space available, wisely. As well as being joined at the hip, we’re now joined at ankle and shoulder and – no I won’t go on! As the weather warms up and we head further south, we’ll have the luxury of our awning to add to our living space… so much to look forward to!! On that note it’s bye for now, next stop Lisbon.

Much love Gillie xxx