Ellis Family Blog

After a longer journey than we expected (this seems to be recurring problem) we eventually arrived at our campsite at about 3pm – it had been an easy journey as the roads were very quiet apart from the busy Seville ring road, just a long way and to be honest a bit boring. However we saw lots of storks nesting on lampposts and the Osborne bull signs soon reminded us we were back in Spain! We settled in to our pitch and went to explore the local area – the weather was beautiful and we walked on the pathway alongside the beach to the marina.Read More →

We left Lagos at 9 to make the long trip to Cadiz – some five hours distant. the journey was uneventful, and very quiet with it being a Sunday, when the roads have little traffic particularly wagons which don’t travel at weekends. However, I’m going to gloss over Cadiz today other than to say that it’s a lovely place we will definitely visit again. For now I want to concentrate on the logistics and the campsite. We decided to stay across the bay from Cadiz at the resort of El Puerto de Santa Maria which is a typical Spanish town and a ferry ride fromRead More →

Friday we’d earmarked to return to Sagres for a day on the deserted beach, as the forecast was good once again. We did indeed have a super day on the beach, but it was far from deserted – in fact it was littered with surfers, both experienced and beginners, who were shadowed by their surfing teachers shouting encouragement. When we’d been here in Wednesday the surfers had all been in the other bay – clearly the surf was up on this bay today so they were all here instead. However It made for a very interesting day watching them all until we had to vacateRead More →

We travelled down to Lagos on Saturday. The last time we were in Lagos Karol was pregnant with Debi, so whilst we know it will have changed a bit we thought it would be a good place to put our feet up for a few days after the hectic ‘city’ visits that we’ve been engaged in recently. We were also influenced by one of our neighbours telling us about this amazing site at Lagos, so we decided to check it out for ourselves. It really is a spectacular site – although significantly more expensive than the ones we’ve been on so far, it does haveRead More →

Linda-a-Velha, Portugal Our campsite on the outskirts of Lisbon has been underwhelming – it was recommended by a couple we met at Comillas, and as there are only two campsites in the Lisbon area we dread to think what the other is like. To be fair it hasn’t really bothered us as we are self-sufficient – we have all amenities plumbed/wired in here so we don’t even need the shower block. The thing is that we’re not being fussy, all of us campers seem to be of the same opinion about the site! It’s a big site and there is an interesting mix of accommodationRead More →

After almost 3 weeks on the road I reckon that I’m now a bit of an expert on campsites, and am starting to appreciate the subtle differences between them. We’re in Lisbon now having travelled down from Porto on Monday. We only had a choice of two campsites here, one of which was part of the same chain as Porto – the one with the scalding showers and the communal toilet rolls – so we decide to try the other one, a municipal site which had been recommended by one of our fellow travellers during our first week over here. It is a pretty impressiveRead More →

  We had another quiet beach day on Friday, as the forecast was pretty good once more. We did have a walk though – there’s a boardwalk that runs for over 10k along the sea front, as well as a cycle path, and we walked quite a way along the boardwalk late afternoon before stopping off at a small beachside bar for a drink where Karol had her first sangria of the holiday! Friday afternoon and early evening is clearly when the Portuguese assemble for a drink after a hard weeks work, as all the bars were busy from lunchtime onwards. However, we didn’t stickRead More →

When I’d researched the drive to Porto a couple of days previously, it appeared to be about 150 miles, or about 3 hours away. When I checked it on Monday morning however it had moved a further 70 miles to the west! ( or perhaps it was me….) So, we were a bit late setting off. That said, it was an easy journey, as once we hit the motorway it was pretty much the same road all the way. During our conversations with a number of more experienced neighbours on the two previous sites, we’d gleaned that the Portuguese road tolls were extortionate, but thatRead More →

As we’d enjoyed Salamanca so much the day before, we decided that, on Saturday we’d cycle into town, along what was billed as a cycle path beside the river Tormes all the way into the city. It did indeed go all the way although some of the early bits were unmade, and in places quite narrow. However, it was a very pleasant 5 miles or so, and in just over 45 minutes we had locked our bikes up, and headed off to see yet more sights. First on the list was the motor museum – unfortunately we only arrived at 1.25 and it closed atRead More →

Onto Salamanca Cabrerizos, Spain Cabrerizos, Spain Wednesday evening we dined in the restaurant at the campsite, and chatted with 4 other Brits – two from Bury who were returning home the following day having been in Spain since October 16 in a motor home, and another couple from north of Inverness who were doing something similar to us but for 3 months – once again in a motorhome. We had a great time, and our hosts produced a lovely meal for us all, as we were the only guests in the place! Thursday morning we were up bright and early and ready to leave atRead More →