Travels in the Van: week two

Storks nests and pylons.

Week 2

Storks nests and pylons.
Sunday 21st Jan 

“Look up there!” I say, as a fortress town appears to the right of the motorway as I am driving. The first ridge in an otherwise flat terrain. 
“The storks nests?” he says. 
I’ve missed them. 
“On the pylons” he says. 
Then I notice the pylons. So many of them - the cheerleader type. No stork nests for the next few kilometres, all I can see are pylons. There are hundreds of them. Just when I’ve forgotten about the storks nests, there they are, clustered five or six on each pylon, and then abruptly they stop again. What makes them choose those particular pylons? Again after some distance, another cluster of pylons with storks and it occurs to me that we’re crossing rivers flowing underneath the motorway. 
When it’s his turn to drive, I search on my phone for ‘storks nests on pylons in Portugal’ and it’s all there - the data, the research, all kinds of facts and figures about the phenomenon.  
It's a thing. Mystery solved.
"Are there storks in the UK?" he asks.
I look.
" The bad news: We ate them all, 600 years ago. The good news: they're coming back"

Sunday 22nd January
Out of season Vila Nova De Milfontes, apparently one of the most popular tourist spots on the south west Atlantic coast is our next stop. It’s been cold in Lisboa so the sunshine is welcome. The approach to the old fishing port town town is by a series of straight new roads and roundabouts, past open fields, some cows here and there. What is unexpected as we get closer are the groups of three or four Indian young men walking a fair distance to and from town. A lot of them. I think I must be mistaken, it makes more sense for them to be North African. Those coming away are carrying shopping bags and all are cheerful. As we explore later from the campsite and cycle through town to the coast, I can see that they are mostly Indian, some wearing smart sportswear, sitting, enjoying the sunny Sunday afternoon, mainly on their phones, speaking to family I’m guessing. After a ride along the coast, abandoning the coastal path which proves too sandy to navigate, back in Villanova we find a busy cafeteria full of Portuguese families and weekend visitors. The Portuguese men look weather-beaten, as those working on boats often do. There seems to be very little integration.
Curious, I look up ‘Indian workforce in Vila Nova De Milfontes’. And there it is. These are seasonal agricultural labourers from India, Nepal, Thailand, Pakistan, Bulgaria. Mostly young men, but some families too, invited into work in the region’s big agribusinesses, which are more visible once we get out on our bikes. There are not enough workers locally to meet the demand. Berries are the main crops, blueberries, raspberries and strawberries. The more I read the more I understand, I can see that this is not a bad place to work, although there is exploitation and unscrupulous middlemen around. And variable housing conditions. We see them at the end of the day walking from miles back from back to the accommodation and make a point of greeting them as we cycle by over the following days. It’s a complex relationship with a local population. There are positive stories of evening language classes in schools which are very popular and some integration across culturally between children. But they often move on. An effort is being made to address welfare and other concerns or am I looking through rose tinted glasses.

Monday 23rd January 
Before we move on we spend an afternoon on a cross country adventure. The idea was to cycle around the upper reaches of the estuary which proved impenetrable eventually. No Ordnance Survey mapped footpaths and bridleways here, and the combination of sand, rocks, marshland and mud, a herd of goats, a herd of too frisky cows and a rather cross, persistent, lone goat-dog halt our progress. Eventually a friendly Shepherd points us back to where we’ve come from. Just as well, as cross country cycling is very physical and exhausting. We made it back in time for a late lunch in a great fish restaurant right on the Atlantic Coast.

Tuesday 24th January 
Next top Zambujeira. We arrive after dark and hopefully chose the right pitch. It’s been sunny but there’s a nip in the shade that reminds us it’s January. It’s very well kept there and more camper vans from all over and more cheery hellos, Bom Dias etc. 
Today was meant to be a rest day so we washed bikes after yesterday‘s cross-country yomp, then can’t resist a mad dash to watch the sunset at the most western point of Portugal we can find nearby, Farol do Cabo Sardão. We’ve struck a rhythm that works well for a long haul trip this time of year: later starts (we’d usually be on the road by 9am or earlier for a day of riding in summer) and shorter rides 20 to 25 miles instead of 50 to 60. The bikes are working out well too. It was a good call to only bring gravel bikes and I can tell that my fitness is improving by the amount of time I need to engage the e-function on mine.

Wednesday 25th January 

We’re also getting to know the van better. It’s very cold at night and we’re not used to it. Last night I put on a second pair of pyjamas and a puffer jacket in the middle of the night. Today we finally get to grips with the van heating system, which is a relief. 
On the down side, the camping gaz has run out and it’s proving difficult to replace. So after today’s lovely trail ride we’re sat in the bar/restaurant/lounge with a roaring log fire fire drinking machine hot chocolate with the campsite cat curled up on my lap… and if that’s not enough, the nice barman has just found the Man U game for Richard. We’re the only ones here.

Cooking in the van 
Cooking in the van successfully needs a bit of prep. Knowing where you’ve stowed things as once the table is up, it’s hard to get things from the depths of the cupboards underneath, or open the cutlery drawer. It’s also strange getting used to the sedentary nature of it. The whole operation works best when there are two of you one each side of the table, one cooking, one dealing with the fetching and carrying, passing things, and the same rules as at home apply; whoever is cooking doesn’t do the washing up.
Favourites so far:
French toast with Parmesan 
Chicken with broccoli, chorizo, sliced mushrooms, garlic, red peppers, garlic olive oil 
And the go to favourite when we’re tired, 
Packet rice, tuna with chilli, raw onion, tinned sweetcorn +/_ packet lentils.

Thursday 26th January

We're on the move again. Hoorah for Intermarché who have a Gaz refil. We're on the move again. Packing up is always an opportunity to reorganise the Van. We have everything organised in sturdy shopping bags and the system works well. There's a long standing dedicated laundry bag (orange Sainsbury's with a red elephant) the rest are Lidl blueberries, and one or two Aldi. We've picked up a small Continente one this trip which is perfect for taking for a shower to save everything from getting soaked. The bedding when we're on the move is in a big IKEA bag.
this all works well but there's chaos after a few days on a campsite, where things get chucked around. When the bikes are on the back access to the storage underneath is impossible, so the bags have to be strategically placed so anything we might need is accessible from the back seat. I have now relegated all the clothes I haven't been wearing to a back underneath, they'll probably come home unworn, but there's still time for warmer weather, as the weeks progress, to bring them out from the over packing bag of shame.

We arrive in a campsite outside Aljezur where there's good cycling routes and some great restaurant recommendations from Sam's trips to Portugal with local friends. We end up having a proper rest day, naps and everything and then head off to have delicious pasta and pizza at Arte Bianca. the journey there is dramatic, in the dark, down steep a gravel track (I walked - it was quite scary). Add to that the howling and barking from what sounded like a pack of dogs on the loose. Good job I'd paid attention to the notice board in the campsite reception - the track ran past the local dogs home. We come back on the main road. 

did I mention there was cheesecake?

Friday 27th January

Toothache on holiday is no fun, but usually it's ok to hang-on till you get home if it's not severe. We're away too long to do that, so today we ditched original plans and Richard got a filling replaced. 

Not really sorry to leave the last campsite it was bleak compared to Zambujeira. It had a post apocalypse feel to it. the pitches were in between rows of stone pine trees, no other vegetation. too few vans to form a community and none of the facilities other than one toilet/shower block were open. It was a bit creepy. A shame because the nearest town looked promising and we had some nice routes planned. We may work our way back for more of the foodie recommendations next week. 

Richard usually checks things out by reviews but is also very sceptical about their veracity. All the reviews for the best dentist this morning seemed to have the words 'very friendly', 'accommodating', 'attentive' in them, to the point where he was sure they'd been written by a bot. The only other real alternative had a sorrowful review of a botched procedure needing several return visits and remedial work by another dentist. So he bit the bullet and booked an appointment at the unbelievably positive one and we traveled to Albufeira.

I left him to it and he emerged much happier after an hour, and gave the same glowing praise - it must be something they use in the anaesthetic. 

I then spent about the same amount of money getting my bike fixed with a new back tyre, chain and the sand removed from places it really shouldn't have got into.

We've found a campsite nearby close to the seaside town, so that we can check how the dental work is in the morning and eventually got out on the bikes for an evening explore. some excitement in town when we got mixed up in the Race Nature Albuferia, a 'crit' (timed race) around the back streets. I came in first and Richard was disqualified ;)