The Good Squad

Nina admiring some street art This week marks the tenth week of being away on our travels around Europe. Time-wise I can't say if it's passed quickly or slowly, what I do know is that by and large it has been time well spent. During our first week in Portugal we were based in one place, Penamacor, which we absolutely loved; since then we have experienced a lot more of the country as we travelled south through central Portugal, heading towards the Algarve. Last week's blog post left off with us in Castelo Branco on Saturday morning, getting a bulb changed in the bus headlight and then heading off to visit an old friend of Nicks, Sara, in a place called Pedrogao Grande. A bridge too far? We crossed it! The journey there was a little dicey! We thought we'd had our share of mountains, but that was not the case, and once again it was a hair raising journey not only upwards, but also over terrifying bridges. It wasn't possible to get to Sara's house it...

It's been a serendipitous week of ups and downs, but overall the most enjoyable week of our travels so far... view from Penamacor We arrived in Portugal on Monday afternoon, after narrowly avoiding getting stuck in the mountains, again, and headed straight to a place I had looked up in advance which we liked the sound of, called Penamacor. We weren't disappointed and instantly warmed to the pretty town, nestled in the hills with its friendly inhabitants. We parked up in a beautiful square with stunning, panoramic views and then set off to explore the surrounding area. Around 5.30 Nick popped to the shop just a hundred or so metres away to grab a few supplies, taking Nina and looping her lead over the bollard outside. Minutes later he returned frantic, bearing the sickening news that Nina was gone. Now, anyone that know us and knows Nina, is aware that she has a penchant for running off and we have lost her previously on a few occasions, most notably for a whole night ...

Amazing waves at Capbreton, France It's been an eventful and sometimes challenging week! Lots of travelling, a fair bit of problem solving and a total change of scenery as we headed in to Spain. Our route, which was loosely planned to say the least, took us from Capbreton where we spent our final night in France, parked near the beach, into Spain where we crossed the border at Irun and past some very low key border control - a couple of police cars, waving people through. We celebrated our departure with our first roast dinner cooked aboard the bus, which was delicious and a lot easier to rustle up than we thought it would be. Spain felt instantaneously different from France. Basque Country is remote and wild and unlike the Spain I know on the South East coast; the spelling of the places looked more foreign than I expected and totally unpronounceable. Coming from the relative prim and properness of its Gallic neighbours, it was a refreshing change and it felt exciting to ...

By the lake This week has been pretty relaxed, splitting our time between two locations, Contis Les Bain and Leon, as we head down the Atlantic South West coast of France. The weather has taken a decidedly chilly and sometimes rainy turn, so we have been plotting our route to sunnier climes. Today we are continuing southwards and within the next day or so should make it over the border to Spain, after which we’ll hang a right into Portugal. Moules & frites With our stay in France coming to an end I was keen to tick a couple of things off my to-do list this week... 1) I bought some delights from a proper patisserie - I had held off until now, not even venturing into one for a look! Having a sweet tooth, I did not want it to become a regular habit so have avoided them thus far, 2) we had moules & frites for dinner, which was absolutely delicious; no one does French fries like the French and the mussels in a white wine and crème sauce were amazing – we had an enormous ...