As we are having breakfast we are alerted by a host of clanging bells and the occasional blast of a horn. We look to the far side of the football pitch and see a goatherd in a long coat and headscarf calling with the horn and leading about twenty goats to feed, their bells clanging as they walk and browse. We leave the lighthouse and head up the N-393 and IC-4 through beautiful areas of cork and mimosa. As we approach Sines we pass a large power station, a...

We service the vans and drive the two miles to Sagres Fort. The fort has a long history and is significant as the place where Henry the Navigator brought together sciences like cosmography, astronomy, mathematics, geography, navigation and naval architecture,to improve nautical exploration and technology. Eminent sailors such as Vasco da Gama, Bartolimeu Dias and Christopher Columbus all studied here. We drive into Sagres itself, an attractive but unremar...

The morning starts a bit hazy and there is a strong wind blowing across the river. We can hear and see larks swooping and dropping into the grass. At 11:30 we set off for Sagres, a town on the south west tip of the Algarve. We drive over the river and through the urban sprawl of Portimao. All around us are more storks' nests on lamp posts and chimneys, and we wonder if they are rearing chicks yet. Today there are fewer orange sellers but quite a few po...

The sky is a bit cloudy with a few drops of rain in the air, but it is getting warmer through the morning. We don't have far to go so it's 11:30 when we pack up and leave. We stop in Aldi in Alcantarhia and then at a fuel station to top up the LPG, before driving along main roads which are much quieter as it is Saturday. There are the usual orange stalls in many lay-bys and the fields are full of blossom. We also see a number of storks in nests. We reach the...

Yesterday the sink, today the water heater won't fire up. We check gas and the heater's fuses but no joy, and the delay means we don't leave until 11:30 We drive through Faro - very busy and Portuguese drivers are impatient and unpredictable - and go on to a motorhome accessory shop N+G know and want to visit. All along the roads are stalls with huge piles of oranges for sale. After buying a few bits we go into Albuferia looking for somewhere to stop for lunc...