Cloudy skies greeted us when we finally awoke yesterday morning. I say “finally” because it was even later than usual – on account of us having decided to start watching the boxed set of “House Of Cards” DVDS which had been kindly donated to us by our former neighbours when they moved house last year! Our TV reception last night gave us, basically, two channels, both Portuguese, so we resorted to House Of Cards! WOW, we were instantly addicted! Five episodes later, and at almost 2am this morning, we finally managed to switch off the TV and collapse into bed! Needless to say, we didn’t fancy a long drive so Tavira was right on the button, being less than 20km away.

Off we set, with rain starting to fall, along the N125 – which more than lived-up to it’s reputation as being in an atrocious condition! We jangled our way down the road and hit Tavira in torrential rain! The only suitable overnight parking spot yielded by our Camperstop app was a campsite, so we headed to that. On arrival, I went into Reception and asked if they had any pitches available – have to say, Yer Wan behind the desk was somewhat non-committal on the subject, but handed me a map of the site and suggested we have a drive around, try find one, then report back to her with our passports, Sebo’s reg number and the princely sum of €9.90 (which included WiFi and electricity). Mmmmm, it didn’t sound, or look hopeful, judging by the number of motorhomes (and caravans) pitched on the sites laneways! Anyhow, long story short, we did a drive around, couldn’t find a pitch which didn’t involve Sebo’s rooflights or TV aerial being ripped-off by non-pruned tree branches, sneakily emptied our waste tanks at the service area and filled-up with freshwater (just in case!) then did a second, more in-depth drive around which threw up just one possible spot. In we went, having to use the full extent of  Sebo’s Milenco Quattro ramps (all 18 inches!) to get us anywhere near “level” – unfortunately, this was on the hab door side so we now needed to abseil to the ground! Hey, it’s lashing rain and we’re desperate for a bite of lunch – it’ll have to do!

The rain continued and we didn’t leave Sebo for the entire afternoon other than to “empty” poor Harley – I’m sure, by this stage, he, like us, was rapidly losing the will to live! To give the campsite their due, they had pretty good facilities – cooking kitchens equipped with cooking rings, microwaves etc, a swimming pool, showers with lots of hot water, an outdoor gym and two petanque courts. In better weather, and had they not crammed everyone in like sardines, we might have appreciated it a little better than we did. To add insult to injury, the promised “free WiFi” didn’t stretch as far as our miserable pitch! Needless to say, House Of Cards featured prominently in our evening’s entertainment – another four episodes were watched (and it would have been more if “The Wee Bride” had had her way!)

Thankfully, when we arose this morning, there was a patch of blue sky visible, though this disappeared just as we were decamping and the rain returned! Nice timing! We dumped what little waste we had, refilled Sebo’s water tank and left the site with no clear idea as to where we were going! A fleeting glance at Park4Night app, using the weak WiFi signal I had whilst Roy was braving the elements filling the water tank revealed a possible overnight spot actually in Tavira town (why didn’t I think of this yesterday????) and, as we headed towards it, we happened upon a new shopping mall. Phone shop? Data Sim Card? Always On Internet for our MiFi? Get in there! Five minutes later, we were now the proud owners of 30GB of data with a 15 day life expectancy which can be topped-up at the end of it’s initial period – €15! No longer are we at the behest of campsite WiFi! PLUS, it’s 4G, as opposed to our Three 3G card which only gives us 7GB for £25! Result! In celebratory mood, we found the free parking spot in Tavira and, along with about thirty other vans of various nationalities, we parked up for the night or, more specifically, for the weekend! We have 120l freshwater, our batteries are topping-up nicely in the sunshine and we have Internet! Why would we move???

This afternoon, we went for a stroll around town – nice wee place, lots of history, cobbled streets, pretty houses and plazas – it’s got it all going on! We even treated ourselves to ice cream! I can recommend Fig and Almond ! Yummmmmm

Naturally, like everywhere else, Tavira has it’s “token” Irish bar…….take a look at the job vacancy  notice in the window…..class or what????

We’re liking Tavira…….plan for tomorrow is to hike the 5km to Barril Beach……looks and sounds very interesting….we’ll update once we’ve explored it!