Yes folks, it has happened! One of us has gone down with a case of….wait for it….not Manflu but Vanflu!! Poor Roy has been stricken! Quite how, nobody can fathom, since we’ve had no real contact with anyone but each other lately but, heyho, that’s life! No doubt, in the spirit of “sharing is caring”, the other half of the Semple Duo will be similarly stricken in due course! Handkerchiefs, paracetamol and hot whiskies at the ready….

Nonetheless, we decamped from our Tavira free spot this morning, filled up our LPG tanks at Olhão, swung by Lidl to pick-up a few essentials then, skirting Faro, headed north into the Serra do Caldeirão. Our intended destination being a free Aire at Ameixal which promised 15 spaces and free electricity, water etc. The drive up the N2 was pretty enough but we think we’ve been rather spoilt by Spain’s uber-smooth road surfaces, beautifully terraced productive land and higher altitudes and Portugal’s much lower altitude, tree clad, but non-cultivated hillsides, kinda don’t cut the mustard with us! Still, it’s pretty enough and it’s nice to get away from the overly-developed coastal Algarve and discover what lies inland. After a bit of a hissy fit from CoPilot, and some mega-reversing skills on the part of Roy, we finally made the Ameixial Aire…. free water and drainage freely available and, whilst there were, indeed, a couple of available pitches, none of these were necessarily desirable to us as they either weren’t in the sun or were too close to the neighbours – most of whom had “spread themselves and their kit and caboodle out” to deter newcomers! Hate that! We emptied our waste, filled-up our water, ate lunch then headed back up through the village to the soccer pitch where, apparently, you can park for free! I kid you not! We are currently parked up on the sandy pitch of the local football club! Here’s hoping they don’t have a match any time soon!

It’s a bit of a “sleepy” town but there’s some good walking trails around so, depending on the state of the Vanflu sufferer tomorrow, we might make use of them.