Sunday 20th March 2016
Moving day. We are off to one of our favourite sites for Easter CAMPING ALENTEJO. Most sites in Portugal and Spain get pretty full during this period and although we know the owner would always fit us in this is one site we often book as said owner, Seibo, always reserves the best pitch on the site for us.
It’s under 200 km from Orbitur Guincho to Camping Alentejo, virtually all motorway, around two hours. Of course we had not counted on the Portuguese police closing the motorway just a couple of miles from our departure point. We had never had a closed road since getting the new navigator so did not know how to set a detour and had to just follow our noses for a while but we were lucky to quickly get back on the motorway. Unfortunately we were on the wrong side of the stoppage and a few moments later we were on the back of the traffic jam, a half hour or so later we came off the motorway at the junction where earlier we had tried to join it.
We still did not know how to set a detour so we plugged in “no tolls” in the avoidances setup and we were off through the centre of Lisbon. It was strange that when we changed the settings the travelling time was actually shown as less than on the toll road and when we eventually got back on the motorway we had actually caught up a lot of the time we had lost. Lady luck was still not on our side however.
We made good time and were within 60 km of our destination when there was a loud BANG and the car instantly lost power. I kept it moving and checked the handling all was OK. I kept it moving but there was little power it seemed as if the turbo had failed (I once owned a Land Rover so I know lots about turbo problems). Being close to our destination I nursed the car along (sometimes at just 15 kph) until we reached the site.
Looking under the bonnet (took me ages to find out how to open it!!) I saw that one of the turbo hoses had come adrift. Not able to believe my luck I pushed it back on wound the jubilee clip up tight and went for a drive. For around a mile everything was fine then - BANG - back with a disconnected hose, after the second time this happened I decided that perhaps there was a turbo problem and the hose being forced off was a symptom. After the second time the hose came off an orange dashboard “engine check” light came on.
Monday 21st March 2016
There is a Ssangyong main dealer just over the Spain/Portugal border at Badajoz and this afternoon saw us outside when they reopened from lunch at 4.00pm. It did not bode well - pandemonium. Cars coming and going, mechanics running around trying to do several jobs at once, I could not catch anyone’s eye. Wandering through the showroom I came across a salesman who spoke English, explained the problem and he said it sounds like a turbo problem, but when I described how the hose kept coming off he said he would have a look. Glancing under the bonnet he said “. . . the pipe is plastic and with the heat eventually become soft and the hose will not grip. We will put in a metal pipe . . .” He took us into the showroom and sat us down in front of a large TV saying that the mechanic would be able to start the half hour job in a few minutes. Around a half hour later the workshop manager called me over and presented me with a bill for €114 (around £90) which after paying and lots of handshaking we drove away. Superb service at a reasonable price.
Tuesday 22nd March 2016
Not much done today other than relaxing although we did go for a drive out into the countryside (checking the car) which took us to Redondo via the CORK factory at Azaruja where there is a shop selling the wares that the factory makes. We have in the past bought handbags, candles, slippers, hats, postcards, place mats etc., etc., all made from the locally produced cork, we always buy something. This time it was a large cork board to cover a work surface I had damaged dressing crabs with a very large hammer (they were very large crabs).
We have been told that in Spain/Portugal you plant grapes for yourself, olives for your children and cork for your grandchildren as it takes a couple of years for a first grape harvest, ten years for a first olive harvest and a very long twenty five years for a first cork harvest with subsequent harvests every nine years after that.
Despite the advent of screwcaps and synthetic stoppers 40 million genuine cork bottle stoppers are made daily in Portugal: this remains the principal destiny of the material. The good news is that international winemakers are returning to cork thanks to two main properties: its natural expansion inside the neck of the bottle (making it sometimes a tough pull), and its very slight porosity which allows the wine to breathe. While experimentation continues apace to try and match the low price of synthetic corks, I can only beg anyone reading this to buy wine with real cork stoppers – they represent a quality of tipple that you never get with screwcaps or synthetic stoppers, as well as a timeless way of life
Good Friday 25th March 2016.
There is a dolman and a Cromeleque close by that we had heard of but never visited so today, with fellow traveller Malcolm as guide, we went for a look see. The ANTA GRANDE DO ZAMBUJEIRO dolman has the largest stones of any passage-mound in all of Portugal, and possibly all of Europe. To preserve it the stones have been covered in corrugated iron which unfortunately make photographing this very impressive 4000 year old monument difficult. It is possible that the signage and the state of the track leading to it do more to help preserve it by discouraging visitors.
From the dolman it is a short drive to and a long drive down the dirt track leading to he cromeleque or stone circle. Some two kilometres down the track is the MENIR DOS ALMENDRESl, this is a single 3m high standing stone set in a peaceful olive grove a few minutes walk from the track. Despite it’s Neolithic origins local legend states it is the tomb of a Moorish princess who appears once a year on the eve of Sao Joao, and can be seen combing her hair.
A further 2.1/2 kilometres down the track is ALMENDRES CROMLECH the Iberian peninsula’s largest and most impressive stone circle, a forest of about 95 granite monoliths that, being in Portugal, you are able to go right up to, touch and feel. So different from say Stonehenge.
Saturday 26th March 2016.
We visited the annual Borba Cheese Festival today, it was a little disappointing as the majority of the stalls carried the same three or four cheeses plus a few sausages etc. Of interest was a group of costumed men, some wearing jerkins covered in small bells while others carried large cow bells, we were told that it was a male voice choir and they would perform at at fifteen minutes past 1.00pm and despite it being Portugal at only 2.00pm they were on stage and ready to start. They sang for around fifteen minutes sometime a single member would sing sometime the whole or part of the group but at no time did any of the hundreds of bells on stage make a single sound. They then all got off the stage lined up in twos and with every member banging his bell (or bells) in time with their steps marched around the hall making a dreadful din. They were on their second or third circuit and showing no signs of stopping that we left. We have been able to find out nothing other than being told it is a traditional marching group.
Easter Sunday 27th March 2016.
Lunch out today at a local restaurant “os imigrantes” with Malcolm. Being Easter Sunday there was no menu just the two traditional Easter dishes of the region, lamb slow roasted in the oven or Baccalau. We all chose the lamb, it was a very good choice and with the usual bread olives before puds and coffee after and wine with. Great value at under €10.00 per head.