This update is going to be rather like the last in that we are still being very lazy and although doing not very much we are still enjoying life on the Algarve.
This highlights for this update (well some) are :-
2017 started very well with a first for us, a visit to the theatre in Faro for an evening of Johann Strauss with the “STRAUSS FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA” and the “STRAUSS FESTIAL BALLET ENSEMBLE”, many in the company seemed to come from eastern Europe and were very good. Different to an evening in a UK theatre in that the show didn’t start until 9.30 pm and finished around midnight. A very pleasant night although we got back so late we were not allowed vehicular access to the campsite so had to park outside and walk in to the caravan.
The car is in the news again - a service was needed. Although most towns in Spain have a SsangYong dealer unfortunately there are none in Portugal, not a single one. We phoned the nearest Spanish one just a few miles over the border and as luck would have it the chap who answered the phone spoke reasonable English and booked us in even remembering to make the appointment an hour later than normal to take into account the hour time difference between Portugal and Spain. We arrived on time but had to go from the showroom to the service centre. It was only a few miles but the salesman’s English was not sufficient to direct us so he “marked” it on the navigator map and off we went. What he did not say was that the service centre also dealt with BMW and Mitsubishi. The sign for BMW was huge and 20 metres in the air on a tower while the SsangYong and Mitsubishi signs were smaller and at ground level. Still when we arrived the car was taken straight into the work bay and after the long form that always has to be filled before work starts on any car in Spain was completed and signed, the mechanic got going and not much over two hours later with the service complete and the all important official stamps in the service history book we headed back to Portugal.
Only one day out in this whole period to Playa Fabrica and Playa Manta Rota the former despite being very close to the small town of Cacela Velha is totally un-commercialised. Just a stretch of beach that the fishermen from the town use in the same way as their fishermen forefathers for hundreds of years. The latter, Playa Manta Rota, has despite it’s close proximity, been commercialised so much it bears no relation at all to what it was like in the past.
During this period we took delivery of my latest toy. An ULTRA WIDE COMPUTER MONITOR that we will be using as a TV. It is a 21:9 ratio which is what pretty well what all new films are made in these days. The height of the screen is about the same as our old TV but it is far wider. I do like new toys and as this arrived in the same week as my birthday we will call it a birthday present - super.
My birthday was also memorable for another event
After months of dry daytime weather we got wet today the rain started around noon and has been raining buckets since (I’m writing this at 8.00pm)
We went for a birthday lunch at “O’ Monte Velho”. After our last visit there I wrote: -
“ . . .we also managed a visit to O’Monte Velo, a restaurant high in the hills between Moncarapacho and Tavira in a place no-one in their right mind would open a restaurant. It is (literally) miles from anywhere along a very rough road and you cannot just turn up you must book and order at least one day before you go and it is difficult to ring to book as there is no landline phone up there and the mobile phone signal is so poor the proprietors mobile is mounted on a pole outside the building so often goes unheard (thats if it does manage to lock onto a signal). Despite all these disadvantages it is a busy and popular eatery and well worth the effort necessary . . ."
After the meal we set off home on a road that on the way up we had had to detour round. Other cars were on the road so it hardly occurred there might be a problem. A few miles from the restaurant we had to wait while a huge road surface scraper levelled a load of granite chippings, after doing so the scrapper driver pulled his machine to one side and waved us through, driving over thick (150 - 300mm) wet chipping was fun as the car shimmied its way through. Another few miles and we went round a corner to be confronted by a road gang laying tarmac. Well we assumed it was a gang, all we could see was a cloud of steam with the occasional flash of hazard warning lights and a road roller occasionally appearing through the thick mist. We sat and waited a while and as the steam started to clear I thought I could see a way through so went slowly forward on the “wrong” side of the road with the right side wheels on the tarmac and the left side wheels on the dirt at side of the road - OH BUGGER -the Portuguese don’t use edging stones on country roads and the thick tarmac started to collapse, the whole car sliding to the left with the rear left side wheel perilously close to a very steep drop. Don’t panic just engage the 4WD and off we go - not. All that happened was we slid closer to the edge with that rear nearside wheel teetering on the edge. Frank got out (jumped down) to assess the situation and although standing right next to the car was around 2 metres lower. It was obvious we were not going to drive away.The road gang foreman looked at us scratching our heads shrugged his shoulders and wandered up the site returning a moment or two later with a long towing strop which was fitted to the front towing eye on the car, the foreman then indicated we should wait while they brought up the road roller to consolidate, as much as possible, the tarmac over which the car and tow vehicle needed to travel after which a tarmac laying colossus appeared through the mist and the free end of the tow strop attached. When all was ready I went to get in the car to pilot it out but the foreman was adamant I should not get in the car as although the tow was tight the car could still slide sideways down the hill - GULP!!
Slowly, slowly the tarmac laying colossus inched forward pulling the car inch by inch to safety. We were eventually able to disconnect the strop, drop the foreman a few euros and climb in ready to move on, unfortunately in my eagerness to get gone I drove over Rosemary’s foot. Fortunately the soft tarmac that had let us down so badly saved the day by allowing “give”.
It was interesting that the road gang showed no surprise or annoyance at us trying to drive over their site, damaging their tarmac and no glee at our predicament. Those that were not involved in the rescue went and got their shovels and as we were pulled out started to repair the damage we had caused - Oh yes and they let us through the closed road.