After breakfast we left the hotel in the rain, we had intended another walk but with heavy rain forecast we decided against it also neither of slept well so were a little on the slow side.
The SatNav gave us two options to get to Amantil and we chose what would turn out to be the best but also the slowest. When planning this trip months ago we decided that after our nights stop we should then go to Seville to do some food shopping at Costco only to discover later that they do not open on Sundays, blast!!
Anyway the route we had chosen took us up in to the mountains with very windy and poor road surface roads for several hours but with really beautiful scenery and so it was well worth the effort. During the first part of the journey we noticed what with all the steep uphill climbing the fuel gauge was going down a little to fast and we got a little worried that may be we wont find a petrol station open on a Sunday but we need not have worried as we eventually came across a town with three open petrol stations.
Leaving Spain for Portugal with a time difference going back to UK time we joined the Motorway network in the direction of Faro and by this time it had started raining quite heavily but on joining the first motorway there was a sign pointing you off the road marked tourista which I took to mean for a tourist shop only I think it was designed to manage people who wish to drive on the Portuguese roads you need to have a pass to pay tolls and so thought Oh dear should I have gone in there but I di have a paid for pass anyway. A little later we stopped again for a brief pit stop and then noticed the overhead cameras to check cars for the Toll Pass and on the right there was signboard stating the amount to pay but no charge was shown, how odd, but I worried in case I had done something wrong. Later the following day I discovered that the Portuguese Government from the 1st January had taken quite a lot of Toll motorways out of the charging system and made them free including the one we had travelled on , relief…
We eventually arrived at our destination called Lakeside Country Club and checked in and it was wet when we unloaded the car and room electric had been switched off and was cold and so resolving this we had originally planned to have dinner at the on site restaurant only to find it was closed on Sunday night, damn. The receptionist told us of a shopping mall about two miles away which had a selection of restaurant’s and a supermarket and so after emptying the car we toddled off in the rain to find this place. The supermarket was small but quite comprehensive and so after deciding we could get our supplies here but that they don't close until 8 pm we found an Irish bar and had a beer and watched Newcastle beat Liverpool
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only the place was full of Brits and Irish and rather nosy. So we had also noticed and much quieter Pizza Join called Tony’s where Noel had a very tasty Margherita and Jennifer the chicken Palmisano
which looked rather large which I did not think she would finish but she did. From there we headed back to the supermarket and spent 20 minutes building a supply to last a couple of days.
We got back to the apartment and discovered that the TV had alls the Sky Sport channels and many UK channels and so watched a couple of programs on BBC before going to bed, with the rain still pouring down.
