Day 61 - the start of the end

Today was a big travel day for us so we happily woke up with the hairy alarm clock and had an early start.

After coffee and breakfasts had gone down we went for a little walk along the sandy paths to stretch everyone’s legs before the big drive. It was quite warm and muggy so we didn’t stay out too long.

Back to the van to pack up and refill with a bit more water as we just about ran out.

Our destination today is just north of Porto, we are now heading back to the UK in the most direct route as we want to avoid the south of Spain and ideally avoid the mountain regions which are just starting to get cooler and have winter tyre restrictions imposed. Although we do have winter tyres, I’d rather avoid the situations where we might need them just yet.

We stopped for diesel at about midday on the motorway, not ideal but very convenient. It was also a picnic area so once we’d filled up we went and parked with the big trucks and had some lunch. A little wander for Marla and then back on the road. It was all pretty much motorways today so we listened to some Brydon & podcasts to entertain us. Thoroughly enjoyed them all, easy listening and very funny.
We had one more stop off for another leg stretch at about 2:30 before the final push.
We ended up driving through Porto, which was pretty busy and the weather was against us so it was raining too - made for an exciting last 30 mins of travelling. We came off the main roads and ended up straight into a cobblestone village to get to camp. It felt a bit surreal.

We got to camp, had a bit of a faff checking in as they couldn’t find my booking details - but we got in eventually.

It’s an ok stop for a night, or if you’re wanting to go into Porto but I wouldn’t stay here for fun. But at least there are toilet seats and paper!

Charlie made us a Tuscan pasta for dinner, served with a delicious bottle of white.

Just after dinner we had a knock at the door - it was a chap called Marcus who is a travel guru, it just so happens that his mum owns an RP and he has just got back from leading the RP Balkans adventure! He was interested in the slide as he’s not seen one of these before. We had a bit of a chat as I’d met him at the NEC show in the RP back stage area.

After dinner we did a bit more route planning. We have now booked our next three campsites which takes us just north of Bordeaux. We still need to amend our Shuttle booking once we are 100% sure on what day we will be coming home, and we need to find a vet to sign off Marla’s Animal Health Certificate and administer a worming tablet, which has to be between 24-120 hours before we arrive back in the UK.

I didn’t take many photos today. Charlie captured Marla looking out of the window wondering where I’d gone when I went off and did the washing up. I also took photos of the ladies and children’s toilet block signs to send my sister to show it’s an easy mistake to make to go into the children’s block 😂😂 He got a few sneakies of me practicing my bubble gum skills while driving 😂Read more