Praia da Franquia

I know some people, well one person, was worried about our wellbeing, but I decided to do just one blog for the next five days, because we did literally nothing except sit on a beach and occasionally eat.

Day 22 - We sat on Praia do Farol for the day. We had a couple of beers & shared a burger for lunch at the Riverside Pub. Jackie attempted to cut my hair with my beard trimmers. We had dinner at a restaurant called Picatapa. I had a lovely steak in a mustard cream sauce with chips, whilst Jackie moaned that her fried squid was in sauce she didn’t particularly like.

Day 23 - We drove to Praia do Malhao about 6 miles up the road. It is a wild unspoilt sandy beach with Atlantic Ocean waves crashing in. We both really liked the beach, but we had no provisions because we had planned to return to the Riverside Pub for lunch. Unbelievably the pub turned out to be closed for renovations, so we made do with the restaurant next door. We had a beer each & a mixed plate of salami, cheese and jam. It was then back to Praia do Farol, but it was windy, so we retreated to the busy Praia de Vila Nova Milfontes. That night we both had a very poor meal in a lovely blue tiled restaurant. I had the pork mixed grill & Jackie had a steak. Both were chewy & overcooked & the plates heaving with chips, rice and some unidentified substance similar to stuffing. The food was summed up by a Portuguese couple who paid up and walked out grumbling literally 2 minutes after their dinner arrived. We are going to review our eating habits.

Day 24 - The previous day we had found a bakery that made up baguettes etc which we decided would be perfect for a day on the beach. Typical, it was closed, so we bought bread rolls, laughing cow cheese, a tomato and fruit for our picnic. We then drove back to Praia do Malhao, which we have decided is now our favourite beach & probably in our top 10 best beaches ever visited. We spent the whole day on the beach with the odd walk, dip in the Atlantic & lunch. On the way home we were looking forward to the prospect of a cold beer & maybe a small appetiser from the bar at the end of our road. FFS it was closed. Instead we found a lovely ‘new’ bar at the other end of our road which we discovered to be cheaper and had been open for over a year and we hadn’t noticed. Dinner was the same as lunch.

Day 25 - We went back to Praia do Malhao after stopping at the bakery that was now open for egg salad baguettes and chocolate croissants. We had a full day on the beach again. We had a couple of beers at the ‘new’ bar, then to the old bar for a beer and just a snack. True to form, there was a queue to get a seat, so our plans were scuppered yet again, so we returned to StressFree and the lovely owner who made a fuss of us as returning customers. Today I made the wrong choice with a veal burger that got lost in an oversized bun & their chips that are actually more like crisps. Jackie had a bowl of black linguine with mussels in tomato sauce which was apparently delicious.

Day 26 - It was back again to Praia do Malhao. We stopped at the bakery and bought just one egg salad baguette to share & 2 croissants for lunch. We spent the whole day catching rays on the beach listening to Day 1 of the 3rd Test, with the occasional paddle between wickets. Jackie gave me a haircut when we got back, then we went back to StressFree for pasta for me & octopus salad on toast for Jackie.

Tomorrow we head further south.

Song of the Days : Sea and Sand by The Who.Read more