Camping in Porto Covo in May 2015

We decided to have another stab at a camping holiday in early May to the Silver Coast and discovered the beautiful resort of Porto Covo. The coastline is naturally beautiful and somehow it feels more serene and relaxing than the Algarve, maybe because it is more "Portuguese" and less spoilt by too much commercialism!!! With the Atlantic ocean crashing in on the coastline it gives lots of potential for surfers and sea sports lovers a chance to enjoy their sport! The Silver Coast attracts a lot of touring visitors in mobile homes, and there are many places where campers and mobile homes can set up easily, and almost on some of these beaches with amazing scenic views.


This holiday was mainly for a relaxing break so we mostly found a nice beach in the daytime and took advantage of having a rest. Now we have seen more of what this coast has to offer and how much we like it, we have made plans to go later in the year.

Rock Festa in Montes Da Senhora !!!!

What better way is there than to begin the festivities for 2015 by having a rock concert in your own village!!!

The Social Committee for our collective villages in Montes da Senhora organised a Rock Festival on the 3rd April, kicking off at 10 pm on the friday night with 4 live bands. The idea came about, if I am correct, from an event which occurred at the last summer festa in Montes. A group of musicians from our local villages (whom mostly have moved on for work but come back home to Montes for the festas) got together last year for an "impromptu" gig and it was a huge success. And so they came up with the idea of putting on a Rock Festival and widely advertised it, bringing in lots of people to enjoy the gig. Lots of the locals all muck in and help with the organisation, giving their time in serving behind the bar, setting up the gig, designing and printing flyers, etc., etc.,
Four of our English friends living here joined us for a fantastic night out. After watching two bands we had to call it a night at 3 am in the morning, as sadly us Brits are not as "hardy" as our Portuguese amigos who can party on till 7 or 8 in the morning!!!!!!
Unfortunately my camera wouldn't obey my instructions on the night and my photographs were rubbish to say the least but I have downloaded others taken to use for the blog.

And so, a great night was had by all, and big thanks and congratulations to our local guys for all their hard work who made this event a truly fantastic night for many to enjoy - Salude guys!!!

Living the "summertime dream" ...........

Having almost completed our major renovations we are now reaping the rewards of what Portugal has to offer us.
With the weather being really good since March it's beginning to feel  like this summer is everlasting. We began by taking a week away in April down on the  western side of The Algarve, basing ourselves in Carvoeiro and driving to some beautiful tranquil natural beaches along the coast towards Sagres, and, I even managed a swim in the sea which surprised me as it can be very cold in spring. One of the bonuses of holidaying out of season means the resorts and beaches are less crowded and you can even find "your own little piece of tranquil paradise!". Some snaps of various beaches tried and tested !!!!!

Blissful summer .......... starting with Froia River Beach

We are now finally finding the time to wake up each morning eager to enjoy the day and feeling able to take full advantage of the hot summer days! Although we have had a few torturous heatwaves, we have now learnt how to conquer those days by swimming and relaxing in the shade down at our local beautiful river beach at Froia. It's an absolute gem to visit if any of our readers are in this region, along with it's numerous other local river beaches. We must admit the Portuguese certainly know how to maximize their abundance of beauty spots!!! And to top it, it only costs your petrol money to get there - no car parking fees, no entry fees, picnic areas with BBQ's for free use, sun-loungers, chairs and parasols all for free use! Cafe and restaurant on site too! It's amazing to have all these naturally beautiful amenities, we feel so lucky and privileged to be experiencing living such a happy lifestyle in Portugal.

Loft renovation finished !!!!

We had a few little odd jobs to finish off in the loft (which unfortunately got put on the back burner once the warmer weather kicked in and we chose to ignore it!) but they were only minor and a good clear up and clear out has now been done and we have some photos.
We still need to make a trip into Lisbon to buy some beds and storage space and after that trip has been made we shall be ready for visitors.
If any of our blog readers are interested in viewing properties in the Central Region and in need of accommodation, please leave us a comment below and email address and we shall get back to you if the rooms are available for use.
Bedroom 1

Bedroom 2

Above lounge.

Shower room

Roof is now on the summerhouse

As we mentioned before on the last blog this is Rob's first attempt at roofing a building so he sought some advice from our local builder's merchant. Basically we had two options, one being an aluminium roof or another being a traditional rustic tile roof. We much prefer the look of the terracotta tiles so after doing a costing we decided to take that option. It did, of course, mean more expense and more work but they do look so much nicer on the eye! We really wished our house had these terracotta tiles on but sadly it doesn't and I'm afraid at the moment the funds aren't there to be able to have the roof re-tiled but ...... maybe one day ............!!!
So, once the decision was made and the order for the concrete beams and tiles had been delivered from the builder's merchant and were on site, we realized that between us we didn't have enough strength to pick up the larger of the concrete beams. As always though we muddled through and luckily our good neighbour came to offer us his help and between us we managed to carry and elevate them onto the roof. It wasn't an easy task but we achieved it and managed to get them in the correct places for the tiles. Once cemented and pointed in we began putting the tiles on. Not too difficult was this one and the summerhouse started to look the "part"!
After more (and more) pointing and cementing in they were finally done!!!!!!
Concrete roof beams in place

First two rows of tiles

Nearly there .............
To clad the pillars we wanted to use the same pedra which we used in the Adega but this colour stone is only mined down in the southern region (the Algarve) so to buy it here it costs more than double the price than it does on the Algarve but we bought a couple of metres locally to get us started and will then bring the remainder up from the Algarve on our next trip.

If you look closely you can see the inside back wall has had some work started on it but this will be the subject of our next blog. Also keen gardeners will notice the potatoes sprutting up in the adjacent veggie plot. Our dear neighbour, Joakim (aged 82), kindly offered to plant up for us as we had just started building the summerhouse and it was time for the potatoes to be planted and it was only 3 weeks ago! I still cannot believe how quickly plants thrive here. Bless him, so kind, as we certainly didn't have the energy to do the planting up!!!!!

Building the summerhouse

And so the building of the summerhouse began and thankfully our neighbour very kindly lent us his cement mixer for which we were extremely grateful as we knew we were in for a lot of hard "grunt" work!
This is Rob's first attempt at building an actual structural building with a roof on it and he did have some concerns regarding the tiling but decided to go for it and give it his best shot!
The design for the summerhouse is simply a full back wall with the two sides half walled to allow in light and air. The frontage will be open, having three pillars to support the roof. The pillars will be clad in pedra (stonand the walls will be rendered and painted. The floor will be tiled in rustic tiles and the roof will be tiled in traditional terracotta tiles.
Firstly we pegged out for the base, dug out the earth ready for the foundations for the pillars and laid them in concrete.
Build stages of summerhouse.

First blocks down for the three pillars

Sides and back

Decided to add on a flower bed to the side.

The next blog shows pictures of the concrete roof beams and tiles on.