Rainy Days In Portugal, But We Didn’t mind

For the next 3-4 days heavy rains should hit whole Portugal. So we checked all weather Apps that we had available to find the most optimal solution for us. Unfortunately, it was useless, we saw no possibility to pass the next nights in our rooftop tent or even inside Lenny with dry feet. So we had no other choice, we booked ourselves an apartment, which was in a Portuguese country house style and located on a farm in the back country near Zambujera. But before we got to the apartment we would like to drive a part of the off road track. As we mentioned earlier, we wanted to use this off-road route as much as possible and it was worth it, because it led us through sandy and narrow paths overgrown with bamboo. A little dream for us off-road lovers. We were even lucky with the weather, we still had a sunny morning.

Arrived in Zambujera we checked out this small fishing town with a dog walk trough the streets and we realised that we were a bit hungry. Of course, it was shortly after midday. That’s why we took advantage of the offer of the good fish restaurants we saw in Zambujera and had for lunch a plate of freshly grilled sardines and an octópus salad. Both were delicious.

When we were on the way to the apartment it started to rain. Fortunately, our apartment was very cozy and Lotta had made on the farm immediately some friends. Because the farm has 3 free living dogs, which were well educated and so lovely. They just hang out the whole time we stayed next to our Apartment. Lotta had in these three days more social contacts than us. We were happy that we could stay in the apartment and Lotta was even happier because she could play all day with her new best friend, who was exactly the same age as her but twice as big. They didn't care if it rained or not. But from time to time we have to stop her for a break to calm down otherwise they would keep playing until now.

As soon as it stopped raining a little bit we went for a walk over the country lanes of the farm. We saw pigs, geese, an ostrich and even a deer. It was fun to discover the land of the farm. As a matter of course, all the dogs of the farm accompanied us.

After a slow morning we used the time slot when it wasn’t raining to get to the coast north of Zambujera to try another off-road track. We just wanted to make the most of the time. Super that we had dared it despite the rain because this route was one of the most beuatiful and breath-taking off-road tracks we had so far, which led us repeatedly through narrow paths, deep water puddles, steeply downhill paths and to the furthest edge of the cliffs. In addition, we had the most amazing views of these cliffs and its surroundings. With the low-lying gray clouds and the misty air, everything seemed much more spectacular if the sun had been shining. Later in the afternoon the rain started again, but happy and satisfied we used the time to check out the next supermarket to stock up our supplies.

The rest of the evening we prepared a nice dinner and enjoyed the comfort of the apartment, such as hot shower and cozy couch.

The following day it rained the entire morning, but in the afternoon we were able to drive a little further into the mountains and have made a hike to a small creek. Although Lotta jumped into a huge blackberry bush with thorns, which didn’t bother her, I hope, or she was just too busy to discover everything possible. But it seemed she had a lot of fun. Like you can see on the pics. Lotta loves wood, to bite on it.

Luckily at the day after the hike the rain front was completely gone so we could continue our road trip. After noon we left the apartment and we were back on our beloved normad life. We took the off-road track at the coastline further north until shortly before Sines which brought us to a forest landscape with sand dunes. This terrain was quite difficult to find a suitable pitch for the night. Because we drove around for quite a long time in this deserted network of forest and sand paths, up and down the dunes. We actually wanted to get directly to the big dune, where a kilometer-long beach should be. But unfortunately it was everywhere closed with fences at the places where it would have been possible to get there. Anyhow, it probably has the reason for taking care of the dune landscape.

Last but not least, according to the motto “who seeks finds”, we discovered this small and nice clearing in the woods. It wasn’t at the big dune but as you can see on the drone shot we were not far away. So we set off to kick our feet and give Lotta her evening walk. Once we got to the top of the big Dune, we thought we could somehow get down to the beach, but there was no access. The dune was too steep. Even Lotta almost crashed downward because she was thinking that she could just run with full speed onto the beach as usual. That was pretty close to an accident, so we rather went back to the campsite and started to prepare a delicious dinner. By the way, about this dinner you will find a reel on our Instagram feed. Check it out “HERE”. We had fresh green asparagus with champions in a white wine cream sauce and roasted salmon skewers. A delicious dinner, which of course we ended the evening with the already opened bottle of white wine.

After a quiet night we wanted to try one of the longest sand tracks we’ve ever saw. Actually we really would like to use our new sand sheets. So let's see if we succeed and get stuck in the deep sand. However, I will share it with you in the next post.

If you like to know more about our trips check out our Instagram feed @Lennytheoverlander, we've captured a lot more as Stories and Reels.

Love,

Katy

Pics by Daniell Bohnhof

Text by Look2 Ocean