Seaside

Figueira da Foz is the nearest coastline to us, approximately 80km away. As the holiday season is over and we don't enjoy crowds, we thought it would be a good time to venture over there to see the sea.

There are extensive golden sands at Figueira da Foz, and it puts you in mind of Weston Super Mare a little, as you have to walk for a few minutes to reach the edge of the sea. The pictures we took don't give justice to the size of the waves, it would have been a good belly boarding day if we'd brought equipment with us, or perhaps not, as the tide seemed to be on it's way out. Even at high tide it probably only reaches inland another 30 yards. There was a brisk wind blowing that kept us nice and cool.


The sands are very clean, and while at the beach we did a spot of geocaching. We enjoyed lunch in one of the seafront restaurants, and the food was very good and reasonably priced.






The TomTom led us into Figueira da Foz without any problems but on the way home it became confused as there were new roads that it didn't recognise, so we knew we were in for some fun. We had our first experience of toll roads as well, and for the first time ever when abroad, we managed to get into the proper line for the toll booth. The tolls were not very much money, some were manned, but the unmanned ones were really efficient as well.

Sunday night we wandered down the path to the mill that belongs to one of our neighbours. The access to the river is better here, and it would be really easy to swim or bathe in this part of the river as there is the weir and a small dam. Locals were fishing there, so we didn't launch ourselves in. In fact, while it's really hot, we are coping really well with the heat, and haven't yet felt the need to skinny dip (luckily for the rest of the population).

Last night we had a light tea, and were feeling quite tired from our jaunt to the seaside, so we cuddled up on the settee and watched a DVD on the laptop.