My 2023/24 winter migration started earlier than usual on the basis the weather at home in Cahors was cold and wet in early November and I just wanted to head south. I set off around the 12 November with the intention to spend a couple of weeks in Alvor in the Algarve, before heading over to Maroc for a month or so (including Christmas), then returning to Alvor in early January through to mid-March. Always hoping that the weather in France would be suitably Spring like in time for my return.
I have written a separate post about my Maroc trip this year, so this post covers my time in Alvor.
https://v2xs.com/maroc-2023/
It’s a 1500Km drive from Cahors to Alvor and I spread this over three days, with two overnight stops. For the first half of the journey the weather was horrible but as I got further South through Spain it started to brighten up.
My first overnight stop was at a Truck stop near Burgos that I use every year. It is rather basic and full of truckers, but it’s cheap and has everything I need. As usual in Spain, dinner is not served until 8pm. There is no menu, you get what they have prepared together with a full bottle of red wine straight from the fridge. It seemed very strange the first time I stayed there with Georgina but is now very familair and hasn’t changed a bit.
My second stop was near Caceres at a campsite recommended by Tim and Helen – not camping but in a cabin. This was also basic and cheap but had the big advantage that the restaurant opened at a sensible time for dinner. I got their early enough to have time for a run into Caceres in the evening and had a coffee in the main square.
I arrived in Alvor in the late afternoon and checked in to my apartment, which left me enough time to go for a run on the beach at sunset.
I had booked an apartment for a couple of weeks in the centre of Alvor (Alvor Sol) and had noted from the comments by previous renters that it overlooked the Alvor cemetry. This was not a problem for me and did at least mean that it was “dead” quiet. There was a south east facing balcony which was an unexpected bonus and allowed me to have breakfast in the sunshine each day.
My typical routine each day involves getting out early for a run along the beach followed by breakfast in the apartment – the weather was very kind this year and I managed to go running almost every day, only missing a few days due to rain. After breakfast I would usually head down to the Plaza Cafe for my “second breakfast” of coffee and a muffin or toast (no croissants or chocolatines here). I’d quite happily spend an hour or so in the cafe watching the world go by and planning what to do for the rest of the day. The choice would be guided by the weather and if I was meeting Tim and Helen for lunch, but would typically be going out for a walk, a mountain bike ride or on one of the motorbikes (I brought two with me in the van). Looking back, the most popular choice seemed to be taking the mountain bike up into the hills inland from Alvor, where there are lots of off road trails to explore and a few places to stop for a coffee.
Two or three times a week I would have dinner out with Tim and Helen at one of the local restaurants – several to choose from within a few minutes walk.
My sister Sara came to visit for 12 days. She is just as exercise mad as I am so we had the ubiquitous morning run followed by either a long walk or a mountain bike ride using a bike we had hired locally. Her favourite was doing a walk along the beach to Portimao, which is only possible at low tide and is quite a long way. However, the reward is the best mint choc chip ice cream ever, as long as the kiosk is open !
After eight weeks in my apartment in central Alvor I was supposed to pack up and head back home, having reached the end of my rental term. However, the weather in Cahors was still very cold and wet so I decided to stay for another couple of weeks. Prices had started to increase and the available options were rather limited but I managed to find another place overlooking the harbour and only a five minute walk away.
Although more expensive, the new apartment called “Homem de Ferro” or Iron Man was larger (2 beds) and had a fantastic view of the harbour and across the dunes to the sea beyond. An additional benefit was that it is south facing and has a small balcony with all day sun.
The weather was rather mixed for my last two weeks, although still a lot better than Cahors where they seem to have had none stop rain. I managed to break a spoke on my mountain bike but found some wire to temporarily tie it to another spoke to prevent it from getting jammed in the rear disc or causing a puncture. I was reluctant to use the bike after that, particularly on rough terrain in case I broke some more spokes. I got a new spoke from a shop in Portimao and managed to remove the cassette but didn’t have the right size star drive to remove the disc, so was unable to complete the repair. For one day I hired a road bike from a cycle shop in Alvor to try out. This was a proper “racer” with very thin tyres and drop handlebars. I found it extremely uncomfortable – a combination of the bum-up riding position, harsh ride and very narrow seat. I did about 56Km up to Casais and Monchique but it was enough to convince me this was not the right type of bike for me.
I decided to load up the van a couple of days in advance to allow myself plenty of time and it was just as well I did as I discovered that the battery was flat. Tim charged it up for me, but I decided the safest bet was to get a new one from Portimao and treat the original as a spare. Fairly straightforward but the battery is very difficult to remove being under the driver’s seat which doesn’t slide completely out of the way.
The journey back took three days to cover 1500 Km through Spain and on to Limoges to collect Hebe dog. I was doing about 500Km / 5 hours per day which seems to work well. First stop was at Camping Caceres in a cabin – actually the same one I stayed in on the way down to Portugal. Second stop was in a hotel in Irun, near San Sebastien in the top corner of Spain.
Hebe was very pleased to see me when I got to Limoges, having been away for about 4 months.
Now back home after four months away it seems I have managed to completely miss the winter, which was the whole idea. The neighbours have updated me with the goings-on, but mainly bemoaning the amount of rain they had – everything certainly looks very green.
So that’s my winter hols over for another year, but I’ve only got two weeks here before packing up again to head off to Montenegro for motorbiking with some friends. Watch this space for future updates…
