Day 51 – 24th June 2009 – Wednesday, Still in Fuseta.

Ant has strung his entire wardrobe up around the van for an airing this morning and finally found the culprit for the hideous prawn smell in the van – so we have washed his jumper too.
I went to the post office this morning to collect the new part, which should mean we can get going again tomorrow once it’s fitted, (Provided Ant doesn’t pass out on the cat crap fumes when he’s lying underneath the van… I don’t envy him at all).

Day 50 – 23rd June 2009 – Tuesday, Fuseta.

This campsite is home to a huge number of cats; some of them we assume to be strays. The place is made all the more welcoming for them since some bright spark decided to cover all the pitches in gravel instead of grass. It’s mostly sheltered from the wind making it nice and hot for them and the number of mobile homes and permanent caravans gives them some shade whenever they need it (unlike us paying residents), so when the wind does blow you welcome the breeze and turn your face to it to cool down, only to be instantly choked by the smell of a thousand cat craps hitting the back of your throat… not nice at all, and to make matters worse it only seems to be where we are pitched! But last night we were sitting by the van with our Irish coffees as usual (bottle number 5 now Alan) when the Germans opposite shone their trillion-candle torch directly at Bee and the end of our pitch… turns out next door have 5 small kittens, look about 11-12 weeks old, and mum had brought them all out from underneath next doors caravan last night for a bit of night air – very cute.

Day 48 – 21st June 2009 – Sunday, Fuseta, The Algarve.

Ant got up to perform some routine checks on the rear brakes this morning at the same time as looking to make sure the noise we had been hearing was nothing to worry about. The good news is the noise was nothing to worry about and the brakes are all fine, but the not-so-good-news is that he noticed one of the brand new CV boots has split on the driver’s side and so we need to get hold of a new one before we do too many more miles on these unmade roads. Went to the beach to think about a plan.

Day 49 – 22nd June 2009 – Monday, Fuseta, The Algarve.

Thank heavens for Mothers, modern day postage, and ‘VW Heritage’ in Burgess Hill. Our new boot should be here within a few days.
The heat isn’t so stifling today and we have rigged up some shade next to the van with material sheets (the ground is too hard to put the awning up). So trying to stay out of the sun as much as possible today. We are still drinking the water as opposed to buying bottled and getting through a fair few litres each every day, most of which is sweated out within minutes! Eugh. We have no idea what the temperature is, but it sometimes feels on a par with African heat.
Ant has started whittling chess pieces from wood collected in different countries. Looking good so far… he has 4 rooks, 4 knights and half a bishop.

Day 47 – 20th June 2009 – Saturday, Fuseta, The Algarve.

We are in the National Park area of the Ria Formosa. Just 9kms from Olhao and we have found a site on the coast with few Brits and not many high rise flats. We spent the day on the beach, a very calm and warm sea, protected by smaller islands just off the coast which you can reach either by a passenger ferry or when the tide is out it probably wouldn’t be too long a swim. We spent the evening cooling down back at the van listening to a live band across the campsite playing such classics as The Kinks and The Rolling Stones. A few wines later and everything was all right with the world.