Fed up with the weather and being covered in insect bites from the campsite, I hit the road. I am up early at 07:45. I am out the campsite by 08:30, but reception is closed. I drive to the supermarket, which is also closed, until 09:00. I fill up with fuel at the supermarket, which at €0.95 per litre is the cheapest I have seen in Portugal. I was hoping that fuel in Portugal would be cheaper and not more expensive than Spain.
I buy some groceries at the supermarket and go back to the campsite, where I check out. It has cost me €21 for 5 nights! That is pretty cheap. I decide to use the toll roads today, as the non-toll roads look quite twisty on the map. The roads so far in Portugal have been pretty bad, and I don’t want to be stuck on nasty slow moving bits of road.
The first toll sections costs €18.30, which is more than I expect. After I have left the toll-road I set my sat nav to not use anymore toll roads and I am on an IC road, which seems quite major. Unfortunately I end up on another toll-road, obviously the sat nav doesn’t know it is. As I approach the start the ticket section seems closed, the lights above are green and the machine looks like it has been covered over. As I pass through a very loud bell starts to ring. Obviously I do need to collect a ticket after all. Feeling like a dick I park up and walk back. As I near the station a guy appears from the other side and waves me over. He is a very nice young chap who explains that I need to stop and get a ticket. I start to explain that I know this, but then realise that I have just driven through it. He gives me a manual ticket. I am very glad he was such a nice guy. When I leave this toll section it only costs €2.05. The rest of the road to Peniche is not too bad. I am often driving at the speed I mantain on the motorway, so it doesn’t take too long. This is the longest journey I have driven since France. About 5 hours of driving.
Today I drove around Porto, as it held little of interest for me. It is a big city, and not as ugly as I had expected. However I am glad to not get involved in its maze of roads. Stopping on Porto’s ramp roads is bad enough. I hoped to meet Carlos, a guy from Porto who I met in the hostel in Paris, but he has not replied to my email. Getting in and out of small cities is normally a pain in the arse, but large ones are infinitely worse. Camping on the edge and walking in is my preferred option, or taking a bus in larger cities. I really hoped to spend more time in cities staying at youth hostels, but this has proved difficult. I have decided to change the purpose of my trip a little. I’ll explain in a post after this one.
As I approach Peniche I am surprised. This is a flat barren’ish area, and Peniche looks like it has been plonked there by a kid. On the edge are identical high rise apartment blocks, with the town sprawling west. It looks much bigger than I was expecting. I park up and walk across the bridge into the impressive walled city. I am here to buy a new surfboard, a mini-mal to make the most of the smaller and messier waves. My surfing guidebook says there are a couple on a street here. I come through the walled city right onto the street I need. I check the first surf shop which looks promising, but the boardroom is nearly empty. The shop down the road doesn’t even have boards. I am gutted. I have driven all of this way to find little or no selection. I walk the rest of the town, which in my annoyed mood seems a bit chaotic and slow. I find a surf outlet, but it only opens on Fridays and Saturdays. I decide to drive to the beach to chill out. There is another surf shop at the Baleal beach.
I drive out of Peniche and as I near Baleal beach I see the surf shop. I pull in. There are 2 shops together, and they look big. I pass the first and go into the 58 Surf Shop, which is the one in the guide book. There have lots of stuff in there, including lots of mini-mals at good prices. An Aussie guy asks if I need help, and I ask about used mini-mals, he says they don’t have any, just longboards. I take another look, and a Portugese guy asks if I need help. I mention I am after a board, and he goes through what they have. Many look good, but are cheaper and the finish and resin is not so good. I can see what he is explaining as we go through them. There is a simple Koala white board, which just a logo, which he says is definitely the best, it costs €390 (£278). I consider it for a while. What he says makes sense, and that board definitely seems the best. I decide to buy it. He is very helpful, and we get together some good fins for it, a sock and a leash. I pay with my card. I shake his hand and he says he hopes I enjoy the board. I feel good leaving the shop.
I drive up to Baleal beach, which is very close. There are many camper vans in the car park, which I remember is a popular free camping spot. Here is the beach that Phillip from Lacanau-Ocean mentioned. The beach is a large crescent shaped bay that works through lots of wind directions. Opposite is the surf camp where he worked.
I park up. I need to secure a home for the board, before it gets dark, as I won’t be able to make my bed otherwise. I try my idea which I measured out before, which seems fine. I dig out the cupboard handle I bought previously and screw it into the ceiling. I move the redundant one by the sliding door to the other side, a boards’ with away from the wall. I use the straps I bought that morning to secure the board to the ceiling and it works brilliantly! The open problem being the curtain, which I actually manage to modify and it works out ok, with just a new gap of light at the top, but this isn’t much of an issue.
I decide to stay the night in the car park. It is about an hour from dark, but I wax the new board and head off for a surf. It is very messy today, but I manage to get through the waves, and sort of catch a wave in before calling it a day, as the waves are breaking in the shore now. I am unsure of the rocks here, as there are some on the shore, and I do not want to damage the board.
I spend the night in the cark park.
