Ar Muin na Muice

5^th August: St Sebastien

It was a dark and dull day when we got up-not that early!!

We decided to have a chill day-for Davie that meant snoozing on a blankie and reading. I headed back to the tent and read and then managed to watch a few things on rte player which was great!!

We managed to get ourselves together and headed into town again. We decided to start off with a Chinese to set us in good stead for the evening!! It would remind you of “China Kitchen” in that it was no frill service but very cheap. We didn’t realise that when we were going in but it worked out well.

We then set off strolling around, dropping into bars. We were on a bit of a go slow until we had a few mojitas which pepped us up!!

It was a great night as well but it was raining so it just didn’t feel the same. We were glad we had seen the place in its full glory the day previous.

“We” or should I say Davie decided we should get the last bus home again!!! We then realised that there a nightlink as well but it was too late at this stage!! L

The bar in the site was open so we had a few mojitas and realised they were very good value so we had a few more!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

4^th August: St Sebastien

After a very steep ascent we reached our campsite. It was really busy and there was massive queue to check in. They were pretty efficient and checked up in pretty promptly!

The sites were lovely-quite big and each site separated by bushes. We settled in, had some lunch and read our books!!

We got organised and headed into St Sebastien-it was very handy as there was bus stop very close by. It is a lovely place-so busy. We just spent an hour or so wandering around-the beaches were packed even though it was 7.00.

We were working up to going into a pub as each pub has mini tapas and you get a plate and help yourselves. You know in these situations you are sure you are going to do something stupid!! The bar man guessed we were rookies and was quite nice about it. We had a few lovely things-black pudding, cheese, garlic mushrooms yum!!

We moved from place to place-none of the bars are big but they all have the mini tapas and plenty of vino blanco!! It was great fun-the best night we have had out in ages.

We were sensible and got the last bus home 11.00. Our mistake then was to continue the party at the tent!!!

3^rd August: Laredo

Once again we set of on a trail for a quiet campsite. We found one and arrived to find the receptionist has a siesta from 2.00-4.30 and we could not check in until then!!

We drove down the town to the pier and had a wander there. There were a lot of people in swimming!! We came back and were given a pitch. It was a place really for mobile home and only space for 15 campers which suited us!! We had a nice view and a grand spot.

The sun came out and we headed for the pool. It was lovely-we had half an hour or so there and then it filled up. We left them to it. We came back to site-Davie reading a book these days so he is happy to chill (Mr Nice-I would recommend it!!)

We had no electricity so we went to the bar to try and sneakily charge the laptop!! We met Ross, a Kerryman who was actually cycling to Santiago de Compostela!! He told us the walkers route is close to 1000km!!!! His route would be 800km. He seemed to be enjoying the cycling so far!! We spent a couple of hours chatting to him but when our tummies started rumbling we had to head for cmap to make dinner!! Sausages and salad-no Superquinn sausages but quite good.

We headed to bed reasonably early!!

2^nd August: Gijon

We picked a campsite off the beaten track as we thought it would be quieter. As soon as we turned up we knew we got it wrong!! It was a really busy huge campsite!! We were then taken to our site-there is no such thing as park anywhere anymore!! We were given a small patch of grass that was clearly marked out. The plots were tiny and you were right on top of your neighbours!!

It was so funny the owner was a man in his 60’s. We had been in our site for maybe 5 mins when he arrived on his bicycle to make sure we knew where our plot ended. He then cycled around and patrolled the campsite!!

The sun was not out but it was pleasant enough so we went for a walk and then saw a sign for some dinosaur thing and we decided to walk to that. We followed a trail for couple of km and then came upon site!! There were dinosaur footprints on the rocks. I have no idea how it was determined that is what it was but it was interesting to see none the less.

We popped into the bar for a coke after our walk. It was full of children so we didn’t stay long. We did see the crazy owner pouring himself a large glass of wine and then knocking it back on one!! We will have to be careful on his bike!!

We had a nice bbq and chilled for the evening!!

1^st August: Santiago De Compostela

We got packed up and headed for Santiago. We found a campsite that was very close to the action so we headed there. We were a bit shocked at the price so we decided we would only stay one night.

We got ourselves showered and sorted and headed to Santiago De Compostela. The main attraction is the Cathedral del Apostol. This is the burial place of St James. Hundreds of people visit every day and kiss his statue and go down to see his crypt. There is also a pilgrimage, people walk for 100’s of km to get there. We saw lots of people with their rucksacks, limping along.

We felt a bit bad for the two km we walked to get there!! We were lucky as it was not too busy when we went in, which was lucky as it was nearly closing time.

There are lots of bars on the square-great for a spot of people watching!! We then went for an Italian-lovely pasta. The portions were tiny but quite tasty. We strolled around, there were some street entertainers so we watched them for a while but moved on before we could be called up on stage!!

We went another few bars on the way home. It was so relaxing!!

31^st July: Porto

We got ourselves up and sorted for our day trip into Porto. We found out that we could get the bus in around the corner so that was quite handy. There were a couple of other people from the site waiting there too. The bus came and we got on-we quickly realised we had a wannabe Eddie Irvine on our hands. David made it to a seat but I fell around until I unceremoniously landed on a chair. It was crazy because we had to drive up these tiny and I mean tiny streets. Aul “Eddie” was in a rush and floored it causing people to jump into doorways. I have never seen such a tight route.

All the local people were used to this sort of a journey as they either ran for a seat or hung onto a pole until the bus stopped and they could make it to safety!!

An hour later we arrived in Porto-the day was very dull and made everything look quite glum. We got the impression that it was pretty rough-there were lots of people walking around still gargled form the night before. David said it reminded him of a certain city in Ireland but no names!!!

We headed for the wine museum which was a decent walk away-we arrived to find it closed for lunch!! We found somewhere to have lunch ourselves. We asked about a menu and the lady came and said it was tapas and gave us our choices in Portuguese-so we just said ok and hoped for the best!! It turned out to be quite tasty.

We headed back to the museum which was now open-they said “English??” when we walked in and we said yes-we were referring to language rather than nationality!! He told us that was fine English got in for free!! We were delighted but it turned out to be pretty crap no harm done!!

The sun had come out at this stage and everything looked a lot nicer. We walked down to the river front and spent a few hours walking around-stopping every now and again for refreshments.

 David then brought me to the top of a hill to see a church-it was a bit of a climb but quite impressive upon arrival-there was a wedding going on, that was nice as there were musicians playing outside the church.

We had thought about dinner in Porto but we were not hungry yet and not that fresh after a days walking so we decided to walk back to the bus which took a while-we just missed one and waited 20mins on the next one. The bus took a completely different route home and as it turned out we could have got the bus miles back where we were-ah well.

Back to camp for a shower and off we go- I put on a denim dress and cardi ( both new!) The dress was just above the knee (I know this seems irrelevant now but it will make sense!!)

We walked down to the beach front and settled on a place that looked quite nice. The menu was in Portuguese but we took our chances and went in anyway. We sat down and I realised there was a slight problem with the dress-as soon as I sat down it rode up-it being denim I could not pull it down!! I tried to just push myself right into the table but that was not working-thank God for the cardi as I was able to use that as a cover!! Drama over we could now look at the menu-which they actually produced for us in English.

I got steak and Davie prawns. It was lovely-with a sparkling wine-not that we realised it was sparkling until it arrived!!

We saw the desert menu and Davie saw Vienetta which is fav so he got that, leaving me free in indulge in my fav-Irish coffee!!

We went for a stroll along the beach to watch the sun go down and then back to camp where Davie picked a film to watch!!!

“THE HOTTIE OR THE NOTTIE!!” We knew it was going to be light entertainment when we put it on-but knew things were going from bad to worse when Paris Hilton was the Director and shock of shocks-Paris had the lead role!! We should have turned it off but we watched it!! Don’t do it!! You have been warned!!

30^th July: Porto

We got packed up and headed for Porto. We found a nice campsite nearly on the beach. We got set up-although we try not to do that until late as we are quite conspicuous in our roof tent. Nobody has them and as result people just come and stand looking. That is no problem but you don’t know whether to talk to them or pretend they are not there. Sometimes people ask about it which is easier but most of the time they just walk around the jeep!! It is well photographed now also-we have come back to the jeep a few times to see people taking photos of it and then pretending they are not-quite funny really!!

We got the runner on and went for a walk-it was great as they had a walk way all along the beach so you were on the beach without the inconvenience of sand!! It meant that we walked longer than planned but that is no harm at all!!!!!

We came back and had salad and aromat chicken!!! We watched a few Michael Palin-Pole to Pole and headed to bed!

29^th July: Fatima

We decided to stay in the same campsite for the day. We did our washing and unfortunately the sun disappeared so not a great day for drying!!

We had lunch and then set off to go for a walk and do a little exploring. We walked down to the beach and then up and down little side streets-a lovely afternoon. We stopped for refreshments before heading back to camp!!

No joy on drying clothes front so we decided to leave them out for the night. We cooked up some pasta and Chorizo which was quite tasty. We then chilled for the evening and were messing with the internet and then heard Helens Mick on the radio (4fm 12-4.00 am) It was great, he played a request for us. We didn’t manage to keep him company until his show finished though!!

28^th July: Fatima

Time to pack up and say goodbye to the gang. It was tricky finding parking there but we found a spot we could squeeze into and I was told to direct as there was a tree behind- there are two sides to every story but i did tell him to stop!!!! He claims not!!Anyway we hit the tree but no damage done just a difference of opinion on my directing skills.

We said goodbye and headed for Fatima. We arrived there in late afternoon and got parking very close by. We were lucky as it was not too busy-there were plenty of people there but compared other times of the year it was relatively quiet!!

We saw where Our Lady appeared to three children in 1917 and returned on the 13^th of each month for the next five months. There is now a small chapel where she appeared. That was impressive, there is also a Cathedral which is well worth a look. There is a massive area for lighting candles-don’t worry we said prayers for everyone!!

After a couple of hours we headed back to Mucky and set off to find a campsite. We found a nice place on the coast, quite a busy place but we got a nice pitch close to toilets.

We had bid salad and bbq steak!! We just chilled for the evening.

27^th July: Cascais

Blisters still a problem we opted for a taxi to take us to Marias where we dropped our bags and ran for the train. We missed it by a few seconds so we had time for a coffee while we waited. It was then on to the metro. We were running to catch it but as there as so frequent we were not that bothered-however Eiven, Cathal and Dáire hopped on leaving Maria, Davie and I on our own!! Quite funny really, we only had to wait 6 mins until the next one.

Off we got and head for the oceanarium-it is very impressive and divided up into different parts of the world-different seas so one room might be the Atlantic and the other the Indian and each room adopted the climate of that place-so that the types of fish etc could stay there. We spent about two hours walking around there.

We went to the shopping centre and ate lunch in the food court.  The boys then decided that we could have half an hour shopping which was quite impractical as the centre was three times the size of Liffey Valley!! Their plan worked and we didn’t manage to buy anything!!

It was then back to the train where some confusion ensued. We all used our tickets to get through but when Maria walked through her camera bag got stuck and when she got it back-she was trapped on the other side- she then had to go and try to put more money on her ticket. The same thing then happened when we were getting on the metro-not Marias day!!

We trundled home-all tired so spent a bit of time chilling out. It was late by the time we were ready so we decided to drop into the Indian which was only next door-food lovely-service not so much!! We had a lovely meal but poor Eiven was feeling awful so we went back to the apartment. We were planning an early night then as Eiven was heading to bed but one for the road turned into a few more!!