Day 18 Sat 26.02.2011

Location: Parque de Campismo Municipal, Peniche

Long / Lat N39º21.229’  W009º21.658’

Today we intended to move about 60km to the municipal campsite in Peniche. After breakfast we were getting the van ready to move, Paul was chatting to the Dutchman on the pitch next to us and he tripped, twisted his ankle and cut open his knee.  I administered first aid (stuck a plaster on his knee and put ibruprofen gel on his ankle). I suggested that we stay another night as his ankle was already swelling up but his but he said he was ok to drive.

We pulled out of the campsite very carefully as the exit route was narrow and steep with lots of bends, as we were pulling out of the site onto the road we heard a bang followed by a horrible scraping noise, we stopped a few hundred meters down the road to check for damage, our towing frame has bottomed out due to the slopping ground, no serious damage done we just scraped the powder coating off the frame.

We stopped to do a bit of shopping, Paul bought a bottle of whiskey for 6€ (medicinal purposes), the shop smelt horrible due the piles of frozen fish, huge fillets probably of cod. They also had a good selection of chicken’s feet and frozen tripe.

We set off again heading for Peniche. We had checked the route as we are too big to travel on some of the Portuguese road and it looked fine, in fact it would have been fine if we hadn’t come across a diversion (we couldn’t turn around or reverse so we had to go on).

 The road was narrow, just wide enough for two cars to pass and the edge dropped away. We were doing ok until we came towards the end of the diversion and we were directed to turn right down a road between two buildings that looked like an ally. It was just wide enough for us to pass through, we had about 1 inch  clearance either side of our mirrors. We were so relieved to have made it but when we turned onto the main road we heard the horrible scraping noise again. We had scraped the towing frame again, Paul stopped down the road a bit and had to walk back and retrieve the end cap that had been ripped off.  No damage to the van but more of the powder coating scarped of the frame.

The rest of the journey was uneventful until we were almost at the campsite, we took the first exit off a roundabout as instructed by the sat nav, should have taken the second. We ended up at the end of a farm track in front of some locked gates and had to reverse about 100m back onto the proper road.

When we arrived at the campsite entrance shortly after 12.00 reception was shut. We were greeted by a man Paul now refers to as the gate keeper, he took our passports and made a note of our names and registration number and measured the length and width of the van and gave us a piece of paper to take to reception at 2.00.

We struggled to find a suitable pitch because we didn’t understand that he had told us to go to the top right had corner of the site. It’s a massive site with lots of permanent pitches. We are now parked on a spot that’s more like an aire, no marked pitches, water and electricity (4 amp) close by.

We are close to the rear pedestrian gate to the site, just across the small road are the sand dunes then the ocean. The site looked so unpromising when we pulled in but it’s lovely where we are parked up.

Paul’s ankle is getting worse but he’s being very brave, I have just tripped the electricity with our 1kw kettle (which is now put away in a locker) so Paul had to hobble through the sand dunes to reset it.

Entrance to Parque de Campismo Municipal

Our Pitch in the motorehome parking area

The Beach at Peniche

Beach at Peniche