Surfing Archives - Sandals N Socks

Tarifa

Grant Williams — Tue, 11 Dec 2018 08:30:56 +0000

After my city break in Cadiz I was in the need of a bit of beach time, I’d seen a place called Bolonia beach so off I went. The drive was great, nice roads that ended in a drive over a small mountain and dropping down into the village of Bolonia.

I can imagine when there’s some wind or waves this would be a surfer of kite paradise, parking is as close to being on the beach as you can get and the beach is fantastic, clean golden sand.

Just off the sand there’s a Roman archaeological site with buildings, roads and squares and the pis de resistance, an amphitheater, not quite good as Side in Turkey, but certainly a fantastic site.

On the headland is the quarry where the Romans got the stone to build their town.

After a couple of days exploring in Bolonia I moved a couple of miles along the coast to another great beach, again parking right on the beach. Spent a couple of days here, even did some fishing! There was even some beach art.

Tarifa town itself was quite busy, good place to do shopping, laundry, empty the necessary and get some water, all the above done I carried on to Estepona.

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Lagos to Sagres

Grant Williams — Mon, 03 Dec 2018 16:46:04 +0000

After having visited the top of the world: well it seemed like it driving there: I zoomed back to the coast, it was getting late so I headed for a paid for parking place in Lagos, only 3 euro but I knew there’d be space. Parking is at a sports stadium with showers and laundry, so a good choice. Lagos itself is a great place to visit, plenty of shops, a marina and public spaces. It’s quite a touristy town, which means plenty of restaurants etc and boat trips taking you along the coast, and everywhere you look around here there’s a stork sitting on a nest!

After a night of r&r I pushed on further West along the coast, aiming for Sagres, not sure what I was going to find but I’d read it was an area worth visiting, turns out it was everything I’d hoped for and more.

Rugged coastline, sandy beaches, surfers everywhere, a lighthouse and an old fort, so plenty to see and do, in fact I spent 2 nights here, really I just wanted to see another sunset like this one.

An old library van from …. Wales

Click here for a video of the blow-hole

This weird looking thing is a kind of spiral building sitting on top of a blow-hole that leads down to the sea, and every time a wave comes the sound is amplified, you can go and stand on the grate above the hole, it was a calm day when I visited and I can only imagine what it’d be like on a rough day!

Look closely and you can see 2 blokes fishing from the rock face, and this must be called boot rock, or shoe island!

The difference between street art and graffiti, some idiot graffitied on this street art

A catch these fishermen are about 100ft up on top of a cliff, there were loads of them all along the coast, one slip and they would have been fish food themselves. Oh the wave, they were making rainbows as they broke.

Some fishing spots were a bit safer.

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Comporta and all points West

Grant Williams — Tue, 27 Nov 2018 09:29:46 +0000

Leaving the great beach at Santa Cruz I headed west along the coast, no real aim but that night I thought I might park in Comporta, which is just south of Lisboa, and on the way I intended to visit Cabo Roca, the most westerly point on mainland europe.

The coastal road, passing through a world surfing reserve:

As you can imagine, driving to a remote lighthouse on the western coast of portugal took me along some quite narrow winding roads, but when I saw the size of the coaches ferrying tourists to the lighthouse I wasn’t worried.

Having visited Cabo Fisterre, the most westerly point in Spain, I had an idea of what to expect, and to be honest it was very similar, certainly just as windy What can I say about it? It’s a lighthouse on the edge of europe, still worth a visit so I can say I’ve been.

Next was getting through Lisboa, I had intended to stop and visit but the forecast was for heavy rain so thought I’d save it for another day. As it turned out it was a breeze getting through, the motorway just cuts through the city and crosses the Tagus via the Ponte 25 de Abril, It’s a 2km long bridge, with three narrow lanes in each direction, certainly an experience.

Next stop: Sesimbra castle, and although there was overnight parking, again due to the impending rain I visited the castle and pressed on.

The castle itself was really good, well maintained, fantastic views. It dates back to 1201 and was a very important castle in it’s day bringing law and order to the area.

So a bit more driving and I was at Comporta, the base for the night, fantastic roads through nature reserves, scenery to die for, so different to the sprawl that was Lisboa.

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Peniche

Grant Williams — Fri, 23 Nov 2018 14:46:47 +0000

So far today I’ve travelled under 20 miles to somewhere I thought would be nice for the weekend if the weather’s ok, last night’s sunset promises so, but I did have a glorious sunrise in Peniche to start the day.

Peniche is where I spent most of yesterday, exploring and chiling, it’s another really nice place with a fort, harbour and narrow winding streets. Parking was by the old quayside from where it’s a 2 minute stroll into the old town, nothing overly exciting as the main attraction: the fort: is closed for renovation, but the town is nice enough.

The main event of the day came at sunset:

I’m now here: Praia da Santa Cruz:

Not a bad view?

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Esposende 2

Grant Williams — Thu, 15 Nov 2018 09:21:48 +0000

Esposende 2

The sun was up, the waves roaring and the surfers getting ready to have some fun, so it seemed a good time to set off for a bit of a walk.

I headed south through the town, following the coast. It’s a nice place and I imagine that it gets very busy in the summer but this time of year it seems to just be local residents, but on saying that the prom was full of people walking and cycling.

About 5km along the coast I came to another surf school and from that point on decided to walk along the beach.

Not a lot to describe: golden sand, Atlantic waves and no people for quite a while but a bit of coastal errosion. Cellar with a view!

The destination was a little ‘seaside’ town called Areia, again I imagine very busy in the season but at the moment most cafes etc were closed, but still plenty of people doing all sorts of things.

I’m sure I saw this Gull in Llandudno last week.

All in all a good, non-eventful day.

I spent a very pleasant evening sharing a bottle of wine and chatting with my neighbour Marion, we first met in the supermarket I decided not to stay in, as did Marion and we both ended up here. It hadn’t been a good few days for my new friend, her van had broken down three times in as many days and in some not good places, but we laughed as the story unfolded and Marion found the more humorous side of the ‘adventures’. I’m sure we’ll meet again and look forward to it.

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Esposende

Grant Williams — Thu, 15 Nov 2018 08:49:23 +0000

Esposende

Supplies secured, the necessary emptied and rubbish thrown, I was off (not till about 9:30) intending to get a bit closer to Portugal, my main itinerary for this part of the trip.

Leaving Ferrol was absolutely spectacular, there was a bank of low cloud following the river (very wide and long if you’ve not been) and as the road was slightly higher it gave a view like being in an aeroplane. The high-rise buildings and tall dock cranes were silhouetted against the cloud making it look almost dream-like, as if they were floating on a sea of cloud. The cloud stayed for the next hour or so with valley after valley seeming to have a cotton wool filling.

I actually got a bit carried away driving I was enjoying it that much and ended up so close to TUI (on the Portuguese border) I though I may as well fill up with diesel there, hoping it was as cheap as I remember, well it was, 1.23 most places had been 1.39!

The pic on the right is the sunrise, obviously!

Having got this far I though I may as well press on into Portugal, especially as the aire I was looking at was only an hour away. Well that aire was a bit pants so on to the next, another 25 minutes, well that was in a supermarket with no views and possibly a bit noisy so another 15 minutes and I was in Esposende in a nice car park right on the beach. My extra effort in getting here was rewarded with a great sunset.

It is now the morning of Nov 14th, the sun’s up, not a cloud in the sky and a slight breeze gently shaking the trees: a good day for an explore I think

Part 2 >>>>

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Road Trip Sound Track

willis — Sun, 22 Oct 2017 15:09:10 +0000

Road Trip Sound Track

Well we’re a month in and have done well over 1,000 miles, but still loads to go. A part of being on a road trip like this is the lack of distractions like tv. We’ve watched all of Game Of Thrones, only because I hadn’t seen any of it and was feeling a bit left out, a few movies but not much else.

One of the best things is having the time to revisit all that music you’ve not heard for years, but still think is great. As I write this we’re listening to ‘Hotter Than July’ not played it since the late 80’s, it’s even better than I remember!!

Artists on our play list range from Dire Straits and the Eagles through absolutely everyone from the 80’s right to Hendrix and the Beatles, we’ve even got Christine and the Queens amongst other up to date stuff. Dom seems to be enjoying listening to artists he’s never even heard of, even if they’re not quite up his street.

So remember if you’re planning a long road trip take plenty of music, including stuff you don’t know.

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Santiago De Compostela

willis — Sun, 22 Oct 2017 14:03:00 +0000

Santiago De Compostela

Santiago De Compostela is the main destination for pilgrims walking the way of St. James (Camino De Santiago).

There are 2 main routes, one starting in Lisbon, Portugal and the other in the french town of St. Jean Pied De Port (620k and 800k) but to qualify for a certificate modern day pilgrims only need to walk the last couple of hundred k.

The pilgrimage to visit the relics of St. James in the cathedral of Santiago De Compostela is undertaken by 1,000’s of pilgrims each year and has been followed since early christian times.

Santiago De Compostela itself is a city of 2 halves, the old and the new. The old town is a warren of narrow streets weaving their way to the cathedral at the heart of the town, all lined with shops selling every conceivable item that it’s possible to print some reference to the pilgrimage on. The new town on the other hand has wide avenues, long pedestrian shopping streets and seemingly no mention of the pilgrimage that brings most people here.

After spending time in A Coruna we were a little disappointed with Santiago, it just seemed a little ‘flat’, perhaps because most pilgrims are in groups that stick together. Don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty of life in the city, loads of bars etc, but there wasn’t that ‘spanish’ feel we’re becoming used to, but do visit and decide for yourself.

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Cabo Fisterra

willis — Sun, 22 Oct 2017 13:18:07 +0000

Cabo Fisterra

Cabo Fisterra, or Finisterre if you’ve ever listened to the shipping forecast, is the one of most Westerly points in Spain, and was once considered as the end of the world by the Romans, today it’s the final point for many pilgrims walking the way of St. James.

Even Cat wanted to get in on the act, but it was a bit windy!

We didn’t stay long as the wind and rain were really closing in, but you can appreciate why the Romans thought it was the end of the world, especially on a day like we had.

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Caion

willis — Sun, 22 Oct 2017 13:06:52 +0000

Caion

After our time in the city of A Coruna we needed some quiet time so headed off for Caion. It’s a great aire, set amongst the pine trees and literally on the beach.

I found a nice spot on one of the rocks and was so chilled I ended up sitting there for hours watching the tide coming in. what a way to recharge your batteries!

Watching the tide come in

While watching the tide you notice all sorts of things:

Unfortunately on day 2 the weather changed and we had rain, and the forecast said it was going to be with us for a couple of days. So not being a fan of sitting on a rock in the rain we decided to find something more interesting to do.

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