Tuesday 8 March

And he switched the b----y thing back on at 8.45 am! Ah well, but we're not staying here with the potential of more noise so after breakfast we packed everything up. Then having spotted, and chatted to, Alan and Karen from Sanlucar we decided to just relocate – people moving on all morning meant we found a much nicer spot with sea (well, river) views.

Although we have passed Vila Real several times before, we've never stopped, believing it to be a somewhat scruffy border town that used to host a ferry crossing to Spain, just across the river. But Alan and Karen had explored yesterday and told us it was really nice so after setting up again, we put Jamie on his lead and set off to explore.

The area around the parking is ex-docks and generally rather industrial, although pains have obviously been taken to smarten it all up. But it wasn't far before we came to the residential/shopping part and found modern buildings and a smart pedestrianised street with shops and cafes as well as relaxing open squares and all spotlessly clean. Part of our visit was to find a particular shop to get a data-sim for the internet, but despite wandering around where we thought it should be, we couldn't locate it.

So we walked on down to the river, past a very impressive Fire Station then a futuristic public library – despite it being an allegedly poor country someone was spending a lot of money. Come to think of it, probably us, through the EU! Then from here

Roundabout art again

we strolled along the river promenade, past the marina with millions of pounds worth of boats tied up and, with a very tired puppy, back to Bertie for a late lunch!

Jamie surveys the path home

Beautifully restored Grand Hotel

Later in the day, after having checked the directions again, Terry walked back into town to try and find the shop, but with no luck. Not to worry, we'll try again tomorrow on our way out when we'll need to do a bit of shopping before heading west again. Where to? No idea!