N37.64067 W7.66336 MERTOLA, ALENTEJO PROVINCE - Free parking opposite Bombeiros (Firestation).

There was a Portuguese camper, one of the big ones, parked behind us yesterday and judging by the potted plant garden around two sides of it, it obviously is there for the duration . I didn't think they'd be allowed to do that but I'm wrong in this case. When Mike checked the price of the parking it went from 0.24€ for 15 minutes, 7€ per week to 30€ per month. Don't know where these people were getting their water from but they went off cycling with about 10 5 litre empty water bottles.

We've been up the twisties again with Mike thinking he's once again on his bike! But at least any long drops were on his side today and we managed to avoid the A22.

Our intended itinerary was the picnic area at the BARRAGEM ODELEITE (N37.3354 W7.49726) just off the IC27 on the N122. There was no room at the picnic area so we carried on until we found somewhere to pull on to the side for our lunch. The view of the Barragem was beautiful and I didn't realise until we continued driving just how big it was.

As you can see from the photos it wasn't a wide road and fortunately we didn't meet any oncoming traffic while driving along it . We carried on until we got to a tiny village called Montinho where we had to take an extremely sharp, uphill right turn at a junction - nearly had to do a bit of jiggery pokery to get round but the very excellent chauffeur managed it!

Eventually we came to the place where Mike spotted the wash house. Turning onto the M505 we finally reached the IC27 again and continued to what was intended to be our final stop for the day which was ALCOUTIM (N37.4752 W7.4747). This place is on the river Guadiana which separates Portugal from Spain. In fact, the border is right down the middle of the river. There is a castle as well. The parking spaces were somewhat full, maybe due to school holidays now, so we moved on to the next place on the list.

So, this place is called MERTOLA, it has a strong Islamic influence as seen by the buildings and it's in the Parque Natural do Vale do Guadiana. We're parked on a dry car park that can be a bit dusty and noisy too. We did try to find some parking down by the river but SatNav got behind herself with vocals and map! Oh to have a SatNav that knows what it's doing. I'll tell you, approaching a roundabout it will tell you which junction to take, at least twice and then when you get to the roundabout it will tell you again but when you get to a crucial, confusing junction it keeps it's flippin' mouth shut and says nought! Anyway, we did get to drive around town but Mike didn't fancy going round again (narrow cobbled roads) so we've parked here and we're going exploring in the morning. There's a castle here too.

We may be high up but it's still 20 deg now (21:24 hrs).