Algarve Boating

As promised, we've got lots more scenic photos from Portugal to share with you - here's some from our trip out on the boat to the grotto caves off the coast of the Algarve, which is the classic postcard scene of the area. The old guys driving the boats were unbelievable - they went right into the tiny caves and out again without touching the sides. A lot better than certain boat captains we know, who shall remain nameless.


Getting ready to board our boat for the three-hour cruise.... the three-hour cruise...


... The weather started getting rough, the tiny ship was tossed. If not for the courage of the fearless crew.....


This is the very lovely Praia Dona Ana. We also had a swim there (see below).


I used to complain about all the steps down to Bronte...


We went through that hole in the boat


Happy sailors


Pop kept asking the skipper for boating tips, but unfortunately couldn't understand his accent too well.


Flying the flag


A nicely painted boat


Back on land - ah


Jo enjoyed the boat, but was still happy to make it back to land. The Marina is called Marina de Lagos in Portuguese, but now having learned a bit of the language, we know this translates to Lagos Marina in English - just in case you were wondering.


So this is Praia Dona Ana from the land-side


Caiti likes collecting rocks and shells at the beach, but this was ridiculous

Portugal - Lagos

Apologies for the break in transmission there. We're back now.....

So, our first visit to the Iberian peninsula was very enjoyable. We visited the Algarve in Portugal with Nanna & Pop. We stayed in Lagos which is a lovely town and the weather was absolutely fantastic. We also managed to get about in the hire car and saw lots of great places along the Algarve coast. The beaches were beautiful, the shopping was fun, the food was fresh and the wine was an absolute steal. Jo has decided this is her favourite holiday spot and is ready to go back next week (assuming we win the lotto, which is highly likely).

We've got lots of photos to share, so we won't try and post them all in one go. So to start with we hope you enjoy some of our pics in and around Lagos.


Lucy smiling on Praia Meia - "praia" is Portugese for "beach"
but you probably already guessed that!


Busy Caiti on Praia Meia. That's Lagos in the distance.


Postcard from Praia Meia


Praia Meia from above


Girls cruising the streets of Lagos... white paint is a big seller in Portugal it seems


This is the famous Lagos local, Henry the Navigator... he sat in the passenger seat


Checking the menus in Lagos... the restaurants were all quite nice and surprisingly inexpensive. Grilled sardines are not for everyone though!


Still looking for the best place to eat


Why do girls smile so much when they are shopping?


Town walls.... and a relatively dangerously placed station of the cross by the road there


This photo was also taken in Lagos - purely for reference purposes

Blackpool

Our current challenge is to try and work our way through the hundreds of photos we took on our recent half-term break when we headed north and checked out the Lake District and York, and a few other places up north.

So to start with, here's a few pics of the famous, historic and delightfully tacky seaside resort town of Blackpool. This is where in Victorian times, the workers from the northern mill-towns used to spend their annual week's holiday, sitting on the beach, enjoying the tram and donkey rides, climbing the Blackpool Tower, eating chips, playing Bingo, riding the Pleasure Beach amusements, and generally chilling out amongst thousands of other like-minded souls. Apparently not much has changed, and although it's a lot quieter in the middle of February, we found it very interesting to see what folk from these parts look for in a holiday resort.



The girls in front of The Big Dipper - the largest and most famous ride in The Pleasure Beach. We can see where the inspiration for Luna Park came from.


A look down the promenade.. the "illuminations" are apparently quite spectacular after dark - not sure about the Dr. Who theme though?


The English love a good pier and the more amusement rides you can squeeze on it the better.



Yes, it's true - we love Blackpool

The trams run along the beachfront during summer. That's the Blackpool Tower you can see in the distance through the winter mist.


Alas, we didn't have time to visit the famous Laughing Donkey Family Bar on the South Pier, but we've no reason to believe it's anything less exciting than it sounds!


The art deco facade of the Pleasure Beach harks back to Blackpool's glory days of the 1920's & 30's; as does the use-by date of the food on display in the takeaway shops along the promenade.

And a quick peek at The Big Dipper...

Norfolk Beaches

Right then where were we.... here's some pics from our summer holiday a couple of months back when we went to Norfolk with Nanna Julie. We stayed at The Cromer Country Club in Cromer, which is a classic Victorian seaside town (Victorian as in developed during the late 19th century during the reign of Queen Victoria; not as in the state where Jo grew up - that wouldn't make sense).

Cromer's got the mandatory stone church, fish and chip shops, ice cream shops, bucket and spade shops and amusement parlours which all English seaside towns seem to have, but its also got a pier, which is only reserved for the "classic" towns it seems. What's more it's the home of the Cromer crab, the local delicacy that you can actually catch from straight off the pier.... there were tons of them. We ate a few (tasted like crab funnily enough) but didn't catch any ourselves.


The Cromer Country Club is up on the cliffs above the town, and it's a nice walk down to the main beach, including lots of crab-themed Christmas lights, which must look nice at Christmas.


Just to add to the vibe.... here we checking out the cliff walk in the late afternoon.





Caiti really loves the pebbly beaches here in the UK. They are a great opportunity for her to work on her throwing technique. There's a few rocks on the beach at Cromer, but it's actually nice and sandy once the tide goes out a little.


Lucy likes the beach as well, but prefers the sandy stretches for castle building.



Here's us on the pier after the beach.


And here's all the girls enjoying what was quite good weather.


There's lots of fish and chips shops everywhere, but this shellfish van was a new experience. Crab, cockles and leekies were popular.


So we set ourselves up in front of the pub on the promenade to try it all out. The crab was sensational and the cockles were OK, but we won't be ordering the leekies again.


We mentioned the weather was good, and it was most days, but when it wasn't we headed out to check out the Norfolk coast a little more. The beach at Sea Palling is nice and sandy because they've created artificial reefs a few hundred yards out to see. They were put there to stop the low-lying town from flooding during tidal surges, but now there's no more pebbles on the beach either.


Here's Nanna enjoying the sights of nearby Sheringham, another nice Victorian seaside town, but pierless, alas.


And this is the beach at Sheringham.



It's a bit pebbly, but quite pleasant on a sunny day.


The telescope is 20p, but there's not a real lot to see to be honest.


We liked this fishing-themed relief.


And here's Lucy at the Sheringham lifeboat club.


And finally, a bit of fun at the beach for your enjoyment.

Scotland - The Road to the Isles

The other thing to do in the Highlands is cruise the romantically named "Road to the Isles". This is good if you want to see the Isles (of course) as well as the spectacular mountains, lochs, trains, roadworks and a statue of Bonnie Prince Charlie at Glenfinnan (who looked like a camp, baroque Frenchman if you ask us). It was all very 'Scottish' and happily we weren't overwhelmed with images of Mel Gibson wearing a kilt on the way, although we did spot him once or twice.



Trying to remember where this was..... maybe Glenfinnan


The Glenfinnan Monument. There's Charlie up on top with the feather in his cap - see what we mean about camp?.


All smiles at Glennfinnan


For those of you interested, here's the plaque at Glenfinnan which explains what it's all about - click and read.


The Church at Glenfinnan... looks like a nice spot to sit and admire the view of Loch Shiel after a bit of altar wine.


More views from Glenfinnan


If you can manage to divert your gaze away from the spectacular loch and surrounding mountains at Glenfinnan, you'll turn around to admire the magnificent Victorian rail viaduct, which is (as we learnt from several sources) featured in the Harry Potter movies.


This is Loch Morar, on The Road to the Isles, which allegedly has its own loch monster, whom we'll call Morrie.


This is the outlet from Loch Morar to the sea. The area is known as The Silver Sands of Morar. Got to hand it to those Scots - they can sure make a place sound good.


More Silver Sands. In the distance are the Isles of Eigg and Rum (more great names).


Looking across to Isle of Skye from Mallaig, which is at the end of the Road to the Isles. So it is, in fact, not literally "The Road to the Isles", but rather "The Road To a Town From Where One Can See the Isles".