Highs & lows of Moho life all in a day – Vila Nova Milfontes

06/07/18 – 07/07/18 – Vila Nova Milfontes,  Alentejo

Dan had read about Odeceixe, so we drove just 15 minutes along the coast to find it. It was such a beautiful place and as you can see below, Marley nearly took off while admiring the view!

We parked at the top of the hill and took a stroll down through the village which had colourful houses, and stunning views. We could tell that it’s only recently started become more popular on the tourist map. We stayed long enough to have lunch, wander around, enjoy the views, and of course to climb aboard the moho via the bike rack to perform an investigation. Over the last few days we’d noticed a vile gas type odour coming into the van via the fridgefreezer/oven vent, which was a bit worrying to say the least. We kept thinking maybe we won’t wake up one morning due to carbon monoxide poisoning. We have a plug in carbon monoxide detector, which came with the van but weren’t convinced it was working. This was where looking down the flu on the roof idea came from, however, no issues there.

We weighed up all our options….go back South to CamperServe (taking us right back out our way) or wait until we get to Evora further North where we could have the issue professionally inspected. In the meantime we could get a new carbon monoxide detector just to make sure we were not slowly killing ourselves. Nearest place was near Vila Nova Milfontes an hour away so that’s where we went. Problem was when we got there, it turned out to be a friggin’ campsite store that was closed anyway. Stress levels running high, particularly for the driver, and getting late in the day, we looked at the nearest free place to stay. On arrival, we couldn’t find the place, but our perseverance turned out to be a blessing, as we got a beautiful little spot on a cliff top. Time for a walk, a Sagres beer and breeeathe! We decided we would deal with the issue tomorrow.

The following morning whilst poor Dan tried to deal with the odour issue, I walked Marley and then was drawn into an unexpected run over the rugged clifftop. It was a hard run, as a much of it was through sand, but it was so worth it, as it was stunning. There was no one to be seen for miles, just gorgeous succulents and nature as far as the eye could see. All I could hear was the sounds of waves crashing against the rocks, contrasting a few steps later with soft lapping ones against small coves.

I climbed over the huge rocks and boulders, and the deep veined earth that had upturned over the millions of years. It always amazes me to look and think of it being a layer of time, and I wonder what was happening all those years ago. I reached a point which jetted out into the Atlantic, and was surprised to find one lonely fisherman looking over at me. After taking in the view for a while, I made my way back slowly, stopping to stretch at each cliff edge I came to, and admired the views looking out to sea, It’s times like this that surprise me, in regards to how much I love nature and how alive it makes me feel. I had my Dad in mind being that’s its his birthday today and found myself thinking about all the time he dedicated to getting me into running in my teens. I wished he could jet him over with me now as I know he would enjoy the run and nature too! I’m sure he’ll laugh at this, as he’s not ran for years now.

Back at the van, and back to reality! Dan is very handy but gas leaks should definitely be left to the experts. We weighed up our options again, and found Bricomarche a Portuguese DIY store (bit like B&Q) on the map. Fifty minutes drive and €70 later Dan came back from the store with a detector, metal tape for the vent, silicone and a step ladder. We tested the detector only to find it didn’t work anyway..aaaah. Can things get any worse!! Dan went back to the store for what felt like half an hour, and returned with €30 refund as it was the only one they had in stock. Stress levels running higher than ever, we thought hard about what to do next…. surely we wouldn’t survive another night……we’d read that a smell can come into your van like ours when your gas tank is running low if it’s been filled up with a particularly stinky batch of gas, so we decided to go on a mission to find LPG. Two LPG stations later (the first having been closed), we filled up and agreed that the smell had pretty much disappeared. Yes!!! Feeling happier, and having realised that the carbon monoxide detector in our moho was actually working anyway, we headed off to Evora.

Avoiding the toll roads, as we’d read Portugal was expensive for this, we drove there on the worst patch work road ever. We passed by so many cork tree farms and a lovely remote village called Alcacovas where the locals and us waved at each other all the way. That was fun, and worth the headache from the vibrations of the road.