Tuesday 11 March - Alcacovas to Abrantes

Another wet night and up around our normal time, managing to take Jamie out between showers. After breakfast we took advantage of the servicing facilities (thankyou Alcacovas!) before finding our way back onto the N2 and heading north to find a supermarket at Montemor, a few miles on, to get some bits we were a bit light on. Found the Intermarche okay, also meeting a Dutch couple who had been at Alcacovas, then continue north. Once again we encountered more heavy rain showers and observed some quite striking cloud formations, but it did appear that there were more brighter periods the further we went.

Lunch was on a rough layby-ish spot, noting again the lack of traffic and the very nice scenery. Surprised to also spot a few storks and their nests which we thought was a bit far north for them - we're out of the Algarve now by the way. Continuing on our leisurely way we sort of estimated that the town of Abrantes would be a convenient place to look for a place to stop, bearing in mind that we considered 4.00 pm was as late as we should be to have a good chance of finding a spot. Abrantes boasted a municipal site at a very reasonable price and promising location so TomTom was programmed and took us to Parque Tejo where a very nice lady booked us in for two nights, once she'd finished with the Dutch couple we'd encountered earlier. A bit wet underfoot, not surprising considering the amount of rain, nevertheless a hard standing with electric and nearby full facilities for €9 (including €1 for Jamie, first time we've "paid" for him) per night close to the, very full and fast-flowing, river and good views of the old town across the adjacent bridge.

With the weather now appearing to have settled to a short dry spell we got the screens in place, hopefully to dry out a bit, and enjoyed a cuppa in the last of the days sunshine. We're in no rush so thought a couple of nights would be nice and hopefully might get a bit of sun although, once again, the forecast is not good. Looking at our "timetable", which maybe includes getting a rabies booster jab for Jamie in Spain then the usual worming 24 hour treatment closer to the Eurotunnel, we can afford to take our time. Thankfully this trip is proving to far more relaxing than last year!