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Hello barefoot walkers!
Are you ready for another journey? What an adventure this will be!
This won’t just be another trip, in fact no trip is just “another trip” each one has something special, is the first time the whole family (me, Lisa, Mia, and Casper) will be traveling together in the caravan and the last trip with Lili (yes, it’s true, we’re selling our caravan and getting a bigger one).
The plan is to go from the Algarve (Portugal) to Belgium (near the Three-Country Point), about 3,000 km, we want to travel through southern Spain and then… (you’ll have to keep reading).
On the previous trip, we left Lili parked near Faro Airport and even though it has a new battery, we were worried it might be hard to start the engine but Lili made it seem easy and started right up on the first try, yuppii!
It was already 6 pm and we wanted to do some shopping, fill up on water, diesel and drive to the crab spot where we had stayed on our previous trip before heading to Morocco because we knew it was a relaxed spot near the sea (our spots rarely don’t have water nearby).
The idea was to stay there for two days, but the next day the GNR (Portuguese Police) came by and said it was not allowed to park the caravan there. We were surprised because we knew it was allowed before, as always, we tried to respect the rules even if we sometimes don’t understand why. Not far away, we found a quiet parking lot near the sea where people parked their cars to catch a boat to the beach. It seems strange, but take a look at the photo. It was a nice spot with an incredible sunset.
It was Friday and we usually don’t like to hit the road on weekends, so we decided to leave the parking lot and enter Spain with a problem. Yes, our Internet stopped working (in the new caravan, we’re going to have Starlink; hopefully, that will solve these problems).
We sorted it out and then we drive to the middle of the sea, literally on a road with the sea on both sides and a sign saying, “Everything that happens beyond this point is your responsibility.” Of course, we went ahead and found a clearing by a beach where we stayed for the weekend.
The beach was huge with warm water and we spent many hours playing in the water. At night, it’s lovely to walk along the beach but when the sun sets, the mosquitoes come out to eat us. We took the opportunity to tidy up the caravan and Casper was in paradise trying to chasing birds.
Monday we went to a lake (one of the best spots of the trip), was an extremely hot travel day (around 40ºC) but when we arrived, I was sick. I think it was due to the heat and not drinking enough water that day. I spent the next day in bed, without an appetite, recovering and the day after that, I woke up ready to enjoy it.
We inflated the Stand Up Paddle and let´s go to explore the lake, it was amazing. Just some cows and oxen on the other shore, ducks swimming and many fish occasionally jumping. There was no noise from machines or humans. These unplanned moments are what make caravan life so intense.
Here, we changed the oil and filter of the caravan and Mia helped a lot as always, even if we ended up with black hands from the oil, no one is a princess or prince when it’s time to get our hands dirty, no problem.
We wanted to stay longer but after 3 days the temperature forecast was 44ºC and 45ºC and we didn’t want to melt, so heading to the seaside was the solution, it was difficult to find a new place to stay. After one chaotic spot and another closed one, we stayed in a caravan park just for the night and moved on the next day. This area between Málaga and Almería is tricky for finding good spots.
The next day we were curious to see the next spot, driving through the cliffs of Carboneras and after some off-roading with Lili, we stopped at the top of a cliff with a path down to the sea. At first, the place seemed okay but nothing special. However, when we went down to the sea, we discovered the Hippie Temple of Angle, a masterpiece made with stones that represents (at least for me) a way of living more freely and connected with nature. We had never heard of this temple, it’s simply impressive.
Reaching the sea, it’s a paradise for those who love diving and seeing underwater life. There were many fish of different colors, sizes and when you dive, it makes you feel like you’re part of that system with the fish passing by you as if nothing’s amiss. The feeling that we’re just a small part of this world is strong here, everything around you is teeming with life, from the birds in the air to the spectacular underwater show. I have to say that by the end, I wasn’t sure if Lisa was still human or had turned into a fish after so much time spent diving.
Leaving the Hippie Temple and heading towards the supermarket, we passed through countless mountains, endless winding roads and literally in the middle of nowhere. Just as we were arriving at the supermarket, guess what happened… the caravan (Lili) broke down. The battery light came on and the engine started overheating but we were close enough to make it to the supermarket and park. When we opened the hood, the alternator belt had snapped but it was Sunday, there was nothing to do but sleep there and try to solve the problem the next day.
The next morning, we were at the mechanic’s door and what we thought was just a broken belt turned out to be more, the alternator had stopped rotating, which caused the belt to snap.
After a day of waiting and with a lighter wallet, Lili was ready to continue the journey.
We went to a beach where many people were doing nudism, isolated from everything. I know it was near Almería but I forgot to save the location.
Although there wasn’t much to see underwater, the peace at the end of the day and knowing that your home these days has a beach as its backyard and an infinite wave pool, along with the magical moonrise every night, made this place have a very special energy. Even Casper (our cat) went to the beach to play with the waves when they touched his paws.
Two days at this spot and we hit the road towards Huesca by a lake. We left the sea in southern Spain, heading north, planning to go through northern France to Belgium, at least that’s the plan.
We arrived very late and had trouble finding the spot we were looking for. We just parked the caravan by the lake and went to rest. The next morning, the perfect spot was just a few meters in front of us, but it’s much easier to find in daylight. For the first time, we set up the swing bed and spent hours being rocked. In fact, we didn’t go into the water much because, as you can imagine, after coming from southern Spain with 40ºC temperatures and warmer waters, it was hard to get into the colder northern waters.
I have to apologize because this time I didn’t take photos of the spot, I’ll leave the location and if you pass by I recommend you stop there.
Our caravan is empty after a great weekend by this lake, it’s time to fill the Lili with everything (food, water and fuel) and continue our journey to France.
As a tip, it might be better to travel through the interior of France, along lakes and rivers because it’s almost impossible to find good spots by the sea that don’t have “no caravan parking” signs or where the police won’t come to bother you.
The destination now is a lake in Lourdes but it’s hot and with Lili fully loaded (very heavy), she has to climb the Pyrenees. It was tough but we made it to the lake in the Pyrenees National Park with a huge desire to jump into the water, so that’s exactly what we did, felt great.
It’s a touristy place with quite a few people, we took the Stand Up Paddle and went to the other side of the lake where we had a vast expanse of water to ourselves, only heard the birds and the fish jumping. At this spot, I tried standing on the stand-up paddle for the first time (we usually sit), to be honest, it’s easier than I thought. Of course, I fell several times but I was happy to achieve something I thought was difficult (we should always try).
On the second day at this spot, it rained, not saying this with sadness because it felt so good after so much heat in Spain and I even took the opportunity to wash Lili (more like just getting the dust off).
After the rains, we left Lourdes with the idea of exploring another lake because we were parked by the road and even though there weren’t many cars passing by, the space to use was limited. When we reached the “new” spot, can you guess what happened?… We lost the Internet. We had bought a SIM card in Spain that was supposed to work throughout the EU , it wasn’t true because it only worked in France for a short time. With few options, we had to go to the nearest town without using GPS, relying on our sense of direction, I have to say it went well.
With so much heat and frustration from constantly having internet problems, the app we use to find spots (Park4Night) also stopped working. At this moment, Lisa was amazing and found a place on the map near Poitiers, nothing special but for the day, we weren’t expecting much. It was enough for us to take the last swims of the trip.
The next two days, we covered almost 1,000 km because we had a set day to arrive in Belgium. It was an unforgettable journey where we felt that everyone in this family has the blood of a traveler and the importance of the small daily things those that truly matter in our lives, everything else is superficial or less important.
I can’t end without paying tribute to Lili, who will be leaving us at the end of this trip. This was Lili’s last trip with us but she’ll always remain in our hearts with very special memories. Thank you Lili for allowing us to live these experiences, but above all, for opening the doors of freedom to an incredible woman named Lisa.
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Don´t forget:
Carlos
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