We hadn't initially planned to blog about the drive down to Portugal, but it was so picturesque that we couldn 't resist sharing some of our pics with you! After a long journey through the heavy traffic in the UK (groan!); and our ferry trip it was great to be on the open road, heading to the Algarve.
It takes about ten hours to do the drive from Santander to the Algarve depending on the route you take; and we decided to stop en route - but you'll have to wait to read more about a fabulous place we discovered on the way in a future blog post! A lot of people think that such a long journey would be hell, but driving on the continent is nothing like driving in the UK.
More often than not, the roads are almost empty, and there were long periods of our trip where we had no cars in front of us, and nothing behind us.....bliss! The sight of the first sign for Portugal made us very excited.
We headed through the Alentejo region, where you see the cork trees, and vineyards in every direction. It's one of our favourite parts of the Algarve, and although it's scorching hot in the summer, it is a beautiful undiscovered part of Portugal.
We had our car serviced before the trip, including getting the air-con re-gassed. Well it's just as well we did - trust us to arrive in the middle of a heatwave! The temperature hit 42 degrees on the road down, so regular stops for a cold drinks or ice creams were much needed!
The feeling of arriving in the Algarve was just incredible. It's hard to sum up how long we've talked about making this move. How long we've thought about how it would feel. We have to say after a few months of upheaval and a wonderfully busy time with friends and family, it is great to be achieving the dream. Time to rest up for a few days....and let the heatwave pass!
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