Back in UK, visa application and sorting the car out

We have applied for our visa.....🥳 well the first stage of it...this consisted of a very stressful time of gathering our documents together, Steve cam scanning them and sending them to me by email, then me numbering them in an order that makes sense to me and the consulate.

This was after working out how to log onto our Portuguese bank account from various emails and texts in Portuguese and crediting our bank account with the required funds for the visa.

Anyway the first stage which consisted of an email with about 20 attachments winging its way to the Manchester consulate with the hope we will get an actual physical appointment back.

The other thing we have had to sort out is the car, the other driver admitted full responsibility, the insurance company have been sent the paperwork by email as they couldn't find it and have agreed to repair the car and give us a courtesy car, we are just waiting for the phone call to take it to a garage! The wheels turn very slowly.....meanwhile our car is still held together with bungee straps!!

Journey back

 So the journey back.......

04/08/22 17.00

We set off for the UK albeit later than we had planned due to the car incident, both exhausted already and annoyed that we would need an extra night in a hotel so three nights instead of two!!

We managed to cross the border and make it into Spain for our first nights stay... got to the hotel really late around 11pm, and found a hotel which looked like it was part of a Butlins style camp, a late night and an early morning. 

05/08/22 8am....on the road again, no breakfast, hoping we can get something on the way....heading further into France, its such a big country! Another French hotel found at the last minute after calling in at Campanile which was full! We tried another budget hotel but there was no way to book as there was no manned reception and no phone number. Luckily we found another hotel and after upsetting another guest as we didn't know how to open the car park gates (she did it for us in the end with lots of hand waving and rapid fire French) we finally managed to get in and sleep! 

06/08/22 - Happy that this hotel had breakfast although we nearly missed it as we had a lie-in and didn't go down until 10.15am.

On the road again, another long day and frantically using the net to try and find a was hotel as we travelled, everywhere seemed fully booked, it was looking like we might have to sleep in the car when I finally found an Ibis budget a bit further than we wanted to go but it was a bed....

This time we knew how to get in the car park and by midnight we were eating noodles and drinking coffee (thank goodness for the camping stove) Asleep by 1am and up at 6am for the final last push for the morning ferry. 

07/08/22 

Arrived at the port early and queued, toilets (good job) but no café. Out comes the camping stove again and we had coffee and 1/2 a banana each.

On the ferry we baulked at paying £12 for a veggie breakfast plus extra for the drinks, so we played cards and drank water knowing we would be meeting Steve's sister at Costa.

A short 1 1/2 hrs trip later we were back on UK soil and heading for Costa where we spent 3hrs chatting and catching up.

Back on the road with only hot chocolate inside me, we headed for a Wetherspoons on the M40, what a great idea, reasonable food, quiet environment and unlimited coffee. Full up we swapped drivers for the last 1 1/2hr and finally got home at around 8pm.

Daisy had bought us flowers and mini bags of party rings, so nice to see her and have a hug.

Broken Car

 On our last day in Portugal, we visited Penela to collect our proof of ownership of the cottage from the Junta......

We had applied almost a week ago but the document needed stamping by the president who only worked on a Thursday, there was no way around this, we needed it to open a bank account so we just had to wait.....wheels turn slowly in Portugal!!

After collecting the document in question, we were able to open up a bank account, our final part of our visa application.We visited Credito Agricolo, the cashier spoke good English and was able to complete the whole process with us really easily.

However when we returned to the car, this is what greeted us.

Luckily there was a phone number on the windscreen and the owner of the house came out and rang it for us. An elderly man walked up to the car and attempted to talk to us in very fast Portuguese, we tried to use Google translate but were unable to see the screen due to the bright sunlight. The man walked us around to a bar where we were able to see the screen and ascertain that it was him that had hit us. We were  outside an insurance broker and he tried to take us in there but they were closed for lunch, he communicated to us that he had a cardiology hospital appointment and we agreed to meet him back at the insurance office at 4pm.

We strapped the bumper back on using bungee ropes and moved the car stopping once for an adjustment when a piece of the bumper slipped down and started dragging on the floor.

This is what our car looks like now after Steve's repair 😃😃

Whilst we waited we had coffee and played cards meeting some very interesting people who spoke English, first was a couple called Bruce and Declan then a family group Julian and Joe with their two children and finally Pam, John and Florence.

We  returned to the insurance office and was pleasantly surprised to see the old man waiting there for us, we completed an insurance claim with the office and took copies for our insurance company which we attached to our online claim.

River Beach house

Next stage of our journey..... we stayed in the area that we have bought our cottage in to explore.

We chose a beautiful house to stay in with our friends 300m from the river beach...it was absolutely huge, sleeping eight in four double bedrooms.

After deciding that we should let our friends have the master bedroom with ensuite, we chose one of the other bedrooms and waited for them to arrive.

When they did, they went upstairs and opened the windows to air the room...several hours later they returned to their room to find it full of insects....hence a quick room change.

All went well until one of our friends walked into the glass outer door, hitting his nose and head causing him to fall backwards, it was the one and only time we have heard him swear. After a short lie down he was up and about again.

We spent a total of five days, four nights at this location visiting Penela, Coimbra and the local river beach Praia Fluvial da Louçainha.

On of our days was spent negotiating the 6.2km river walk from Praia Fluvial da Louçainha to Espinhal, it was a very beautiful walk with more than 20 species of butterflies, birds, beautiful scenery and waterfalls. There were several tricky bits to negotiate with rope attached to the rock walls to hang onto.

 About halfway through the walk, we came upon a 'help yourself to green tea and beer' which was set up at the back of the only house for miles around. We had quick refreshments and a chat with the owners.

As the walk progressed and we left the cool of the forest, the temperature rose to about 36/37 degrees, one of our friends began to struggle with the heat and the muscles in her leg began to hurt, we took frequent breaks and fashioned a walking stick out of a branch. On one of our breaks, we met Hermon who offered to drive our friend in his car however after a rest and a massage she turned down the lift and we carried on arriving in Espinhal tired and in need of coffee and food. We found a local café who supplied both and then visited a 'supermarket' which was the size of the average person's lounge. We bought the few items she had then tried to get an uber or bolt, none of which had any cars in the area. We returned to the café for help and they rang a local taxi for us which took us back to the house.

One of our evenings was spent at the Praia Fluvial da Louçainha where we swam in the dammed river, the water was still cold but much warmer than other river beaches we had swam at.

Our last full day with our friends was spent in Coimbra, the third largest city in Portugal. We visited the botanical gardens, the outside of the university, had dinner in a vegan café, visited the old and new cathedral, saw the river view and saw the archaeologists painstakingly digging up skeletons.