Tea for the Tillerman...

The standard of food on the Etihad flight is quite high so the exotic eastern cuisine menu sounded quite yummy but due to an oversight in the booking department we didn't get a choice as we had been identified as a couple of travelling Rabbi's and under Jewish dietary law, two trays of sealed up kosher food were delivered by a grinning flight attendant!

Gingerly, the 80g Hors d'oerve of some kind of slimy, gelatenous gelfilta fish was opened and immediately a pungent aroma filled the cabin. In the name of Allah, the lid was swiftly replaced and condemned to become ICW at the earliest opportunity.

 Next was the deliciously entitled 'Main course meaty 280g' and along with some fluffy boiled rice and a tub of holy water it served its purpose until our next reading of a passage from the Hebrew bible...

Shalom...

This blog title comes to you from the old boy 'Cat Stevens' or Yusuf Islam as he converted to from the album of the same name.

Smells like teen spirit...

Newcomers need to be made aware that all the blog titles are always song titles in order for this muso to link all the songs on my iCloud loosely to each blog posted and I will also endeavour to include a link...enjoy!


So here goes....

Bussed in from the car park and checked on to the flight, all that was left to do was to walk through the 'smelly' bit where the dolly birds (and boys) try to flog you some lippy and the latest squirty Hai Karate so that you can smell like Donald Trump for the rest of the day. I gambled on a new fragrance called 'diesel' but in hindsight I should have gone for 'unleaded' as the cheaper 'red' now makes me smell like the stuff that I usually fill up the Narrowboat with....

As the sun went down it was time for a libation in the bar before the call to Etihad's pearly gates...

This blog tune to get us going is "Smells like teen spirit" which was Kurt Cobains band 'Nirvana', off the album 'Nevermind', and it just so happens it would have been his birthday today if he hadn't gone and blown his head off in 1994!

https://youtu.be/hTWKbfoikeg

Good times are calling...

Here we go again, folks...

Following a 12 month hiatus, this travel blog is about to splutter into life once again as another journey gets underway very soon. As is tradition, blog titles will always be song titles from my iPod and observations will come thick and fast from a keyboard warrior that goes off to discover new lands,  battle the elements and search for the elusive dugongs...

So watch this space....

This blog track comes to you from a favourite indie band of mine, The Courteeners and is off their second 2010 album 'Falcon'.

https://youtu.be/EYg5TOmFc7E

Lying in the Sun...

The sun came out for Christmas Day so in good traditional Yuletide style we hit the beach for a chill out day and a dip in the ocean while huge steaks sizzled to medium rare on the makeshift BBQ on the beach..

...Merry Christmas.....and that's all folks until the next trip!

This final post blog title was inspired today by 'Stereophonics', and a track off the album 'Just Enough Education to Perform'....croaky old Kelly still sounds cool.

Mansize Rooster....

Off to Quarteira today for a mooch around the town and see if the traditional market is on cos you really feel the need to find a purveyor of overpriced artisan handicrafts when your on this kind of trip.....once again, the vibrant, colourful market stalls sadly didn't exist so instead we treated ourselves to a interesting walk around some rickety old trestle tables with weathered, wrinkly faced peasants selling misshapen organic cucumbers and little pointy carrots!...oh, and I almost forgot the highlight of the gentleman that had proudly tied his massive cock to a crate!.....Merry Christmas!

Quarteira is a coastal fishing town and probably a nice place to sample some freshly caught seafood in its tiny restaurants but as we still have yesterday's catch from the supermarket still clogging up the fridge we settled for just looking at the crabs and not eating any.

Vilamoura was the Panda's next destination, and I have to say the drive was  noticeably smoother today with me at the helm. Resisting the temptation to rent out a couple of Pashley push bikes we found ourselves strolling around the marina in search of the celebrities that were the owners of the impressive power yachts that were parked up in the harbour was the order of the day....none were to be found so we set sail back....This was a flashy place and a playground for the stinking rich and slightly famous so it didn't need the likes of us messing about with the statues and spoiling the ambience.....

                                 

This post blog title was inspired today by an old indie track 'Mansize Rooster' by Supergrass....something lively to have a jig about to on Christmas Day.

http://youtu.be/dHlLcVHncDw

No Surprises...

Apart from buying a nice new warm coat and scarf in Guia, the day didn't materialise at all...an al fresco lunch took up most of the afternoon and then of course the statutory two hours of sleep almost seemed inevitable.....
....most places are closed anyway so inspiration would have to come from within, with that lacking its easy to chill out and let the day pass without any surprises...


This post blog title was inspired today by...'Radiohead' and a right good miserable contribution with a track that basically says 'we did nothing....and we didn't want to do anything......"No Alarms and No Surprises please....." Oh, yeah...and the fact that this is BP's most hated band in the entire world.....enough said!

http://youtu.be/ZL6qzcQ_nxs

Anything Could Happen...

Scattered clouds gave way to another sunny morning, sat with an expresso to kick start the day into action. The Panda's engine roared into life and it wasn't long before we were bumping along the potholes as we headed north into the hills....today's plan was loose so anything could happen.....we just needed to drive and find it.....!

Orange and lemon trees lined the roads as we sped along on today's bespoke cultural and historical rural tour of rural Algarve in search of peasants...

Silves was the first stop, with a massive fortification on top of the hill and then on to Montchique, with it's little cobbled streets, famous water feature and hilltop monastery.

Peasants were few and far between but there was a few selling sacks of oranges at the side of the road and occasionally tilling a field.....but then we stopped for a late lunch in a traditional hilltop taverna and stumbled across a peasant hideaway. They had gathered from miles around and were all sat about eating grilled meats and washing it down with Mendohna, the local firewater.....time to join them for squids in garlic and parts of a grilled pig...
Cork trees were now a feature of the area with huge lumps of bark piled up at the side of the roads as we set off back.

Castelo de Aljezur was the next medieval stop on the return journey and then down the south side back through Lagos and Portimao and finally returning back to Albufeira in the dark.

This post blog title song was inspired today by...'Ellie Goulding' from the album 'Halcyon'. Not my normal sort of tune but I just can't stop myself from feeling I should be leaping about to this and singing at the top of my voice, really quite brilliantly.....try it!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rqVG9hCUPMM