It was moving day! This was in March 2018.
After three months in the Algarve, we were moving over the border to Spain & were ready.
Perhaps it was beacause the weather in February had been shocking, or that we were ready for a change of scenery.
I had to admit I'd been a little disappointed with the Winter weather as I'd expected more bright, sunny days.
However, it had actually been windy most of the time, cloudy & downright wet.
England had bad snow storms & Europe in general had unsettled weather, with snow in Barcelona disrupting the F1 Grand Prix 2018 post Winter testing sessions. Here in the Algarve we'd had torrential rain & even tornados which caused damage along the sea-front & to homes.
We'd taken a couple of trips to Spain as the border was only 40 minutes drive away & there was damage to the sea wall at Isla Cristina whilst most of the wooden board walks & steps to the beach at Islantilla were broken & cordoned-off.
Our Algarvian cottage had been rustic with shutters & single-glazed sash windows. The windows & doors had large gaps so we could see the effect of the strong draughts from the wind blowing the curtains around indoors. The rain blew in under the doors too, making puddles on the brick-tiled floor. Whilst not icy cold like the Northen yellow house, the cottage had been cool & fresh with the constant movement of draughty air & we'd had the electric radiators on almost non-stop.
So we were ready to move-on.
Our next home in Sanlúcar de Barrameda in Spain was only a three hour drive away, so I'd informed our host we'd be there at 3pm.
In fact, this was too ambitious as packing the car (between heavy showers) & finishing cleaning took longer than anticipated so I'd had to message at 11.30am to add an hour onto our arrival time.
I'd checked our progress & time after a comfort break, thinking it would take a little over an hour to get to Sanlucar, I had an hour to inform our host of any changes. But then it dawned! Spain was an hour ahead of Portugal so at 4.05pm (not the expected 3.05pm), we were already late...
Following a hastily written apology, the host responded to say she'd leave written instructions at the house & not to forget that the clocks would also move forward an hour at 2am in the morning.
In less than 24 hours we'd 'lose' two hours. Would we ever get them back?
We drove towards Seville & followed the motorway across the river to the South of the city with just an hour left of our journey to the coast & estury of the Guadalquivir river. We were amazed at just how flat the landscape was, with fields extending for miles. Closer to Sanlucar, there were low rolling hills with no hedgerows or substantial trees, few towns or turnoffs from the main road.
Typical to Spain, it was a well-maintained fast road, but both Rob & I agreed the journey seemed to be one of the longest hours we'd experienced!
In the end, after following Google Maps through Sanlucar to the house without problem, the host was there with her hubby & to help translate, their son-in-law & two lovely grandaughters.
We emptied the car & dumped everything in the house, cracked open the two bottles of Sagres beer we'd brought, then Googled direcions to the nearest supermarket to fetch provisions. A qickly cooked meal later & we were in our new home for the next month.
