Having spent most of our time in Portugal in the North and East, it is time to head West. We have been invited by Colin and Liz to come and spend the day with them at their place in Ribamar just to the North of Lisbon and right on the coast.
I met Colin through an interview I had with Carl on the Good Morning Portugal show, and Colin reached out to make contact. We have the common bond of rugby, and this weekend is the deciding game between South Africa and the British Lions. It is big.
The journey involves travelling along a major part of the A23 motorway and dealing with the toll payments. Now I could go on one of my special rants about the tolls in Portugal and paying for them, but I would need too much time. Needless to say, the roads are great, but the bureaucracy is typically Portuguese.
We are running late but this is Portugal and our new way of life, so we are cool with it, as is Colin. On the way, we stop for a fantastic lunch to celebrate having our offer accepted on the land and pull up at Colin’s at 4pm. Climbing the long steep drive up to the house, you come across what has been their home for the past seventeen years. The house is stunning, with a superb view overlooking the sea with a pool. On three floors with the most amazing veranda, I can see why Colin and Liz fell in love with it, and I know that they will be sad to let it go. They ran it as a luxury bed and breakfast for many years, but they are currently selling it to go on their next adventure. If you want to see how beautiful it is, look at the pictures on the real estate page of Expats Portugal.
The rugby is exciting purely because the game has so much riding on it, being the decider. There has been a meeting of the Ericeira rugby club prior to my arrival and there are seven other rugby nuts there. There is just a common bond between rugby people regardless of what level they played or where they are from and the beer, food and company are top notch.
Kimberley, not wanting to watch the rugby, has been sitting up on the veranda with some of the other rugby widows as I re-join her. A group of us just sit up on the veranda in the late afternoon sun, chatting and getting to know each other, and then, with the sun starting to go down over the Atlantic, Colin, Tony (a referee and Harlequins supporter, and all-round good bloke), Kimberley and I take Colin’s three dogs for a walk in the beautiful surrounding farmland. It is yet another unbelievably chilled moment in a holiday that has been filled with them.
As Colin and Liz have a viewing tomorrow, we opt to stay in TUT for the night. I realise how necessary the day has been after the excitement of yesterday. I can’t stop thinking about CasaBo, of course I can’t, but it has been good to have a day out of the Castelo Branco area to evaluate how we are feeling. Kimberley and I are feeling mega excited still.
Looking forward to tomorrow and our first visit to Lisbon or should I say Lisboa!