Praia da Luz, Portugal

First three nights of this year's summer expedition. Drove down to Lagos from Gibraltar, stopping at a well-placed Burger King just off the motorway outside of Sevilla for a patio lunch with dog tucked under table, before crossing the Guadiana International Bridge into Portugal. Grabbed a data Sim for Portugal to power up the WiFi from a Meo store at a shopping centre we suddenly recognised from a previous trip, then pushed on to Espiche, a couple of kms past Lagos and the same inland from Praia da Luz. It's a very posh campsite, Yelloh! Algarve Turiscampo, with spacious gravel pitches, lots of greenery, indoor and outdoor pools, spa, restaurant, shop, snack bar etc.

Definitely a breezier and cooler few days compared to the heat and humidity of Gibraltar. The running has been more pleasant although much hillier, with a classic cliff scramble to get up to the Praia da Luz-Lagos clifftop path. Faye got some distance and hills in and managed to drop by where our friend Lindsay used to live in nearby Burgau, meanwhile I tried a progressive long run to Lagos as the harder of my two, which turned out to be progressive in effort rather than pace thanks to those hills.

We all fell instantly back into vanlife after 10 months of shore leave, the new Helinox lightweight cot (read: sunbed) proving a nice little afternoon nap addition to the kit list. Our new Decathlon one-season cotton sleeping bags are a more comfortable alternative to the technical but sticky nylon mummy bags we had been using previously, that more often than not got kicked to the end of the bed on warm nights. Cacophony of bird song including very vocal pigeons have proved to be an effective family alarm clock each morning.

The Anker Nebula 3 Capsule Laser battery TV projector is, as ever, providing easy evening entertainment, with Doctor Who and Ghosts on the programme, and the kids have already got through a couple of cheap balls (one went onto a roof, standard stuff). They've also enjoyed a bit of cycling, but mainly hung out in the heated pool.

Pressure cooking proving its worth as ever, with easy pasta in tomato sauce, coconut dal, and a family favourite, bean chilli, this time served with guacamole, Greek yogurt, cheese and tortilla chips for our final evening's dinner. We did eat out at the cafe for lunch, going for piri-piri chicken and chips, of course, and I ordered "Misto de Algarvio" as a dessert, which thinking about it must mean "Algarve mix" - it was three small samples of local cakes with orange slices and ice cream, and was very nice!

We press on today to tiny Porto Covo up the west coast, famed for its beaches...