Let’s try this again…Lagoaaaa, here we come! In just about two hours we’d finally be able to put derriere-on-couch and sip something sporting a toothpick parasol. YAY! Oopsy! We. Did. Not. Get. Far. Sheesh! At least we were in another district. So redo YAY number one! YAY! Little steps. Then we entered a roundabout and saw the name Vila Nova de Milfontes, so took the exit with two wheels kissing the kerb. Phew! Wha-aat?

The advantage of travelling out of season is there are quite a lot of places to park, it mostly does not cost anything and spots directly in front of the beach are many. Not here though. Tis the time for fixing things, like roads. The whole area in front of the beach was being re-tarred or something, but we found a very dusty-cough-cough-spit spot somewhere behind somewhere. Whatever. We were happy anyway. Beach! Water! Asphalt perfume!

Vila Nova de Milfontes lies at the mouth-delta-estuary of the Mira River, so has this wonderful and huge river beach, the Praia da Franquia, as shown in the above photos. The weather was lovely, the sand not too hot, so we got naked. Hey, we only took our shoes off. 🤪 What a geez this is strenuous lovely walk all the way to the Atlantic Ocean. Well, we tried, but there was a sort of cliff blocking our way, so we had to walk all the way back again, or hopefully just for a few metres, please pretty please, until we could find an easy and safer climb back up to the street. Heh. Heh. Ha! There was no way we were going back, so the only thing to do was to ape ourselves up on little cliffy. Cliffy, the slippery sand dune, cough-cough-spit, with a huge parking lot on top. Hoo-rah-rah!

The view from the parking lot is also amazing. A short walk and there it is, right there in the middle of a little roundabout, big, bold and quite odd, the Estátua Arcanjo (Archangel Statue). It stands there facing the town with its back (wings) towards the Praia do Farol and the Atlantic Ocean. We thought it was an alien, but it’s a metal thingy constructed with all sorts of other metal thingies like spoons, nuts, bolts, chains, wires and we even saw a horseshoe! It looks like a serious message to us earthlings because he seems to be angry or screaming, but we’re not so sure. It’s fascinating though.

To the right of the statue one can walk down to the Praia do Farol and a beach hut eatery. Here the beach is a bit rougher with huge splashing waves. Keep going until you reach the Praia do Carreiro da Fazenda which is opposite to the river beach. It’s a stony walk, but easy peasy.

Talk about stones. Between the hut and the Praia do Carreiro da Fazenda lies a huge area filled with cairns. It’s not sure who or why this started, but ooh, the temptation to stack was so great that I made TWO! Mission accomplished! Here they are, Mighty and Shorty. Drink? Anyone?

Unfortunately we did not have time to visit the town itself, but that’s okay, there’ll hopefully be a next time! Next stop…really now…cross my heart and all that…Lagoa…