For Whom the Toll Bills.

My thanks are due to Roy Clarke, a regular reader of my blog who emailed me recently with observations and instructions on paying the controversial and pretty universally unpopular tolls which came into force  on the A22 "Via Do Infante De Sagres" motor way in December last year .
 There are no toll booths on the motorway itself and you have to go into a post office or pay point shop to pay your tolls if you do not hire an electronic box which you can "charge up" with cash to pay automatically.

The problem with paying at a shop or post office is that there is a 2 day time lag between you incurring the charges and them appearing on the system therefor when returning to the airport by the motorway many visitors leave unpaid bills on their hire car.
When you go to the shop or PO to pay you simply give them the registration number of the vehicle and they tell you what is owed and this could well include charges incurred by someone else who has not paid.
There is no breakdown of the charges so you can not argue and the option you have is pay it all or pay nothing. There is no way they can or will accept the lesser amount that is your charge.
Reader Willie from Dublin has fallen foul of this and finished up paying someonelse's tolls along with his own.

Apart from the post office which is in the Junta de Fergusia (Parish Council) building on the Social Housing estate at the rear of the village you can pay at 2 other places in SL.

Horatios

Jogos a casa 

Both are situated on Rua. Capitao Jorge Ribeiro  (see my new map page for directions)  Horatio's is a local minimercado where beside paying your tolls, recharging your Portuguese mobile and paying your domestic bills you can buy everything from a loaf of bread to domestic electric appliances. (It may not be on show but believe me he will have it). Jogos a casa is the lottery shop some 200 meters further down the road.                                                                                                                                                                                    
Roy tells me he has successfully paid his bill at Horatio's but points out that his limited English can be a draw back should you wish to query anything.                                                     Horatio I believe understands more English than people realise but struggles to find the words when speaking English.His son on the other hand speaks excellent English so if he is working then problem solved.

Jogos a casa is actually under new management and has only recently introduced the pay point facility so I know very little of the proprietors but I would venture to suggest that there is less likely to be any kind of queue here.

Roy finally points out that as you need no paperwork to pay the bill but simply quote the car's registration number you can leave cash with a trusted friend to pay the tolls you incur on the way back to the airport.
 However as I stated earlier the real problem is that should there be any outstanding charges on the car when you hire it there is no facility to pay your own charges only. It is "all or nothing" and though I only have anecdotal evidence it would appear that this injustice is causing many otherwise honest citizens to say "OK nothing it is!!"

Many happy returns.

Christmas and New Year have long since come and gone and Joan and I have been back to SL a couple of times since our festive sojourn.
 At least I have as Joan went out with me on the 30th March and remained when I returned to England on 16th April being still there to greet me when I returned on 5th May, packing me back off to blighty on the 16th May and finally, and somewhat reluctantly re-joining me in the UK on the 22nd May.

The weather over the festive season was positively glorious and we enjoyed a couple of hours in the sunshine on Barril beach on Christmas day before returning to the village to enjoy Christmas dinner for the first time in our Portuguese home.

Christmas day on Barril beach.

New Year's eve was likewise mild and it was possible to enjoy the midnight fireworks in Tavira wearing no more than a light jacket or cardigan.

Sadly the weather over the Easter holiday was not so kind. The temperature plummeted and during the sixteen days I was there it rained twice..............once for seven days and once for six days with the sun making a brief appearance during the three intervening days.

The Portuguese have a saying "Avril, aguas mil." which I suppose is akin to our own "April showers" and we certainly experienced more than our share of the "Aguas Mil".

Easter week and Joan, Barry and Netta enjoy the Aguas Mil at Fabrica.

Mother nature was kinder to us during my May visit and temperatures reached un-seasonal highs of 30+ as the sun blazed daily.
 For those of you who have followed my "Life of Brian" saga I am pleased to report that after some years of determined effort I finally caught "the one that got away".
 A fine 33cm sea bass that would have graced the cold slab of the swishest sea food restaurant was landed at 9am on Friday the 11th May   and quietly but somewhat ceremoniously consumed for lunch at 3pm that very afternoon.

Along with a bottle of Vinho Verde I can recommend no finer way of inducing an afternoon siesta.

The one that didn't get away.

It would seem that possibly as part of Portugal's austerity measures the Policia Maritima are clamping down on fishing without a licence. Both myself and another friend from England were approached and asked to produce our licences so if you are planning to cast a line be sure to first obtain  a licence. A few euros will get you a one month local ticket whereas the fine for not having one is €500.

Throughout our stay we encounter friends old and new including

Willie and Trish       (The Dubliners)

Angus and Michelle   (Scots Canadians and now master clammers)

Wendy and Adrian    ( 1500 miles to meet people from Leeds??).