3 Jan 1989

There is a campsite ‑ open and with very hot showers ‑ next to where we were watching on the dunes yesterday so we made use of it. Jim spends this morning sea watching ‑ gannets, sandwich terns, two divers, common scoter, arctic and pome­rine skuas etc. Two arctics were harrying a sand­wich tern when a third arctic joined in, the tern does not give up anything. It seems an uneconomical way for skuas to hunt, but the more skuas there are, the more likely the victim is to give up a meal, so one at least is bound to be lucky.

Much of the rest of the day is spent talking to a German couple who had also stayed in the campsite. They are seasoned travellers and give us tips about getting the most out of camping in Portugal. In particular they warn us about bandits and break-ins in the tourist areas, and suggest we get any servicing or other work done on our van in Portugal where the labour is cheap, but the mechanics have still been trained by Volkswagen in Germany.