Lakeside Wild Camp

We had been driving through the Alentejo plains of Portugal; a hot, dry landscape full of cork groves and empty land. We were making our way north from The Algarve, with the crowds behind us and nothing but vast openness in front of us. The road to this camp was long and never ending. I don’t think we passed another car. It wound its way through cork trees and glimpses of a reservoir, before ending abruptly at a large dam. Peeling off the end of the road was a dirt track, leading to one of the most beautiful camps we’ve had on our trip. We only intended to stay the night, but ended up staying for 3 days. We were surrounded by cork forests, bird song and water. With no passing traffic, we had complete peacefulness and tranquility. We set up camp for a few days and enjoyed just ‘being’. There was nowhere to be, nothing to do. And it was absolute bliss.