Hello at last!

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Hi Everyone,

Its been a really long time since I've written an entry, sorry! We have had no luck finding convienient, cheap wifi connections here in Portugal. We are all fine, Ian and I are recovering from some kind cold/flu/chest infection. James is well, his hair has grown so much he looks like something from the seventies! As ever to make the most of internet time I'll spend it uploading photos instead of writing. We are currently in Central Portugal, near Tabua. We are really enjoying travelling around Portugal, its very beautiful and the people are friendly, welcoming and helpful everywhere we have been. We are picking up some Portuguese, James from having to ask for stuff and watching "O preco certo" - (The price is Right) on tv!!!

Hope everything is well back at home and hopefully I can update the blog a bit more regularly in future.

Lots of love,

Catherine, Ian, James, Tilly and Bettyxxx

p.s we saw the news today about the earthquake!

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Photos

Dec at Moncarapacho
Jim and Val with us at the house in Moncarapacho. We had some nice days out and some lovely meals - except for the "feeding the 5000" in Huevla Spain. We thought we had ordered enough food but there wasn't much to go round! Jim do you remember carving the last mushroom!?

Jon, Helen, Marc, Paul, Chelsea and Saul
Last day before going back to UK, we hope everyone had a good time (despite the cold pool!)

Tilly and Portuguese Betty
We have a new family member - Betty the Portuguese/English/French Bulldog! She has settled in well with us, visiting the Portuguese vets for her passport has been a very good experience.

a very big well!
Monica and Arthur's enormous well! Thanks for the oranges, lunch and the chance to look round your lovely estate!

Loule Carnival
We had fun watching the local carnivals in February

Pedestrian caterpillars
These are everywhere! They commute in lines up the trees and along the ground. They fire spikes and some people and animals can get a nasty reaction from them. Beware!

Big heads
I think these were Portuguese politicians? I'm probably wrong, they reminded me of "Its a Knockout"

Barragems
We have camped at some of Portugals lakes, barragems.

Snow in the Serra de Estrela
Can you see how cold we were? Snow at Portugals highest point. 1993metres

snowboarding
james had a snowboard lesson - no skiing for us, we were still suffering from the flu

Porto
We had a day in Porto, a very interesting old city

tram jam
This is the kind of event that the groups of old guys who hang around chatting in groups everywhere in Europe are waiting for! Car parked on the tramlines, tram full of people, policeman wondering what to do and the driver nowhere in sight.