Day No. 91 - Self is the man ...

This morning, we are once again woken by the rising sun. As we push up the blinds, we look out over the azure blue sea and the Praia de Loulé Velho. We are standing about three meters above the sea on an ochre-coloured dune in a cosy pine forest. Only at night should you take a closer look, because there are cacti everywhere among the pine trees. We enjoy our view of the sea a little longer, wrapped up in our blankets. - When it's time to get up, I decide to take a quick dip in the sea.

Short was the right decision. - The Atlantic is supposed to be 18° at this time of year. It feels a maximum of 14°. - That matches the temperature outside, which is also around 14° today. - So I quickly take a shower outside, which doesn't make me any warmer, but at least I can get back on the bus clean. Here we have delicious coffee. - Above all, our morning coffee ceremony is much more relaxed since our visit home. - We have bought a larger espresso maker from Bialetti. It still says "would you like another sip of coffee" but the emphasis has lost that certain undertone.

Afterwards, I play a little with our neighbor's dog, a Malinois. He doesn't just seem powerful and balanced, he is. After half an hour, it's not him who is exhausted, but I could go straight back to sleep.

Meanwhile, Torgit goes for a walk on the beach and brings back some shells. - The topic of dogs brings us back to the subject of having our own dog. We've long agreed on whether, what breed and so on, but we're still discussing how, i.e. dog training. But we do agree that we want to speak with one voice. - Surely the right approach lies in the middle. We still have to find the middle ground. (Note from Torgit: While my soul is dangling on a walk along the beach, particularly large and beautiful shells keep catching my eye. Why is it always the particularly beautiful things that stand out? Does everything always have to be perfect? Don't imperfect things have their own special charm, things with rough edges and quirks? Like us? We've already had this in the citadel of Bleye, the Ultra IPA from PIP, "The beer of imperfect perfection.

Conclusion of the day: Long live the perfect imperfection! Vive Imparfaitement Parfaite!

Afterwards, I take a stroll along the beach. There are some wild vans between the pine trees. I set off to look for Elisabeth, the French girl from Alsace who I met on the plane. She is also said to have set up camp here for the night. - I ask around and an Austrian gives me the decisive tip. Elisabeth and her friend are sitting behind his caravan. An exciting group, including the Austrian.

I always find it exciting to meet new travelers almost every day. Today, for example, the Austrian Engelbert Fleischhacker. He is on tour with his dog Willi. Engelbert writes about their experience on the road from the perspective of his dog Willy.

What was originally intended as a kind of diary now fills three books. These report on Willy's trips to the North Cape, to Gibraltar in a camper van and their tour through England, Scotland and Ireland. - Engelbert tells me about his previous life as a cab driver. About an abusive customer and why he was fed up with his old life. But above all, he tells me about a journey to happiness. His golden retriever Willy has been with him for four and a half years and has recently become a wild promenade mix. As you can see from his feather, he's a little hippie.

There are lots of exciting people on the road. But few seem to have set off for fun. Often, strokes of fate seem to be the impetus for leaving. Few seem to have left simply for the fun of it. Should that give us pause for thought?

At some point I prefer to make my way back to the Torgit and Hector. As a sunny day is forecast for tomorrow, I want to see if we can get the battery connection cable for our new solar bag connected to the camping battery. If I had known what I was getting myself into, I would probably have put it off until tomorrow. Because to get to the battery connections, you first have to remove the driver's seat.

But said is said. So I get out the tools, put a 13 mm socket on the ratchet and off I go. When the seat is removed, I realize that the clamps cannot be fitted directly. So I borrow some side cutters from the neighborhood and open the clamps. Then screw everything together, refit the seat and check the app. Apparently everything went well. We didn't trigger an airbag and there was no error message on the display. But does it work? Tomorrow, when the sun shines, we'll be smarter.