Motorhoming in Algarve. (1 Viewer)

Don Cox

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Nov 1, 2016
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New member to this site, would like to inform members who travel the Algarve about an incident my wife and I encountered earlier this year. We were parked on the aires at Alvor, woken at five in the morning by loud banging around the motorhome walls. Decided to go and investigate, this was my mistake, a 45 year old man walked briskly around the back of motorhome with the intention of getting inside, a kick boxing match ensued , managed to get inside and lock the door. On ringing 112 emergency, my phone was answered with silence then cut off. Decided to make a getaway, returned to the safety of Albefeira aires. Visited local policestation there met with a blank, cant speak English, until I explained there was a fight, the outcome was understandably negative. Anyway what I want to do is to let you other motorhomers know is ,never open any door or window to outside disturbance . Always have your motorhome in a ready to escape mode, eg no ramps or steady legs down no articles left outside chairs etc. Finally make sure you know where nearest police station is as sanctuary. Don and Pauline.
 
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Don Cox

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Nov 1, 2016
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Been using aires in Alvor since it opened, last 5 years without any problem. The worry is there were 11 other motorhomes in close proximity not one turned out to see what the trouble was, suppose I cant blame them.
 
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Don Cox

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Nov 1, 2016
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Have stayed on the aires in Portugal since their introduction around 5 years ago, also when they were just wildcamping areas, police were always driving around in those days, seem to be scarcer now. Would highly
recommend both aires in Albefeira. Porto Covo on the west coast is also very good if still open.

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Oct 6, 2016
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New member to this site, would like to inform members who travel the Algarve about an incident my wife and I encountered earlier this year. We were parked on the aires at Alvor, woken at five in the morning by loud banging around the motorhome walls. Decided to go and investigate, this was my mistake, a 45 year old man walked briskly around the back of motorhome with the intention of getting inside, a kick boxing match ensued , managed to get inside and lock the door. On ringing 112 emergency, my phone was answered with silence then cut off. Decided to make a getaway, returned to the safety of Albefeira aires. Visited local policestation there met with a blank, cant speak English, until I explained there was a fight, the outcome was understandably negative. Anyway what I want to do is to let you other motorhomers know is ,never open any door or window to outside disturbance . Always have your motorhome in a ready to escape mode, eg no ramps or steady legs down no articles left outside chairs etc. Finally make sure you know where nearest police station is as sanctuary. Don and Pauline.
Thanks for sharing that with us, it must have been a very frightening experience?! I cldn't fight my way out of a paper bag when I was a teenager, let alone now at 67yrs old! I have a couple of gas powered air rifles & a pistol, perfectly legal, I wldn't hesitate to use the latter though, to protect me & mine if threatened in our home. I guess its totally ILLEGAL to take it with us on our long haul trip through Europe next year? Just wondering,,,ya'all,,, not illegal to think about it, isit?
 
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Don Cox

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Nov 1, 2016
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Friends say I should carry a baseball bat or similar, if the Portugese police had a single excuse to incarcerate you
for a long time then this could be it. Will be going back for three months next year so will have some time to decide.
Thankyou to all for the welcomes.

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Lord Robbie

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Nov 1, 2016
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We regularly park up in the Algarve and have never experienced anything like this. A nasty experience indeed. I have 2 tins of pepper spray on board, one at the driver door and the other above the main door. I must say that this is a very rare incident, Portugal is the most laid back and friendly country in Europe. Sorry you have had to experience this.
 
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Don Cox

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Nov 1, 2016
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I agree totally although this year did hear of a few breakins, never had a problem before. This guy spoke little English apart from shouting police, which he certainly was not. Pepper spray seems a good idea, I will consider that one. Although as I said will never open door till daylight. Will still carry on camping in Portugal
 

TerryL

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Mar 5, 2010
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Regrettably this kind of incident can and is encountered anywhere, be it a nutter, drunk, jealousy or someone who simply just wants to cause trouble. It's no consolation, of course, to the OP but unfortunately is a fact of life. As said above, the best course of action is to drive away and not get involved.

We prefer aires to campsites but do have a rule - if either of us feels uncertain about a place, for any reason, we move on.

Glad it hasn't put you off.

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Twogirls

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Mar 21, 2016
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This is very worrying as we set off in a few weeks for our very first europe tour. Most worrying thing is that no-one nearby came out to assist. Sorry you had that experience. It seems to be extremely rare, I guess it could happen anywhere. Good advice about being prepared to leave in a hurry.
 

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