The name of the site we are on at the moment is Bubulcus and Bolatas, Portuguese for acorns and butterflies. On the face of it that may sound a little fanciful, but the place has a genuine commitment to sustainability, 'to provide somewhere 'for the 90% of people who live in towns and cities to learn about nature,' as Waldemar, the Dutch co-owner of the place put it.
Having stayed recently at the Outão 'ecocamp' where the level of commitment to environmentalism involved painting the concrete electrical sub-station sage green and decorating it with giant murals of humming birds, then the low impact, sustainable approach practised by Waldemar & Tania seems extra impressive. The place operates entirely off-grid, power supplied by a bank of solar panels backed up by heavy duty batteries. The site's water supply is self sufficient too. The rainwater from the roofs of buildings is stored in large tanks under the raised swimming pool. They hold 30,000 litres after the winter rains, enough to supply the needs of the campers over the arid summer months and to keep a small natural swimming pool topped up. 'Even now in the autumn we still have 6000 litres in reserve,' Waldemar explained proudly.
Though the site is spread over seven hectares there are under thirty pitches scattered about the wild boulder strewn landscape. A Google reviewer commented that the place looked so like Africa that he expected a herd of elephants to wander by. Ridiculous, I thought. When you arrive, however, you can understand the point. The immediate area is a rare survival of a type of Mediterranean forest - a flat tract of scrubland punctuated by low gnarly oak trees. The soil is so poor the place has never been farmed, not even for cork oaks. When old trees have died they have not been felled. They stand leafless and gaunt. Consequently it looks like savannah, and because the area is flat you cannot see the edge, the nearby pasture land is hidden, it feels you are lost within an endless plain of grass, bushes and low trees; the sense of scale is accentuated by the big sky and the glimpse you get of blue hills to the east towards Estremoz and Spain..
So if, as the owners assert, you wish to create a place where city dwellers can reconnect with Nature it is difficult to imagine a more appropriate setting; it resembles the African landscape humans emerged from. The site is designed make you think about how we use resources. The electrical hook-up delivers 240 volts, but not sufficient to support power hungry devices like heating or air-con. There were only two groups on the site, ourselves and a French family in a tent. When both of us decided to use our electric kettles simultaneously moments later Waldemar arrived to investigate the sudden 'spike'. 'Oh, kettles are fine,' he advised us, 'but high usage for hours overnight will drain the batteries'. The water is supplied by collected rainwater. To encourage campers to take not to use too much solar heated water for their morning showers, each cubical has a colour coded 'egg-timer' so you can track how many minutes you take. Proving 'eco' need not equate to ramshackle the sanitary block itself is well designed, modern and stylish.
There's nothing much to do here other than take a walk, read a book or sit out under stars and appreciate the wonders of our 'pale blue dot'. This late in the season there are only a few flowers in bloom. We looked-up the name of the small, pendulous white ones - 'Autumn Snowflakes'.
Given the wild nature of the terrain it is not surprising that there is a wide range of insect life, the day times silence is broken by a background hum of wasps and bees, but not so many as to make sitting outside difficult; during evenings and nights there is a chorus of crickets and cicadas, punctuated by the occasional owl hoot. The size of some of the spiders, beetles and grasshoppers is remarkable.
Though it feels remote the WiFi was good enough for Sarah and Rob to work on their Apple Airs, purloining the shaded picnic tables by the pool as an outdoor office shaded from the mid-day temperatures, which hovered around thirty degrees. Rob was even able to participate in conference calls with the international medical team he is working with, designing a portable medical records app that refugees can carry with them on their mobile phones. His design is being field tested at the moment in Syria. In a world that seems to grow darker by the day, hearing of people of goodwill working together doing positive work is a good antidote to feeling overwhelmed by news-app gloom.
We left them to it and cycled into Vimeiro, a nearby small town about 4 kms distant. We needed bread and milk. For a small place it was unexpectedly confusing, we must have pedalled up and down every narrow alley before we found the small supermarket.
The only people out and about were some of the more elderly residents, soberly dresses, sitting in the shade waiting for something to happen. Gill and I whirring along on our e-bikes in the 30° heat of the afternoon provided their long anticipated 'something'. They watched us go by, staring rudely, as if we had dropped in from a different planet.
We stayed at Bubulcus and Bolatas for three nights, time enough to set up the outside kitchen and do some serious cooking as the sun went down. Sarah and Rob rustled-up a delicious aubergine curry.
The shortening days caught us out, we ended up eating by candlelight under the stars. A spectacular sunset was followed by a beautiful full moon rise through the trees. Idyllic warm evenings and balmy nights under the stars eating delicious food together - days to savour.
Our aim is to drink local wine, but Portuguese 'everyday' wine can be rough,. However, If you are prepared to pay over €8 it can be excellent. We were lucky to find some great Alentejos on offer, interesting reds from nearby Montemor-o-Novo and Comporta available at less than half price. On the final evening we packed away most of the outside kitchen in preparation for making as early start. Gill cooked a delicious salmon pasta dish in the van. I used the Cadac to grill pears and goats cheese which we dribbled some Alentejo honey over topped with creme fraise.
A good moment to appreciate an unusual rosé from the far north of Portugal. It was badged as a Vinho Verde; how a green wine can be pink I am not quite sure, but it was fresh and zesty and went well with the pears. Earlier we had polished off one of the single varietal Rioja's we bought in Haro. We have found some lovely, unusual Iberian wines on this trip. The on-board cellar is somewhat depleted, I can't see any of our purchases making it back home.
All of us loved being here at Bubulcus and Bolatas I think, but no one more so than Ralfi. He is an urban Dachshund so rarely gets the chance to grub about off-lead. He made the most of his moments of freedom.
For an animal with very short legs he can achieve an impressive turn of speed; I guess what he lacks in height is compensated by length giving him a long stride. He streaked through the undergrowth like a sawn-off whippet, a black and tan canine torpedo. Impressive, but comical.
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