Waiting for Octi Repairs - 1st PG Flight in Portugal

November 28^th-December 4^th, 2025

Before I picked up Naomi, I had noticed a bit of a “wa-wa-wa” sound from Octi when turning to the left.  Unfortunately, that probably meant that the right wheel bearing was on its way out.  It’s too bad that they drive on the right in Portugal as that meant that every roundabout is a left had turn.  If I was in England, I’d be doing way more right hand turns.

It wasn’t too loud and I subconsciously tried to ignore it while she was here.  We drove from Lisbon to Porto, to the Douro Valley and back down to Sintra, near Lisbon, where I stored the vehicle for two weeks while we spent time in Lisbon and on Madeira Island.  So I did put some kilometers on the van, and my luck would soon run out.

 

The place I stored the van at, called 4WD Solitaire, sells a variety of camping gear, canopies for cars and trucks including rooftop tents.  It’s also a campground and storage place for motorhomes and campervans but I didn’t realize that they also do some car repairs.  While we were in Madeira, I was in contact with the main guy at 4WD Solitaire, Paulo, asking him if he could recommend a local garage and help me with communicating with them in Portuguese as I was unaware that they had a few mechanics on hand.  He told me in an email that we could take a look at it when I returned.

 

After Naomi flew home, a mechanic named Adriano took a look at the van and after we went for a test drive, he confirmed that it was a wheel bearing.  They recommended that I replace both of them.  Unfortunately, it was Thursday and Monday was a national holiday, so the bearings wouldn’t arrive until Tuesday, and they wouldn’t be able to do the replacement.  I had 6 days to wait…

 

I took advantage of this time to catch up on a lot of blogging as I was way behind.  I decided to check out some of the local beaches and the first one I went to, about 25 minutes away, was Praia de São Julião. 

The view from the parking lot at Praia de São Julião.  A nice place to sit in Octi and do some blogging!

I had to go for a walk on the beach.

Looking back towards the parking lot, which is just to the right of the center of the photo.

I couldn't help but think "Those cliffs look great for paragliding".

Little did I know that I'd be flying those cliffs in the distance the following day.

Octi is hiding halfway up the ridge on the right.

A nice spot to spend the afternoon.

Since it looked like a good coastline for paragliding, I did some research on Friday evening after coming back from the beach.  I found a launch just 3-4 kilometres south of where I was that day.  Perfect.

 

I arrived before noon on Saturday and I was just in time to watch one pilot take off.  He was the only one flying.  I watched him for a while and then grabbed my gear and took to the skies.  It had been quite a while since I had done some coastal ridge soaring, but it’s relatively easy flying and it didn’t take long to feel like I was back in the saddle.

The launch spot at Praia da Vigia.

In flight.

Getting a little higher.

Flying north, towards Praia de São Julião.

I cruised up and down a 2-kilometre stretch of the cliff, occasionally passing by the other pilot and we exchanged a friendly wave.  After about 45 minutes, I watched him land on top, about 700 meters from the launch spot and he said something in Portuguese to me that I couldn’t quite hear nor comprehend. I noticed that the wind was backing off a bit, so I turned back with the plan of landing at the takeoff, where Octi was parked, but it was too late.  The lift was not enough to sustain me, and I ended up on the beach below.  Damn, that turned off quickly.  Oh well, I had a safe landing and now I’ll have a short hike back up the 200’ cliff.  All part of the adventure.

Bombed out on the beach...but still happy.

Sank out on the beach...

That's my climb back up to Octi.

On Wednesday, Paulo told me that they would be able to start the repairs on Octi at 3 pm that afternoon instead of the originally schedule Thursday morning.  Great!  Naomi had messaged me and told me that it was predicted that there could be giant waves at Nazare and I should consider returning there as the waves weren’t very big when we were there.

 

Unfortunately, the mechanic ran into problems with Octi’s bearing and required a special tool to remove them from the housing they were in.  That meant that the repair would spill into Thursday, and Octi was in no state to come out of the garage as both front wheels were lying on the floor.  Luckily Paulo told me that I’d be able to stay in one of their rooms they had (yet another service this place provides).  Perfect.

Octi's state for Wednesday night.

The next day, the bearings were replaced and I could start my way to Nazare, and I was only 530 Euros poorer.  Hopefully Octi doesn’t become a lemon like my campervan Betty back in 2010!