Does anyone live in the Castelo Branco region if so, is it a good area? We're thinking of going to look at some properties there. I know it will be cooler there than the Algarve in winter, but needs must.

Avoid Vila Velha da Rodao, it stinks like a cesspit.

Is it maybe the same issue? https://www.portugalresident.com/eco...-river-ocreza/Algae bloom, black sludge and foul smell have become regular

Four environmental associations have appealed to the minister of the environment to intervene and stop the pollution in River Ocreza (Castelo Branco), “which once again is extremely polluted” – an episode that they say is repeated annually.

That is worth knowing, thanks.

It might be adding to the pong but the pong is mainly caused by the bio-mass plants in Vila Velha, the operators been fined umpteen times. After each fine the pong disappears but returns again after a short time, I think caused by them not replacing the filters in the discharge pipes often enough.
I don't think they can be blamed for the Ocreza pollution though as their discharge goes to the Tejo (which has suffered pollution in the past) upstream of where the Ocreza joins the Tejo.

Do you have particular reasons/expectations in your search for property up there - proximity to Spain perhaps? If we had a better idea of what you want to find there perhaps we can advise better. There are quite a few expats there, but as I am not one of them cannot help specifically on that area.
Have you also had a look round the area south of Coimbra - Avelar, Ansiao, Penela?

Basically finances, everything is too expensive on the Algarve! We have driven through the region a couple of times. We are looking in the region of Tomar. I would like a mansion for a fiver... We can't rent forever, it's way too noisy in duplexes and town houses.

After living in the countryside I couldn't live in a noisy apartment or townhouse either, but don't forget that nobody is getting younger either. The mansion might look cheap to buy and then it could cost a fortune to maintain when you can't do things yourself. Our favourite coastal areas in Portugal and Spain were far too expensive and also looked further inland, at the end of the day we realised we'd miss the beach and promenade which was the whole reason of buying in the first place. A place like Mortágua might have been Ok as we would have had water close by, just not the same as coast.

I'm joking about the mansion. I nice 2 or 2 bed house with a bit of land 1000 m2 + would be OK. I love the beach, but not in summer as I couldn't use it. I love to run on the beach, that's the only reason to live by the beach for me.

LOL, well for some that would be a mansion. A bit of space for a pool and growing fruit and veg is great. I see it with friends who moved to France and they thought the 200m2 house with 3 acres was getting too small. I love the idea of a rainforest and letting the land go wild in a country like Ireland, but in countries such as Spain and Portugal (for most parts) it would be too much of a worry for me with all the wildfires.

Of course, but have you seen the state of these houses!!!!!

Oh yeah, there's a lot of crap out there. In the end we opted for building something smaller detached in Spain. A lot of homes in Portugal seemed to be so damp that you would have been better off knocking the whole place down but that was 10 years ago. I still look on idealista every now and then. In Spain they love apartments and along the coast we could have only afforded something very small or it would be cardboard walls (both countries). Then the cheap village houses have no outside space or you have a nice house that is so far from services, or a house right next to a forest that can burn any time.

Somewhere near the Douro River always seemed nice. Remember looking at properties near Cinfães, again too wet and cold for most people during winter.

Folks from around Tomar head to the beaches in summer to cool down. The interior can get very hot in summer and cold in winter.

Have driven through Castelo Branco many times and to be honest it wasn't a place that particularly appealed except for the proximity of Spain and cheap (er) petrol! There are no larger towns particularly close by ,and like you we would like to be closer to the sea for an occasional day out. The only thing it had in its favour was house/land prices.
We looked at all areas that might appeal.Started with Silver Coast.Really liked the area but was quite expensive and very misty even in the warmer months. Inland Leiria wasn't too expensive ,but the fires that year put us off.Next was the area round Sesimbra.Loved it there,near Setubal ,beaches and closer to Lisbon,but the prices were way out of our budget.
However it did make us realise that we wanted to be nearer a larger city,able to get to a beach,water in an hour or so and of course a decent property ,with a bit of garden and costing less! We didn't consider the Algarve at all. OH is born and bred there and we lived there in the 80's before mass tourism ruined a lot of it., and we didn't really want that sort of area any more.
So we looked at our priorities( didn't really want to be much further N. than Lisbon) and ended up in the Santarem district.
We can get to Lisbon in an hour,Montijo for the shopping mall in 40 mins,an hour to the beach 1.5 hours to Evora and we live less than 10 mins from the Tejo.AND property prices are still low,but are rising quite quickly ,new builds all over now, I think from Lisbonites/Lisboans(?)cashing in on the cheaper land prices. We are about 40 mins south from Santarem,in farmland, so no worries re possible fires in the areas north of Santarem,so have almost everything we need. Temps not much lower/higher than the Algarve.
I would also like to move to the Sines,Santiago do Cacem area near the coast,but property is quite expensive there.