Two more weeks in Sao Miguel

There are worse places to be weather bound than an island which abounds with walking trails and has a good swimming beach a 45 minute walk away.

As a change from walking, we decided to visit a fairly big town on the east coast, Ribiera Grande. This was an attractive town with a river running through the centre and a pretty town square.

We also visited a couple of attractions in Porta Delgarda itself, namely the fort, which  housed an interesting military museum in an impressive building and a lava cave on the outskirts of town.

As usual we enjoyed many of the hiking trails on the island. Probably our favourite was the water trail with lots of aqueducts and a spot where water poured out of a cavern high up on a cliff side which was known as Hell's Mouth.

Another walk with a water theme took us past a reservoir and several hydro electric facilities which had been in use up to the 1970's.

Many walks, many beautiful routes; there are surely worse places to be stuck despite almost a full week of rain.

Scruffbag loves natural swimming pools and certainly enjoyed the thermally heated one on the east coast. I found the swell very challenging and only had a quick dip.

At last, after 4 weeks we finally had a weather forecast that was ok - not brilliant as the wind was forecast to be all over the place and possibly very light in parts. Together with several other boats who had been waiting along with us, we could finally set off back to mainland Europe.

Island number 32

Now for our 32nd and, at least for a while, last island. We wanted to fill up with diesel before we left do we tied up on the fuel pontoon to do just that and to pay marina fees at the same time.

We were able to sail all the way with the wind starting out at 10 knots and getting to 13/14 overnight. It was a quiet night with one cargo ship and a couple of fishing boats passing. The dawn watch brought a pod of dolphins and several yachts heading for the same place and we were tied up in Ponta Delgarda, Sao Miguel, by ten past eight in the morning.

Ralph and I had been here 8 years ago with a group of friends waiting for Erica to arrive in the AZAB fleet. Unfortunately, they retired from the race and went to Spain instead but We recognised many landmarks, including our apartment block overlooking the harbour.

Ponta Delgarda is a large town by Azores standards and it has a good bus service across the island and a very helpful tourist information office with lots of walking trail maps.

I was keen to show Mark a couple of things I had enjoyed on my earlier visit; the folders at Sete Cidades, with its twin lakes and the hot sulphur pool at Furnas.

We caught the bus to Sete Cidades from where we planned to take a short taxi ride to the top of the folders and walk around it and then down into the town. Unfortunately nobody had told us that we had to change buses at a small village near Sete Cidades and we didn't understand the driver's Portuguese instructions so we ended up going too far, which meant a taxi ride from further down the road.

Last time we did this walk I remembered that the climb was very steep. Hence the decision to reverse the route this time and walk down -a wise decision without doubt. The views  looking down on the lakes were stunning though. We have seen a lot of beautiful sights on our travels but this
still took our breath away and photographs do not do it justice.

We did lots of walking through a landscape full of stunning flowers.

 We were lucky to have Scruffbag with us when we visited the island's only pottery, a family run affair going back 4 generations where the blue and white pottery is all hand made. Scruffbag was able to use his years working as a technician in college with ceramicist Kate Reynolds to give us a very informative tour.

Another first was our visit to a tea plantation. Tea has been grown here for several hundred years and there are two working plantations left. We walked around the plantation on a 3.5 km trail before sampling a free cup of tea in the factory. the orange pekoe was so delicious that I had to buy some. Scruffbag of course insisted on a coffee, which he had to pay for.

 We had planned to stay in Sao Miguel for a week or two before setting off for the sail to Portugal. Unfortunately the weather had other ides with strong winds on the nose forcing us to remain here. Another two weeks of exploration and another blog entry from Sao Miguel to follow.

Teciera

We set out early in the morning to sail for Angra do Heroismo, the capital of Teciera. This turned out to be a very pleasant sail in light winds on the beam. We did see a pod of dolphins in the distance but they didn't come to play around the boat.

Angra is the capital of Terciera and it is a UNESCO world heritage city. It is very attractive with some fine old buildings and a lovely central park.  We went out for a meal one night and Ralph and I decided to sample the local beef stew, Alcatra, which was recommended in the pilot book. I can safely say that I will never eat it again and neither will Ralph. We were both envious of Mark's sausage dish.

The buses on Terciera are not great so one day we took a taxi and visited two local sights, firstly the fumaroles, spouts of steam that come up from deep in the earth's crust and secondly one of the lava caves. Both were well worth it and on the journey, the taxi driver pointed out the fields of horned bulls that take part in the bull running in various villages around the island. We also noticed several practice bull rings.

We took bus across the island one day and the bus journey itself  provided a good view of the environment. At the end of the journey there was a big group of natural sea swimming pools and we managed to have a swim and do some snorkeling, looking at the fish in the rocky pools.

We only did one hike and that was around Monte Brazil, the large rocky promontory next to the harbour. This proved to be an excellent walk with some fantastic views and we came across a small cafe as we finished the walk at the end of the promontory so we were able to savour some well earned refreshment.

Another week over and it was time to set sail again, this time for our last Azorean island, the biggest one and the capital, Sao Miguel.

Horta and beyond

By the time I arrived back in Horta, Scruffbag had been there for a month and our friend, Ralph, had arrived 2 weeks previously so we were all keen to move on. The day after my arrival we went shopping for provisions, filled up the water tanks and were ready to leave the next day. The sail to Sao Jorge was only about 30 miles and was straightforward with light winds on the beam.

The tiny marina at Velas was staffed by very friendly young men and we were given a berth for a couple of days but warned that we would have to change berths later when the berth holder returned. By then they expected someone would have left. In the event, we moved the following day and Scruffbag excelled himself with a perfect maneovre in reverse, no easy task in a 1980s boat.

Velas is a pretty small town but it has all the necessary amenities including a large supermarket and a tourist information office as well as two sets of natural swimming pools. Unfortunately buses are few and far between so getting about took some planning.

We took a bus to the town of Rosais one day and had a lovely walk through the forest. Hydrangea hedges abounded along with lots of other flowers, including large yellow lillies. The landscape is full of fields bordered by stone walls with lots of greenery and pretty cottages.

On the Monday we decided to hire a car and drive around the island, since Ralph had brought his licence. We drove through the central mountains, though there was a fair bit of mist but still some spectacular views,. The fajas are flat pieces of land at the cliff bases and there are often villages based there. Some of them are spectacular.

By afternoon torrential rain had set in so although we pressed on to the island's tip, some of the views we might have had were non-existent. The views at the end of the island ,however, were revealed by a break in the storm.

Unfortunately we had a slight accident when Ralph clipped a parked truck and smashed the wing mirror and dented the door. This proved a costly error as we were charged 700 euros. We are all hoping Ralph's own insurance will cough up as this was an extortionate charge given the actual damage.

The next day we took an early bus to the island's second largest town and from there we got a taxi to the start of a walk which went down a cliff and across three fajas. . They are caused by lava and are often cultivated as well as having villages sited on them where the locals come and go using quad bikes . We had been advised that,since we only had time for one walking trail, this was the one. The downhill leg was strenuous after lack of walking in the Caribbean heat but the views were worth it.

After a week it was time to move on to the next island, Teciera. This was about 50 miles away.