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.