A quiet Christmas and some walks

Once Scruffbag and I were on our own again we revisited some of the walks from 4 years ago, walking to the next village, Bergau. along the cliffs and walking the other way along the cliffs into Lagos.

We also took the bus to Salema and walked back to Luz along the cliffs from there.

Four years ago the marshy valley east of Salema was completely dry. However, after the wet autumn it was certainly not dry this year and provided a great habitat for birds.

We decided to try a new walk inland from the village of Barrao Sao Jao so we took an Uber to the village and set off using a rather unimpressive walking guidebook.. Fortunately (so we thought) the walk was marked with red and white route markers so we followed them. It was a pleasant walk past lots of wind turbines.

There were lots of bushes known a strawberry trees, though the fruit was still yellow or orange. THese are not strawberries, though when red they can be used in jams and pies.

We also came upon a very strange man who at first sight appeared to be a normal walker with boots and pack walking a bit ahead of us. Suddenly he dropped down on to all fours and started lapping from a puddle. We thought of offering him a drink. thinking he must be very thirsty, but when we got up to him, still lapping, he said he had two litres of water in his pack but that as the water was clear and he did not know where he would next find any he was taking a drink. nutter. In Portugal you can take your flask to any village bar or any house and they will happily fill it for you. It was pleasant and sunny but not hot. W walked on!

We had walked a fair way and passed some very old cork trees way when we came to a road. 

There was no road in the very poor sketch map in the guide book so we looked on google maps. Hmmm we were clearly in the wrong place, much too far west and we had been mistakenly following the trail to the town of Vila de Bispo. It was about 15 kilometres to retrace our steps so we decided to call an Uber. That is the beauty of Uber. They can pinpoint your destination and come to any road. Without the ap, we would have faced another long walk to the nearest village before we could call a taxi. Luckily we were in a cab within 20 minutes and on our way back to Luz.

After a trip by train to the nearby town of Portimao to buy small gifts for each other, Christmas itself was quiet but enjoyable with Scruffbag as usual cooking a delicious meal.

The next visitors would be our elder daughter Jo and our son in law Andy.