Waiting for a Brazilian Welder

 With several weeks to kill before the return of Rodriguez, the Brazilian welder, Scruffbag decided to paint the mast, main boom and the crosstrees, which had been looking very much the worse for wear for sometime.We would intersperse this with some walking through the verdant early summer countryside and try to remain patient as our date for returning to the UK moved further away. (We had sold our bungalow in Chelmondiston and were buying a cottage on the property our daughter and her family were in the process of buying in south west Wales, a property we had never seen in a country we had each only visited once).

The mast was duly removed by our friend, Alex, and Scruffbag set to work.

Sanding, sanding, sanding, nine coats of paint. I helped but not a lot in the long scheme of mast painting.

Meanwhile we walked a lot and we admired the views and the flowers. Our favourite walk was through the woods and up to Sera de Pescaria and then down into the next valley, then up the hill back to the far end of Sera de Pescaria and down to the coastal path home, We came across an entire field of early purple orchids.

A few weeks later and there were lots of clumps of bee orchids along the paths and verges.

Every walk brought new flowers.

We were pleased to see that what is reputedly the oldest church in Portugal had now opened after being closed for repairs.

There are worse places to wait I guess.