Finding the source

A Friday morning adventure

The weather was fantastic for our hike on Friday morning that began on a trail about 30 minutes by car north and west from Estoi. Fonte Benémola. The objective of the hike was find orchids – the earth in this area is particularly conducive to their growth. The hiking sleuths were Randy, Louise and myself. Randy spotted the first one! The parking was full of vehicles which was extraordinary for a Friday morning, according to Randy. I suspect some the folks on the trail were avid birders: they were carry expensive, enormous cameras/lenses/telescopes/binoculars/monoculars etc. It was fascinating to see. The trail, where we started begins at the bottom of a valley near a river and works meanders its way along the hillside parallel to the river. There are choices to make because this trail connects with or is part of a system that stretches from the east end of the Algarve to the west coast. We were covering a much shorter loop.

Naked Man Orchid

Louise and Randy

It was lovely to amble along in the warm sunshine with friendly conversation and excellent, knowledgeable commentary from Randy on our surroundings.

A spring at the river’s edge

Footbridge closed to public

A useful meadow

Always look up…

Looks somewhat like holly but is a type of oak tree

Some of what the birders were looking for..the trails have useful and interesting signage.

We found more orchids and then we crossed the river and the loop in the direction back to the parking lot began.

and another Naked Man.

As we arrived at the end of the loop, we were greeted by a very loud chorus of frogs in a small pond. They stopped as soon as they heard us…and then began, again…last verse, a little bit louder, a little bit worse! Then we headed back to Estoi and lunch in the church square with Marc and Michel. Stay tuned for more!