Five Feet, Nine Inches Above Ground

The Rocha da Pena is located about 45 minutes by car north and west of Estoi. Our hiking adventure required some advance planning as we decided to take our own individual picnic lunches with us. Thursday was a perfect day for our party of six: Randy, Patricia, Laurie, Gary, Morgaine and myself. Marc elected to remain at home to work on some new canvasses. There were a lot of other people on the trail that loops up and around the plateau comprising the Rocha de Pena. It took us about three hours to travel the 7 or 8 km circuit including numerous stops to observe views and flowers and eat lunch.

For some of our party, this was a repeat hike. For me, it was all new and almost an overload of information. Birds, plants, signs of wild boar and, of course, dealing with my fear of heights. It was all good even though there ere times when the trail seemed to be perilously close to the edge – from my point of view. Patricia’s commentary on the plants was very helpful and interesting. There was so much I missed and I would love to return and do it again!

And then it was time for our picnics next to the geophysical marker at the top used for map making. I wonder if its used now with GPS and digital maps?

Somehow, I missed taking photos of the Iron Age wall – for another time, I guess! Going downhill was a lot easier than the uphill version at the beginning.

Arriving at the bottom brought us to the lovely village of Penina. From there, the trail took us through the countryside back to the car park and refreshing cold drinks on café patio.

And so another wonderful episode in the Algarve came to a close. Tomorrow (Friday) is promising much needed rain and I’m looking forward to a catch up day at home before the weekend!