Five Feet, Nine Inches Above Ground

Friday January 24 2025

The best laid plans…Woke up early on Friday with visions of a group hike in Barranco do Velho, about 18 km from Estoi, in my head. Here, at the Quinta, the overnight rain had eased off and the cloud cover was beginning to break. A good sign! After much discussion amongst Harald, my neighbour, Randy and myself, we decided to take the risk and go and see what it was like. The trail is in a valley up in the mountains, the higher we went, the wetter and cooler the weather became. As Harald and I waited for Randy, Pat and Gary to arrive, it began to rain. The main concern was about how slippery the trail might be as parts of it are quite steep as it descends into the valley. Armed with raincoats, walking sticks and determined hearts, we all set off into mists and rain. As pat remarked, we won’t melt and we didn’t. It was a lovely hike made magical by the mist and rain.

Sheep bells could be heard eerily echoing through the mist and eventually they came into sight. We were a damp group as we made our way back to the parking lot. Four of us headed off to a local restaurant, Café Cortelha, in search of hot food and libations. We weren’t disappointed!

And then it was time to return to Estoi where the weather was considerably drier!