Five Feet, Nine Inches Above Ground

From Wednesday to Friday, January 17 to 19, has been a constant game of avoiding rain squalls and thunderstorms. Not totally unusual for this time of year in the Algarve and the water is desperately needed to replenish seriously depleted reservoirs. It does, however, hamper hiking in a serious way. Trails become muddy and very…

Invitations to participate in a variation on a theme are always welcome. In this case, my neighbours at the Quinta, Karim and Guido, invited me to join their weekly hiking group on Tuesday Jan 16 for an 8 km trek starting in Santa Catarina da Fonte do Bispo.It was a group of about 10 or…

Mountain climbing, again! This time, not so high and they provided concrete stairs for part of the upward climb. It was the usual suspects that gathered at the trail head of Cerro da Cabeça outside of Moncaraphaco. It’s not as high as Sao Miguel and further east. Randy, Harald, Patricia and Gary, myself and Jackson…

It was my first Sunday in the Algarve this year, January 14. Being the third weekend of the month, it was gypsy market time in Estoi at the local fairground. We all met up, Randy, Marc, Harald, Bela, Patricia, and Gary at various points in the morning to attend the event. It’s a colourful, loud,…

We began Wednesday early – saw the sunrise! Unable to sleep after 3 a.m. The curse of jet lag. It was all good. We eventually set out on a short hike to a close by favourite spot. The sun broke through the cloud cover and it was a rather nice day for walking uphill! It…

The Estoi Pousada bell tower from the Quinta parking lot. It’s feels wonderful to be back in Portugal, again! We (Jackson and I ) arrived in Estoi, Portugal last evening, Monday January 8, after a flight to Lisbon from Montreal and a train trip from Lisbon to Faro. It was the best kind of trip…

Tulips as a symbol of friendship The Ottawa Tulip Festival has been on my bucket list for a long time. Each year something would clog up the short time frame in May when the tulips would be be in bloom and it would get put off until another year. This year turned out to be…

There were walks through the tidal pools near Faro Beach, the beach itself, exploring local pathways, tracks and roads and most of all, the people. It became my home away from home because of the people – and Jackson! It was a hot, sunny day and the boardwalk and trail through the tidal pools was…