Portugal First Timers

Day One - 17 April

On my 50x50 (50 things to by the age of 50) list I had put 'a trip to Lisbon'. In reality it turned out to be too complicated to manage in the time available, mainly because Exeter airport only flies to Faro, so Faro it was. I was accompanied by my two favourite partners in crime, Caitlin and Riona.  The scene was set.

We flew stupidly early on the Wednesday landing at Faro before what seemed like breakfast.  It took us a while to sort the hire car mainly because we'd booked an 'economy' hire company which involved standing in the car park and bundling onto one of their minibuses when it arrived.  As the hirer/driver I squeezed myself onto the first one leaving the girls behind as the heavens opened (sorry about that).  They eventually caught up with me just as we were given our slightly too-big left hand drive car with a dodgy parcel shelf.  Ah well...

Pretty much before we'd left the airport the girls were requesting food so we stopped at the first Aldi we found.  We stocked up on cheese, bread, fruit and some gluten free bread stuff (yay) and headed west.  Caitlin was surprisingly knowledgeable on Aldi and its organisation/ownership etc.  

Not before long we saw evidence that Portugal was running out of fuel.  The tanker drivers were striking and not only petrol stations, but airports and public transport were running low.  The queues at stations were crazy and I was already contemplating a large bill for returning the hire car without refilling.  Ah well, what could I do?

We stopped at a random beach/cliff thing for lunch then drove to our accommodation in Lagos.  Our AirBnB was as expected and we unpacked and headed out to explore Lagos - in the rain.  

At least I had a map to shelter under.

We stopped for a drink and Riona and I caught up with an outstanding cocktail, a pornstar martini.  It was on my 50x50 list but I'd ticked it off having drunk one with Caitlin.   Major objections from Riona as it was her idea so, pornstar martini number II it was!

I do not like cows.  And especially not wet ones.

We dried out at home and enjoyed our first supper.

Day Two - 18 April

It was dry today so we headed for the beach, Praia do Camilo.  It was a bit of a walk but we passed plenty of shrines en route.  

Lots of steps down to the beach.  A geologist's dream.  

The three Muskateers.

We then continued south to the Ponta da Piedade.

There were boat trips to the offshore caves running from the beach, but there was no way I was enticed considering there were few life jackets in the boats and the currents looked super unpredictable.

Riona headed for the photo opportunity.

There she is!

A lighthouse Ruthy thing.

Amazing flora.

And views.  What a blue sea!

The little people (little as in age, not height).

Jungle walking.

Such beautiful fields.

We headed back into Lagos for lunch.

It turned quite hot and I didn't have a hat so Caitlin obliged with her mappy top.  I'm never one to say no to a map on my head.

We enjoyed wandering around Lagos in the sun.  This chap was just parked at the end of the harbour breakwater with his bike.

Oooh anchor.

Anchor and child.

Child things x 2.

Lovely mosaics.

The clouds had lifted and the temperature risen so the girls wanted to revisit Praia do Camilo for some 'proper' beach time. 

Gorgeous.

And this one!

Sandy toes.

This is the life.

Once home we cooked supper and drank wine.  This latter event was a lot more effort than expected.  Our corkscrew broke on first twist so we spent a considerable amount of time hacking into the wine!

Caitlin kept up a running commentary and, at last, we had success!

Day Three - 19 April

We headed back eastwards today and our first immense excitement (for a Ruth) was a fuel station with fuel!  So we stuffed the car with petrol and drove towards Silves which I had decided would be an interesting interlude.  And indeed it was.  Silves is centred around its ancient castle, river and roman bridge.  

Trying out my super zoom...

on a local heron across the river.

Such pretty streets and moody, rain-threatening skies.

We visited the Castle of Silves.  

And enjoyed the view.

Catching up with each other.

This pond had incredibly green waters surrounding the statues.

After Silves we continued east and, after dropping the hire car, ended up in Faro.  

What a lovely place.  We could easily have have spent more time here.  The harbour is lovely.  It is bordered by a huge lagoon which looked to be a bird and other wildlife haven.

We wandered past the harbour into the walled city.

It was sadly a quick whizz around,

in and out of the historical gates.

Back down to the lagoon to watch the sun start to set.

The people I love x

Time for sundowners.

We ate out in a vegan restaurant - a little weird for the sheer lack of choices on the menu (disappointing, I usually find vegan restaurants a lot more interesting).  On our way back to the hostel we came across the Good Friday night procession.

This was a very sombre affair with candle-holding people weaving slowly along the streets and many statues of Mary were held aloft.  My patience for watching this long ceremony trail past drained after a couple of minutes and, although it was only probably 10 mins we were held up awaiting permission to cross the road, it felt a lot more.  Oh me of little patience.

Back to the hostel.  Bed and alarm at silly o'clock for an early flight out of Faro.  Farewell Portugal.  You were damper and colder than expected for April but worth a revisit.

Exeter's Green Circle

Last Saturday I walked Exeter's Green Circle.

It was a glorious day and it seemed a waste to spend it inside.  So I set off with a friend to stroll the ~13 miles circumnavigation of Exeter.  It's a very random circle shape following as much of Exeter green space as it can.  As I live on the canal it was only a mere stroll before I picked up my start at the bridge.

We pretty soon lost the path as the signage is a little hit and miss and I hadn't discovered a large scale route to download.  I was working off a small scale map-like-object and instinct, which meant we ended up in the wrong bit of Marsh Barton.  But it didn't take long to sort ourselves in Alphington and we were off towards the A30, heading northwest across fields just before reaching it.

We passed the Twisted Oak Pub.  Am I right to think this is the tree after which the pub is named?

Then we were up into the hills with views across to Ide.

We got lost again, but not for long, and headed along the back of Exwick, across the river and up into St Davids.  The views across into the university were lovely.

Except I was distracted by a War Department boundary stone.  There must have been a MOD depot or barracks around here once.

The route then takes you up into the university where we totally lost the signs - I'm missing the ease of the SW Coast Path, large scale routes and the acorn signs! - so we jumped a hedge and sort of made it up as we went along for a bit.

The route meanders through Mincinglake Valley Park, down through Polsloe Bridge (full of memories!), and eventually Ludwell Valley Park.  We couldn't cross the river at the Crematorium due to flood defence works but I followed my nose and we made it back to our starting point as the sun was starting to dip.

What a lovely stroll.

Sight Seeing in London - Courtesy of the Renault Scenic and an Eldery Sat Nav

Movious: a word discovered in Zambia to describe something (or someone) that moves around a lot. I'm a movious Ruth. In the last 3 weeks I've been away 12 nights in all sorts of places. My most interesting journey was yesterday when I drove to London to drop my daughter's stuff off at her new pad in Bethnal Green.  Being a Sunday I had a bit of freedom for my route as I knew traffic wouldn't be too heavy, however I wasn't keen to drive straight through the middle of London.

So I drove up the M5 and M4 then took the Western Way across the top of central London.  I've never driven in London (well, only to Ealing) so this was a lot of fun seeing all the places I've explored by tube, taxi and, mainly, on foot.  I drove past Edgware Road, Baker Street, Regents Park, Kings Cross and then down near Shoreditch into Bethnal Green.

After unloading the bike and contents of the car safely (one daughter collects a lot of stuff!), quaffing tea and starting the unpacking adventure, I left at 1700 to amble down to Basingstoke.  This time I let the sat nav take me on the most direct route.  Wow - what fun!  I drove down through the City of London, past the Bank of England and Mansion House.  My sat nav isn't terribly new and not linked into traffic reports so every so often it would try and send me somewhere I couldn't drive.  So my first happy detour was across Blackfriars Bridge.  I've never driven over the Thames in London - I was grinning like a kid.  I then drove along the South Bank and back across Waterloo Bridge onto the Strand.  And then, lo and behold, I'm driving around Trafalgar Square. It was chocka so, thankfully, I only attempted this madness on a Sunday at 1730 rather than a more popular time of the day.  I then ended up in Piccadilly and got lost a few times as my sat nav takes a long time to recalculate when I detour off its prescribed route.  My route is certainly not optimal!

I drove past Wellington Arch, waved at Buck Palace, then headed north up the east and north sides of Hyde Park.  My sat nav was determined to send me through it but I ignored it (sending it into a spin of "recalculating.... 1%..... 5%....8%...").  The fun of getting lost in central London was starting to wear thin but fortunately I bumped into the A4 pretty soon then headed down to the M3 and down to Basingstoke.

I won't make a habit of driving in London but for a one-off laugh - do it!