Friends and Family Fun- Part 2

After Sid and Linda left Bob and I had 2 days in the apartment before we were joined by Louis for 5 days. We had negotiated with Jose to take the apartment for an extra week as we weren’t sure where louis would sleep in the van or if he would be warm enough. The nights here are cold and in the van it can get quite chilly. Before Louis arrived Bob paid a visit to one of the 3 Irish bars in Praia de Rocha and had a couple of pints of Guinness. Not a great idea to drink imported drinks here as they are far more expensive than the local beers and wine, but he couldn’t resist.

We had a couple of lazy days sitting on the beach soaking up the sunshine and blue sky whilst we saw those at home freezing in the frost and cold and counted our blessings. It has always been one of my goals to avoid the January blues.

Louis is a keen hiker, sea swimmer and surfer so he was up for some adventures whilst he was here and on his first day, Louis and I went on a long coastal walk west to meet up with Bob at a beach restaurant for lunch at Alvor. The walk took us on paths along the cliff with great views of the rock and cave formations that are so emblematic of the Algarve and through a nature reserve of pine trees, eucalyptus trees, wild lupins, rosemary and African buttercups.

It was also abundant with birdlife, we spotted Black Redstarts, Azure-winged Magpies and the Hoopoe Bird, a kind of cuckoo with red and white striped wings and an orange fanned crest. They have a slightly different call to the cuckoos in the UK, we were treated to this when we spotted one on the top of a lamp post calling out repeatedly. The other birds that you see everywhere here are the White Storks nesting on chimneys, tops of cranes or telegraph poles. They are usually in pairs and you often hear the clacking of their beaks like Spanish maracas!

We made a few wrong turns and had to double back, a large chunk of the coastal cliff is closed to the public as it is privately owned by hotels and residents and we were trying to find a way to get through avoiding the main road. We eventually met up with Bob who had cycled to save his knee and greedily ate lunch to fuel ourselves for the long walk back!

The following day we all walked part of the same route but along the beach at low tide, it was fun to explore in and around the caves, there are just so many, I can imagine in the summer children must have so much fun exploring the caves. On the way back we had to escape to the clifftop as the tide was in and we couldn’t get around the rocks without getting wet feet.

 The last day in the apartment Louis managed to persuade me to go surfing with him……I think I didn’t sleep a wink the night before worrying about it! He said he would give me a lesson, that the waves were only going to be small and if nothing else it would be fun!

So the next day we went down to the beach where I’d seen locals surfing at the weekends and waited for the swell to come – it was due around midday – Louis has a surf app that tells you when the swell is best for surfing. It never came, the sea was so calm and 2 hours later we are still sitting there looking! We decided to give up, go for a swim and then lunch instead. Relief swept over me instead of the waves.

Every day that I look out to the sea I pray that I will see a pod of dolphins swimming along the shore diving in and out of the water. Just as we were getting changed into our swimmers my dreams came true. Louis nudged me and pointed to the waves, I looked up expecting a big surf wave but instead there right in front of me were about 6 or 7 dolphins dipping in and out of the sea. It was like our own private show as the beach was quite deserted, as I had no camera or phone with me I just watched in amazement at their grace and playfulness showing off in front of us, hairs on the back of my neck pricking up with the emotion. Something that I won’t forget!

I then went into the sea with Louis for my first swim in January – and thought why have I not done this before  – it was cold but bearable for a short swim and very refreshing. Annoyingly for Louis, whilst we were eating lunch we began to see surfers making their way to the sea with their boards. I was now too full and 1 Sangria down so I wasn’t going in, but Louis couldn’t resist and got himself an hours surfing after all.

The next day we left Praia de Rocha – I was glad to say good bye, this type of place is not my thing. I have had a wonderful time here with Linda and Sid and with Louis but I was missing the real Portugal and missing the motorhome. Maybe its because it is mine and full of my things – but it feels like home now.

We wanted Louis to see some of the real Portugal so we headed inland for a drive through some nice villages, along windy roads and around the hills lined with orange and lemon groves. The oranges in Portugal are delicious and we have been eating them daily, they are large, sweet and juicy and very cheap.

We stopped off at Alte, a little picturesque village full of uneven, narrow cobbled streets with white buildings and a lovely waterfall walk set amongst the orange groves. Louis of course had to take a dip in the ice cold waterfall, I’m afraid I didn’t join him this time – even he said it was freezing. We really enjoyed exploring the village and stayed for a coffee and snack at a local café.

Our drive ended in Faro to stay at an Aire for the next 3 nights near the airport. Bob was heading to Cork with Louis for 2 nights so I needed to base myself somewhere central for accessibility.

Why was Bob going to Ireland? What would I do on my own? Find out in the next blog!