After breakfast today I did a load of laundry. The washer is S – L – O – W, so that meant we had to wait for a while until the load was done and I had a chance to hang the laundry on the lines outside on our patio, and THEN we could get into the car and begin today’s “adventure”.

The initial plan was to go up the west coast of Portugal for a way, but we changed it at the last minute and decided to go a bit further east and see the ‘Seven Hanging Valleys’. We drove out near Porches, the place where we visited Jim and Bonny a couple of weeks ago, and then down to Praia da Marinha, near a beach, where there was a car park. And from there we set out on the trail. 

We were just barely on the marked path and already our camera lenses were starting to wear out. So much beauty! Almost TOO much beauty. What am I going to do with all those photos?! Well, for now, I’ll try uploading them (although the internet here in the apartment isn’t fast, and our TV channels come to us via that same internet — so I can’t upload my photos right now because then the TV picture goes blank. I will wait until Dave has gone to bed before I upload my fantastic photos.

We walked from Praia da Marinha to Praia de Vale Centeanes, a distance of about 6 kms one way. The trail is winding and goes up and down a lot as it meanders around along the top of the cliffs. The scenery is great; not just the cliffs, or the sinkholes (where the ground has fallen into the sea), but also the vegetation. Flowers and interesting creatures can be seen along most of the walk. The day was perfect for our activity — sunny, warm, a refreshing breeze coming off the water.

We planned to stop for lunch when we got to the other ‘end’ of this trail, near Praia de Vale Centeanes, but it took quite a bit longer than we’d anticipated to get to the other end of the trail. So we were VERY thirsty and tired when we finally arrived at Centeanes, and so it was doubly frustrating that we still had to go up and down and around and back again a few times before we realized that there WAS NO RESTAURANT for us on that beach. So we ended up hiking up and around to the top of yet another big cliff where my GPS showed that there would be a restaurant. I think it was after 1 o’clock when we sat down for a large beer and a sandwich. And we still had another time as far to get back to the car park!

But we made it. It was around 4:30 when we got into our car and decided that instead of driving home directly, we’d check out the cinema in the nearby town of Portimão. We could go to a restaurant for supper first and  see a movie at around 6:30 and THEN go home. So that’s what we did. We shared a pizza and then at 6:20 I went to see “The Post” (the Driedgers had already seen it) while Dave and Marylou went to see “The Blank Panther”. I enjoyed the story in “The Post”. After the movie I waited a few minutes for Dave and Marylou’s movie to end. Early reviews (from Marylou): not really a very good movie. And although that movie is breaking some box office records right now, here in Portimão the Driedgers were the only two people in the theatre. 

We drove home in the dark. The roads here in Portugal are winding, with many traffic circles to interrupt your progress, but fun to drive — and not too much traffic most of the time. 

Back at the ranch we had a little dish of ice cream and a glass of port and watched some more snooker finals on TV. By midnight it was bed time. Dave and I have another early tee time at the Santo Antonio golf course tomorrow.