Bordeira walk, Boxing day.

A glorious day, Boxing day 2012 and we took the Scooter over to Bordeira to walk in the hills. The heather both white and purple was flowering and the whole area looked a picture. This was a great finish to our Christmas and another corner of this lovely country discovered.

Lost before we start !

Eucalyptus in flower.

White and then purple heather.

Martinhal to Barranco

Still trying to finish the south coast path of the Algarve we walked the bit between Martihal to Barranco passing through the river valley of Rebolinhos. Martinhal, although a nearly new, purpose built resort, has a very nice beach. You walk up over the cliffs to the east and drop down into a little cove with a stream flowing down to the sea. Lots of bird life on this bay and very peaceful at this time of year. The route then continues over the cliff tops and along to Barranco. This beach has a wild camp-site and road down to it from  Raposeira is not signed anywhere. You find it by luck or asking other people. This is another fine walk in unspoiled surroundings

Martinhal beach.

Rebolinhos river

Rebolinhos beach

Barranco bay.

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Castelejo and Cordoama

A quick trip on a windy day to the west coast and found a group of Para Gliders throwing themselves off the cliff. Very Interesting but not for us. The sea was great with big waves and we wondered what would happen if they landed in it...........

Salema to Furnass

In an attempt to complete our journey along the Algarve coastal pathway we found another stretch that we had not done before. Starting in Salema on the outskirts of the town we walked west towards Sagres ending up in Furnas. It is a completely unspoiled stretch with little or no development and many lovely little beaches on route.
Not many tourists come to this area except to surf so it is very quiet. Just how we like our walks. 

Alte, Silves and Boca do Rio with Keith and Carol

We took our new pals Keith and Carol up to Alte, supposedly the prettiest village in the Algarve, on a gloriously sunny day. They fell in love with the place and we walked up the valley before having lunch at our usual cafe. From there we visited Silves and the castle finishing with a trip to Boco do Rio late afternoon.

Mexlhoeria Grande walk

Another birding walk down to the shore and some inshore lakes and marshes where the locals go to the sand bars to dig for clams. It was a Saturday and the small track was like the M1. But we found peaceful corners everywhere and lots of birds.

Trail of the Tides Bordeira

We found a new walk in the western Algarve near to the town of Bordeira.
This started near the coast in Carrapateira and took us inland down a beautiful river valley.
We spotted a very strange new bird that looked just like he had a big red smile. It turned out the be a Common Waxbill ( very uncommon ) to us. It was introduced from Africa into the Eastern Algarve some years ago and seems to be flourishing. The little hamlet of Vilarinha is set in a lovely spot at the head of the valley and we decided that if we wanted to settle in this area, then that would be the place for us.
Nice walk great scenery and flowers starting to bloom.