Saturday 10 January 2015

Portimao to Lagos . . .

At breakfast, a chat with another guest; Guy, from Aquitaine, 65, already 10 years retired. Staying here for two months, his cycle on the back of his car.

He spent his working life doing night shifts for the postal service, evidence said that night shifts reduced life expectancy, the union's case was accepted. Those were the days.

The road to Lagos is the N125 for 10km, past a very posh looking golf resort and over the river, whose estuary separates the towns. Helena, at the pousada, says they need rain here, the winter has been dry. I mention the golf courses and their water consumption. She agrees.

At Odiaxere, where I plan to take quieter roads, a golf shop and a chance to gather information about a topic soon to be examined for the blog. Mary, looking after the shop, doesn't play and has no love for the game, though does add this nugget in response to my suggestion that golfing might postpone the drinking for a while: at one course a drinks trolley circulates.
Mary was a health visitor in Newcastle and moved here ten years ago when her husband found a job teaching science at an international school. She loves it.

Off the main road, a proper local cafe for some blog time, coffee and cake. And a quiet road ahead, maybe two hours Saturday strolling to Lagos . . .

. . . which turns out about right . . . another pousada, €9 including breakfast, with pilgrim discount. It looks like there is a plan for a camino up the west coast. Antonio tells me there is a proper footpath from Aljezur to Lisbon . . . maybe link to Fatima, where the current camino portuguese begins . . ? These government pousadas are part of the international hostelling movement and this is the last for a while. Maybe stay another day before heading to the windy south-western tip of Europe. The view from the top road shows my last two days walking, Portimao and Albufeira clearly visible. Shopping for supper, found a bottle red wine labelled Dao, which had to be tried. Fine for my poor palate, but Thomas who works in the trade had a sniff and a taste and pronounced it drinkable. And he drank a couple of glasses to confirm it. Not bad for €2 a bottle and certainly lifted the vegetable stew.

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