Going Ape

The past two days have been pretty wet, with prolonged spells of heavy rain. But today the sun has reappeared and it feels more like being in the UK in the summer, dampish, fresh, green, and not too hot. In fact, judging from the satellite images we are experiencing the same weather front currently being enjoyed in the UK, so the temperatures are pretty much on a par.

We stayed inside during the wet spell, ensconced in "Jon and Suze's Wandering Wammal Card Emporium" (see our logo on the bottom right), where we spent hours making Christmas and birthday cards. We need to try and get them finished as quickly as possible so that we can get them posted, as with the Royal Mail strike starting today, they may take a while to arrive in the UK at their final destinations.

We realise that these cards may be the only way of wishing our close loved ones a happy Christmas apart from a phone or Skype call, and though our cards aren't exactly the most professional looking, they are definitely unique!

We ventured out today to do more geocaching. It was good to be out. After the rain the smell of the pine and eucalyptus is lovely (though eucalypti are not admired by eco-warriors or firefighters as they are very thirsty trees and something of a fire hazard). Strands of eucalyptus bark were strewn on the lanes, so we collected some for kindling purposes.

The Rayburn has provided us enough heat to produce a meal, though we had to keep it stoked up for a good hour to ensure it stayed at 200 degrees Celsius, for the duration of cooking. Jon had made naan bread and oven baked onion bhajis, and that was accompanied by vegetable curry, homemade mint/cucumber raita, and minted onion. Pefection!

So, with all that feasting, we felt obliged to try and burn off a few calories by doing 3 geocaches. The first one was at an abandoned "pousada" or inn. It was strange because the hotel seemed in perfect condition, and there was a swimming pool as well, now lying redundant. From the cache site were amazing views of the mountains and the valley. The second cache was at Sandomil. Here there is a Roman bridge and what passes as a Portugese "Go Ape" obstacle course in the trees. Also, a small climbing wall. Today the place was damp and in recovery from the rain, but the weir was impressive. The third and final cache was at S.Giao. There is a campsite nearby, but our destination was for the praia fluvial (river beach). We were the only people around, but in summer the place will be thronging. The cache took us along the river for a short way, and there was funghi everywhere (we couldn't identify anything apart from Fly Agaric, so definitely nothing to eat for tea!) The walk along the river reminded us of Wales with the raging river and beautiful woodland path.