A Leave Your Toupée at Home Kinda Day!!

Windy is the word for the day!! It howled most of the night and this morning the trees were getting quite a work out being tossed in every direction. Thankfully it was sunny and warm and as Marc has his final day of exposition in Vilamoura I decided to head off and enjoy a brisk walk along the boardwalk near Faro Airport. I had a hankering for the sound of the sea!

The trail wasn’t overly occupied, probably because of the winds, and the golf course, completely empty. There were many sea birds and I saw a small kingfisher coming in for a landing but instead he greeted the marsh with a tumble!! I’ve never seen a bird do that before. He looked a little stunned when it happened and of course it was much to quick for me to photograph.

Once I crossed the boardwalk and arrived on the Faro Island beach I decided to take a walk along the dunes. This time of the year they are covered in all sorts of small flowers, that always amazes me, how they grow in the sand. As you can see, I had the beach side to myself, which was lovely. I sat in the sand for about 20 minutes simply listening to the waves, which had much to say!

Rather than walk back on the beach side, because of the winds and the blowing sand, I decided to turn around, cross back over the boardwalk and take a small forest route that I enjoy on the opposite shore. When I reached the boardwalk I was surprised to find that suddenly it was congested. Turned out to be a large group together and once I went past them I was alone yet again.

Just before I reached the forest path on the opposite side I stopped to look out over the marsh land and it was then I noticed all the hermit crabs. Probably thousands of them, scurrying about, popping in and out of the sand holes, some remaining totally still and a few of the large males, waving their one arm about.

The forested area runs along the edge of part of the golf area then the path suddenly veers into the forest, which is full of pine and eucalyptus. With todays strong winds the forest was alive with sounds. The pines sound exactly like a loud sea and the eucalyptus more like hundreds of shuffling feet. It was a little eerie at times.

At the end of this trail you find yourself at the are where all the salt is gathered from the salt flats. Today they were loading large trucks using a crane and presumably taking the salt to the factory to be cleaned and packaged. It’s truly amazing to see these large dump trucks being filled up.

Just as I walked away from this a large plane took off right over my head. Won’t be a whole lot longer and it will be us!! But we aren’t thinking about that just yet. Still lots to do and see.

A perfect long brisk walk for me, just shy of three hours. I didn’t have to look at my watch to know that…..my hips and feet were telling me!!!

I love the hottentot figs and always watch for them to flower. Today was quite a treat in that regard as shortly after I started down the forest path, just before entering the forest, there was an embankment that was smothered in them. I stood and enjoyed it for quite some time, actually walking up in the center of them and realizing they stretched on and around a large portion of the golf course. What a treat.