Trilho da Águias

Another wonderful hike, another wonderfully sunny day, and at the end of our excursion, a group of happy, but exhausted hikers having hiked for 2 hours and 11 minutes covering 9. 27 km!

The trail was much more “grown over” than when we last hiked it, and there is evidence of several new construction projects along the small country road leading up to the trail however it remains lovely, slightly challenging, as it’s all upwards in what was once a small river/stream bed, which means one needs to pay much attention to where one places ones feet! In areas, a mass of small to midsized rolling rocks, and in others, large rocks resembling a staircase built into the mountainside.

The birds were plentiful, I did see another rabbit today, and we passed a hunting blind or machan that showed signs of recent activity. A good reason to remain attentive, and or sing Christmas carols in a loud voice!!

Once we reached the top of this particular trail, we decided to continue on and do the last, and most challenging portion of São Miguel as we were just beside that part of the path. Joanne and I had done this yesterday but are always open to extending our daily hikes when possible and Pat and Gary have enjoyed it many times in the past and were game to do it again today.

On this same hike last year we passed a small house that had a curious looking statue of a man playing bagpipes, truly in the middle of nowhere. I noticed today that there was an addition to the stature and so being curious, I scurried closer to have a look. They’ve added two dogs! I wonder what we’ll find next year?

Many more of the wild flowers are starting to show their pretty faces, something that delights me enormously.

When we arrived back at the car, while packing things up, a young, very shy, but excited dog came running up to us and made friends with Joanne. Joanne gave her some serious “loving up” and consequently, smelled like “merde” for the rest of our voyage home!!! I wanted to strap her to the roof of the car but she wasn’t having any of it!!

We made a quick detour to introduce Pat and Gary to the small local private bakery we had discovered and once that was done, home sweet home for a late lunch. I had already determined what my tastebuds were craving

Fresh local goats cheese (much like ricotta), fresh local “mel laranja” (orange honey), and local strawberries. Yes, it tastes as good as it looks now wipe off your keyboard!!

The three of us have spent the balance of the afternoon lounging around the pool area, upstairs terrace, and basically letting time slip by as we absorb our vitamin D, read, paint, and sigh with contentment with how blessed and happy we all are.