. . or should I say ‘the walk that wasn’t’!
On Sunday we decided to investigate the eastern end of the cycle path from Fuseta. It is evident from Google earth that less than 10years ago the salt pans here were still being worked, but now they have been abandoned and opened up to the sea. It is therefore difficult to create a long continuous walk away from the cycle path (which was surprisingly busy with fellow walkers, cyclists and even men on horseback on a greyish January afternoon) however if you enjoy the flora of the Ria Formosa then this could be a haven for you. What should have been a 10/15minute stroll to the end of one of the pans took me nearly an hour as I disappeared time and again down a bank or into the undergrowth to take a photograph!
I photographed nearly 30 species yesterday, of which most I have since identified with the help of my favourite book ‘Wild Flowers of the Algarve‘ and the wonderful website First Nature. I’m not going to spoil you by sharing all 30 now, but here are a few. Every one is labelled, you can hover your mouse over the photos for the name or if you prefer click on them to bring up the gallery for extra notes as well as the name.
As you will spot on some of my labels there are a few of which I remain uncertain. I’ve ordered another book and have also just discovered another good website Herbario Virtual del Mediterraneo Occididental. So maybe in my next Flora post I will be feeling more confident with my labelling, however as you may recall from an earlier post I have a long way to go before I can name things straight off!
I’ve shared less than half of what I spotted so expect another post soon. In fact there will be more than one post to come as we’ll be returning another day for the actual walk to Fuseta, and also to photograph the many plants not yet in flower. For now though I’ll leave you with a view, taken in a rare moment when I wasn’t in the undergrowth with camera in macro mode!
