Hill walking in the Algarve

Most Wednesdays you will find us in the north east of the Algarve, discovering new trails in the hills above the Odeleite and Foupana rivers. Generally the weather is perfect for hill walking – light winds, sunshine and the occasional clouds. However we have learnt through experience to keep in our day packs wet weather gear, a change of socks and a light jumper. And the other week we thought at one stage we would need it all. My header photo was taken towards the end of the hike, but below it how it looked at the beginning of our walk. Brrr!!

Wind turbines disappearing into the cloud

Not at all what was forecast and we soon found ourselves striding fast to keep warm. Despite the cold, the winds and the grey it wasn’t long though before we reverted to our usual hill walking style of a reasonable pace interspersed with frequent stops so we could observe and photograph what was around us. Or in this case what was above our heads.

This was a new walk we were trying, and it is one we will definitely be doing again as I was delighted to discover we could see the Ponte Internacional. It must look amazing from here on a less cloudy day.Look to your far right

Can you see it above? You need to look to the far right. We were about 17miles away as the crow flies, and on a cloudy day photographing towards the sun made it almost impossible to capture on film. I did try to zoom in, but with limited success.a close up - remember we are some distance away!

I must admit soon after this point I beginning to despair of the weather. This is not what we come to the Algarve for! But then I realised the skies were becoming bluer, and it wasn’t long before we walking in beautiful sunshine.

Still very windy though, and I really struggled at times to hold the camera still, hence my less than optimum photographs in this post. It really wasn’t the day to be out with a camera even down by the Foupana and Odeleite rivers. We did though manage to find a fabulous spot out of the wind for our picnic. We always hike with a picnic, as well as at least 2litres water, plenty of suncream, walking sticks for the steep sections and  – I’ll mention them again – a change of socks for river crossings. So much prettier in sunshine!

The last section of this hike is one we know well, and later in the year is a superb area to explore if you enjoy birding and flora adventures. In early January on a windy day there wasn’t so much to see, albeit we did spot birds of prey above us, Paperwhite Narcissus everywhere and even the dog at the pig farm didn’t mind me taking his portrait.

I have not yet uploaded this new walk to my interactive walking website, hence the lack of details exactly where we were. However you might instead want to visit my walking page on this site which details some great walks here in the Algarve and provides links for others throughout Portugal. And if you are looking for great walks further afield visit my lovely friend Jo and her Monday Walkers.

Author: BeckyB

It had been a good life walking, cooking, photographing, volunteering, blogging, and best of all spending time with MrB, family, & friends. Sadly it is no longer what it was, as suddenly and unexpectedly I became a widow.

40 thoughts

    1. Makes such a different to the landscape 🙂 and it certainly lifted my mood that day, although I did see the funny side when we started out!

    1. No definitely to the far right, what you can see to the left are more turbines . . . . oh hold on a minute am I missing a joke?!!! Bit slow here this morning!

  8. My hiking days are well over, I suspect, but I can still enjoy your Posts, Becky, and thank you for taking me with you on your walks. I wish I could join you but sadly, the limbs just refuse to behave as once they did. I am now an armchair walker/hiker but enjoying reading other people’s experiences. I still manage gentle walks and strolls when I travel but the vigourous striding out is no longer something I can do.

    1. Oh I’m sorry to hear that but armchair hikes with the occasional gentle stroll sound good too. So so glad you enjoyed this one x

  10. Excitement! An interactive walking site 🙂 🙂 I’ll scoot across for a look after this comment. I saw my first cistus ladanifer of the Spring today. We were up by the Castro Marim Golf Club. also with a view of your bridge. It started wet in Tavira today (first rain of our holiday 🙂 ) and we were in 2 minds about going but it turned out lovely so I’m glad we did. Thanks for the link, hon!

    1. Her interactive site is fabulous, I have had a look at it before. I think you ought to create one of your own, for the UK walks as well as the Algarve ones. Pick Becky’s brains 😀

    2. My pleasure to link to you – and fabulous about Cistus. Saw one out on Wednesday – looked very lonely so glad to hear more beginning to bloom. 😀

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