1st March
I have been watching the tide tables so that we can perhaps do a walk out across the lagoon to the beach at Vela Cachela. Today low tide is 10.30 so we plan to go today. Unfortunatley we have got into very bad habits here. Getting up even later than normal, so didn't set off until 10.15 ish, but the tide was well out when we arrived. A beautiful day, and we are wearing shorts for the occasion.
JC has only leather shoes (why? because! that's why) so will take them and his socks off, and I have my fantastic Asics Goretex hiking shoes which I can just get wet or whatever.
We head off across the hard sand which becomes soft sand as we get to the edge of the first lagoon and JC takes his shoes and socks off and starts walking across. It is about a foot deep. Kicker adores JC and faithfully follows him out until the water reaches the place where his manhood should be (but now isn't) and stops. JC has now reached the other side and is egging him on, but Kicker is just not having it. He starts barking, and I am trying to persuade Gybo with even shorter legs to cross. NOPE
They are just not going. I suggest that I will walk back to the beginning of the beach area and try and find a route going East and JC will meet us there. I am not that happy about this wading business, bearing in mind it is now 11.30 and the tide is on the flood. Kicker reluctantly joins Gybo and I and we traipse through puddles and cross riverlets (mostly with me having to lift Gybo up onto rocks) and finally we are stuck. No way across. I wave at JC who is now miles away. He is not looking. I wait, and wait and wait. He is stoically striking out for the East side of the beach. Not interested in where we are or how we are. He is just going to go there.
We walk back to the edge of the lagoon where we split up and can see him marching across the sands in the distance. As his interpretation of my suggestion that we should go to Tesco is translated into him buying some Pesto, I don't bother to shout. But it is becoming quite irritating.
I notice that a young guy has started across a green sandbank that previously had looked rather difficult and unenticing, but if he can do it. We can. We wade across about 6 inches of water and both dogs are happy with that and then stride out across the sandbank, at least moving in the same direction as my husband who is getting smaller and smaller.
When our paths finally meet, there are some words so JC says he is going to find a café, and we all retrace my route back in silence. On the beach, it is agreed we will walk to Fabrica which is only just along from Vila Nova.
It is now boiling hot and the dogs are in and out of the water as we walk along. A coffee at our usual bar on the front at Fabrica and we meet a couple from Devon who bought a house out here near Castro Marim in 1990. They lived here full time for a while bringing up their children and running an advertising company. It is great to hear about people who completely change their lives to do something like that. They have returned home because of children's schooling and parents health, but still have the house for holidays.
I bought some large, raw frozen prawns the other day and they are still in the freezer. Prawns are not caught locally, but people always associate them with Portugal and Spain so assume they are. JC doesn't eat fish as he has an allergy but he can eat prawns. That said, he makes a fuss about peeling them. So, I patiently peel each one and remove the tiny vein which runs down the back. Then cook them in oil, with some butter, garlic and masses of parsley. JC said they were delicious but not enough. Good news!
I have been watching the tide tables so that we can perhaps do a walk out across the lagoon to the beach at Vela Cachela. Today low tide is 10.30 so we plan to go today. Unfortunatley we have got into very bad habits here. Getting up even later than normal, so didn't set off until 10.15 ish, but the tide was well out when we arrived. A beautiful day, and we are wearing shorts for the occasion.
JC has only leather shoes (why? because! that's why) so will take them and his socks off, and I have my fantastic Asics Goretex hiking shoes which I can just get wet or whatever.
They are just not going. I suggest that I will walk back to the beginning of the beach area and try and find a route going East and JC will meet us there. I am not that happy about this wading business, bearing in mind it is now 11.30 and the tide is on the flood. Kicker reluctantly joins Gybo and I and we traipse through puddles and cross riverlets (mostly with me having to lift Gybo up onto rocks) and finally we are stuck. No way across. I wave at JC who is now miles away. He is not looking. I wait, and wait and wait. He is stoically striking out for the East side of the beach. Not interested in where we are or how we are. He is just going to go there.
We walk back to the edge of the lagoon where we split up and can see him marching across the sands in the distance. As his interpretation of my suggestion that we should go to Tesco is translated into him buying some Pesto, I don't bother to shout. But it is becoming quite irritating.
I notice that a young guy has started across a green sandbank that previously had looked rather difficult and unenticing, but if he can do it. We can. We wade across about 6 inches of water and both dogs are happy with that and then stride out across the sandbank, at least moving in the same direction as my husband who is getting smaller and smaller.
When our paths finally meet, there are some words so JC says he is going to find a café, and we all retrace my route back in silence. On the beach, it is agreed we will walk to Fabrica which is only just along from Vila Nova.
It is now boiling hot and the dogs are in and out of the water as we walk along. A coffee at our usual bar on the front at Fabrica and we meet a couple from Devon who bought a house out here near Castro Marim in 1990. They lived here full time for a while bringing up their children and running an advertising company. It is great to hear about people who completely change their lives to do something like that. They have returned home because of children's schooling and parents health, but still have the house for holidays.
I bought some large, raw frozen prawns the other day and they are still in the freezer. Prawns are not caught locally, but people always associate them with Portugal and Spain so assume they are. JC doesn't eat fish as he has an allergy but he can eat prawns. That said, he makes a fuss about peeling them. So, I patiently peel each one and remove the tiny vein which runs down the back. Then cook them in oil, with some butter, garlic and masses of parsley. JC said they were delicious but not enough. Good news!
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