Jo’s Monday walk : Along the Guadiana

I’ve been acting tour guide for the past couple of weeks, so not a lot of time for serious walking, and it’s been too hot.  Still, I’d hate you to think I’m taking it easy.  The first of our Striders walks kicked off the season with a good stiff uphill, above the River Guadiana, to get the lungs working.  There was much puffing, panting and grumbling, but it was great to be back in this glorious scenery.  Catching up on the lives of our walking friends took some of the pain away, and soon we were looking back down again.

You’ll notice how dry it all looks.  It’s been a long summer and the reservoirs are low.  Almost every year the Algarve faces this problem and somehow the plants survive to burst forth in another glorious Spring.

There’s often a reward at the top of a hill, and so it was with this one.  I’m told it’s the oldest intact windmill in the Algarve.  I peered at it from every angle, even venturing cautiously inside this photographer’s dream.

I speculated on how it must have been on this hilltop the day the wind took the roof off, half expecting to see the witch’s red shoes peeping out from under the vivid rust.

There’s a pathos to the abandoned houses in these hills, wells and bread ovens on standby for better days.  Here and there a hint at occupancy, washing on the line and pomegranates ripe for picking.  Urns with a sense of humour.

A blaze of parched colour fills my vision, and then a gentle descent to the river.  No time to stop for food today.  Tour guide duties beckon.

But we do snatch a swift drink, with a lovely couple who are seldom far from an icecream.

walking logo

I hope you enjoyed our company this week.  I’m going to take a week off walking duties as my lovely daughter arrives soon and I need to give her full attention.  I’ll be back with a Jo’s Monday walk on 28th October.  Meanwhile I have some great shares for you.

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I love a lass who doesn’t let the weather put her off.  Thanks, Anabel!

Cowden Japanese Garden and Castle Campbell

You can count on having fun with Debbie :

A whirl around Oktoberfest

And funnily enough, Lady Lee was there this week too!

Oktoberfest 2019

While Eunice is in Limerick, and what a lovely place it looks!

A day in Limerick

But I’m afraid Drake has me wanting to escape!

Inside, so much inside

Some great street art, doors, windows, and food- of course!  It’s Jackie!

Cafe del Teatre

How closely do you look at your surrounds?  Meg doesn’t miss a detail :

Eurobodalla Beaches: Rosedale

And Suzanne is always aware of the beauty that surrounds her :

Hiking in Porcupine Gorge National Park

Let’s end with Cathy, smiling in the rain :

(Camino day 38) Cacabelos to Trabadelo

Bye for now!  Take care till the next time.

82 comments

    1. We have had a couple of rainy days, Denzil, and the temperatures have dropped a little. Amazing how it recovers every year. 🙂 🙂 I’m just a point and click photographer who puts a burst of speed on now and again. Thanks, hon!

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  5. It does look dry Jo but I guess the habitation adapts? Certainly here we usually get most of our rain over the winter months – typical Mediterranean style climate! The photos are lovely – you certainly have some wonderful walking trails! How exciting your daughter is visiting – hope you have a wonderful time! 🙂

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    1. Hiya darlin 🙂 🙂 We seem to have caught the ‘turn’ when it comes to weather, but neither Lisa nor husband handle heat and sunshine well, so it’s not a problem. Just lovely to spend time together.

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  9. I think my son might be right! Time for a twilight home. I know I read this. I have no idea if I commented. And I’m too lazy to look. (More confessions of inadequacy some other time!)

    I love joining you on your wanderings. Always something new and distinctive, spotted by your questing eye. Especially the details of neglected houses and the portrait gallery of the windmill in this post, and those slabs of downhill white.

    But I worry. No time for cake?????

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    1. No time for anything right now, Meg! On our way to the airport to collect daughter. Car
      might have poorly brakes/brake pads. Friends I was tour guiding just left yesterday. Floor mop
      mopping and shopping this morning. Started new Portuguese class. Skyped James and booked 3 days in UK for Christmas against better judgement but when he asked I couldn’t not. And then a night in hotel in Seville end of month to see ‘our’ Sue. Time
      ???? Love you 🤗⌚💕

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  11. Enjoy your time with your daughter and i look forward to your next post. I’ve just said good-bye to my last summer guest – I think – and the house feels empty now, but it will give me time to concentrate on perhaps writing a few more posts. I’m off to Arras on Saturday on another Battlefield walk and I hope the weather won’t be as atrocious as its been here. We’ve just come through 5 days of rain which made entertaining pretty difficult and today, as the family left, the sun burst forth. Loved your photographs in this post, as usual, It never fails to amaze me how people in the Med. can always find a pot of bright paint to brighten up a window, a pot or a step.

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    1. People here are so full of plans and going places. Always thinking of the next place and I love that. I have an unwritten month ahead of me and then we will have lived here for a year. Who knows where the time goes, as the song says. Thanks, Mari, and enjoy Arras. 🤗💕

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  14. I love the windmill, Jo! It’s really spectacular and quite a surprise. The dry landscape looks so similar to California this time of year. I have learned to appreciate the browns and shades of gold this time of year. And I certainly encourage you to have a wonderful time with your daughter. Not that you need any encouragement. 🙂

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    1. When I came back from England in the summer, Debbie, I felt so sorry for the drab, dryness of the earth, but it is slowly going over to Autumn. While not so beautiful as an English autumn, it can hold its own in the beauty stakes. I think you know, hon- it’s a love affair. 🙂 🙂 Thank you!

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  16. A lovely walk through some beautiful countryside, Jo. I can image you photographing madly around that windmill and amongst those abandoned houses. Have a wonderful time with your daughter.

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