Letter from Warwick: 28 of 2008

My dear family & friends, 14 September

We’ve been home for a week. I must admit that it was quite a come down to land at Coventry airport last Sunday amid dull, grey, rainy skies after the bright sunshine and clear blue skies of the Algarve. The weather remained dull for the rest of the week until yesterday (Saturday) when we could finally enjoy a dry, mostly sunny day. We made the most of it, first walking the dogs to Warwick in the morning to try out a new Portuguese pastelaria (patisserie), which belongs to somebody we met at the Portuguese pub during the Euro2008 soccer extravaganza. Helder, the owner, is clearly a good baker and he is also offering very keen prices on his goods. I think I shall become a regular. In the afternoon, we followed another favourite route through Newbold Comyn Park and along public footpaths across farmland to a flooded ford over the River Leam. We spent half an hour throwing sticks into the river for the dogs before heading back to the pub at the car park where we enjoyed more of the much-needed sunshine and a couple of beers.

The second week of our holiday was just as good as the first. (You can see all the pictures of our holiday at http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/llewellynijones as usual.) I won’t go into detail again, b ut let me outline some of the highlights.

On Monday we headed off into the southern Alentejo where we had booked ourselves two nights at a farm herdade, the Herdade de Vale Côvo, near Mertola. (http://www.herdade-valecovo.com/.) Mertola, sitting on the banks of the Guadiana River to which it owes its life, has a heritage going back to the Phoenicians; next it was the Carthiginians followed by the Romans and then the Moors. The town finally passed into Christian hands of the Portuguese in the 1200’s. It’s an archaeologist’s wet dream. Lucia and I passed through the town when we visited Portugal over Christmas 2006 and we resolved then to spend more time in the area when we next ventured to Portugal.

The herdade is about 20km outside Mertola along a single track road, passed two sleepy villages and then down a bumpy dirt track. The silence was pierced only by a gentle breeze, birdsong and other occasional country sounds. It’s the type of place that really does allow you to stop.

The next day we drove to Pulo do Lobo (Wolf’s Leap,) a series of waterfalls and rapids on the Guadiana River, and then to Serpa, an ancient walled town further up the River. At Pulo do Lobo I stripped off and paddled in the warm waters of the Guadiana while Lucia lay back under the shade of a tree. Driving to Serpa from the falls was somewhat, um, interesting. We had one map that said there was a direct road between the towns, and another that said there wasn’t. If you know me, you’ve got to know that I chose to believe the optimistic map that wound a precipitous dance down a mountainside, across a drive river bed, and up the other side. As I said to Lucia, it just goes to prove that rental cars are the best off-road vehicles ever designed. Even an underpowered Renault Clio. We did get a bit of a strange look from the occupants of the only vehicle we passed, a rugged-looking 4X4. That was my adrenalin rush for the holiday.

Back with Barbara and Terry in Espargal, we spent Thursday and Friday exploring the islands and beaches of the Formosa estuary which we had never got around to on our many previous visits to the Algarve. I’m glad we did as it gave us the idea to rent a cottage on one of the ilhas for a couple of days when we are next able to find some time for a vacation on the Algarve.

And back at home there hasn’t been much to record. The only event of any significance was a trip to the licensing office in Birmingham on Thursday to exchange our South African driving licences for British licences. We expected queues and a long wait – we’re from South Africa after all – but that’s not the way bureaucracy works in the UK. We were in and out in 20 minutes, and our new licences will be mailed to us within three weeks.

I experienced another example of this extreme efficiency when I bought a book – Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s Fooled by Randomness – on the WH Smith website on Friday morning. It arrived in the post on Saturday; now that’s impressive.

That’s it for now
Love, light & peace
Llewellyn