It was Iris’s birthday at the beginning of the week and we went for a nice ride on our little KTM. Here in the area, you can find new routes and paths on every trip, so it never gets boring. First to the Praia de Odeceixe, Faro. Then a break with a picnic in the middle of nowhere. On to the Miradouro da Foia and finally to the Barragem de Alqueva, a dam that has far too little water. At the back of the valley, where there should actually be water, there are now cattle grazing. Very sad to see, the lack of water everywhere.
We discovered this great spot for a picnic between Monchique and Lagos. Somewhere in the middle of nowhere and nothing but nature everywhere.
In the evening, we had a delicious meal with our friends in the restaurant around the corner. Of course there was also a present for Iris. The two of them had been paying attention during the last few conversations and realized that Iris would like a straw hat. However, as they didn’t know exactly what kind of hat she wanted and the size had to fit, they simply gave her a voucher. Great idea, Iris is really looking forward to shopping and when we meet again in the fall, she will be able to present her new hat 😉
We had been thinking for a long time about whether it was worth going to Spain to run an errand. We decided to go for it and drove about 3 hours by motorcycle to Spain. It was an exhausting but beautiful day. It was worth it for us, as we are now more flexible and can plan more relaxed when we continue our journey on Saturday.
Our friends told us in the evening that their cat had a gunshot wound. They took him to the vet because he was in pain somewhere on his right leg. Now they have to observe him for a few days, then they will decide whether he needs an operation or not. Unbelievable, who does that? We were very upset about this. Here in Portugal and also in Spain, animals are treated more like objects than living beings. If you take a closer look at the subject, it’s very frightening to see how loveless, disrespectful, violent and mean they are towards animals. For us, it is simply incomprehensible and unacceptable.
This week also saw the dismantling, cleaning and stowing away of the awning. All the clothes and bedding were washed again and the living area was thoroughly cleaned, including the carpet and upholstery. The driver’s cab also needed cleaning and a few maintenance jobs were carried out on the KTM.
Some time ago, Alex had brought the chaotic electrics in the cab up to a decent and safe standard. Unfortunately, he now realized that there was still something wrong with the reversing camera and the monitor. This week, he also looked at this issue again and changed it so that it should now actually work.
Our groundskeeper spoiled us once again with a dessert made by his wife and was a little excited, as he won’t be there on our departure day and we mustn’t miss saying goodbye to him and his wife the day before 🙂 We would never forget that. Today, on our last evening, we will have a barbecue with friends. There will be freshly slaughtered wild boar from the local German butcher.
