Adventure - 4
A miserable, rainy, blustery day! Gary tells us that this weather (continuous rain) is most unusual but is probably making up for last year when there was no rain for 6 months! Took another load of washing to the local launderette lady (was closed previously) who spoke no Portuguese so this time we had no idea really – we think it will be ready at 4pm on Wednesday but who knows! Spent the morning doing Portuguese homework and sorting photos. Ventured out in a non-rainy period for a short walk. Saw a Griffon Vulture flying overhead, will have to keep an eye out, they are obviously around here. Saw these flowers (left) – bet you can’t guess what they are. Answer at end of page!
Portuguese lesson with Joao at 6pm. More pronunciation and much rrrrolling of rrrr’s (which I can’t do but Cliff can!)
Tues Mar 26th
Pouring with rain again today. Joao is working in the little grocery/tourist shop in Marvao so we went up there to see him and the shop. Thought we may stay for a coffee at the café but thick cloud, rain and no view so thought better of it and retreated to Brian.
Memorial meeting tonight in Portalegre and Cliff had kindly agreed to take me there and bring me back. He had a dental appointment at 4.30 supposedly for an hour so estimated he'd be back at 6, plenty of time to get me there for 8pm. He rang at 5 to say they were running late. He rang again at 6.30 to say it was a long treatment and he was just having a pause!! Then he rang at 7 to say meet him outside and he would take me straight there (Portalegre is 30 mins away).
During this time it had been torrential rain. I took Sammy out and the little lane we usually walked down had turned into a river:
The tiny stream next to the trailer had risen and I was worried it would come over. So I started to move the stuff from under the trailer into the front locker. Then Gary the owner said I could put some stuff into his shed. So with his help I was moving chairs and all the stuff in bags into the shed! Eventually Cliff got back and we immediately set off for Portalegre. He said the roads were flooded in places but the worse one where a car had got stuck had been cleared by the time we reached it so we managed to get through. Memorial ended just after 9 and Cliff was waiting. He had sat in Dylan (the truck) reading all that time. I had invited him to come in with me but he refused. The journey back was horrendous! Peasouper fog going up the very steep very bendy hill, could hardly see anything, then the engine warning light came on - visions of us being stuck half way up the mountain in thick fog and rain! Cliff just pressed on and we got back ok. I am soooooo glad and very grateful to Cliff that I did not have to go on my own, I would have been petrified!
Anyway the Memorial was lovely. There are 80 in the congregation and 176 attended. They had it in the town hall as the Kingdom Hall was not big enough. I didn't understand very much but at least I was there!
Wed Mar 27th
We took Dylan to the Nissan garage in Portalegre this morning and it's a fractured intercooler hose (whatever one of them is) causing it to lose power so a new one ordered, nothing too desperate, thank goodness. More rain today – getting a tad fed-up with it now! All campers invited into Gary’s house this afternoon for a drink and nibblys to make up a bit for the rotten weather. One couple Margaret and Barry have been full-timing in their motorhome for 18 years -What they don’t know about it isn’t worth knowing! See their website www.magbaztravels.com. We left to pick up the washing – all done and folded up beautifully – then back to Brian for jigsaws and piano playing!
Thurs Mar 28th
Weather not too bad this morning so we went for an exploratory drive through some little villages in the area. Came across an Ovine Roadblock – fortunately Sammy did not go mad when they all went by us with their bells jingling and lambs bleating. We stopped in Beira for a coffee then walked up to the railway station. Disused now, sadly, but still beautiful with arches and huge tiled pictures.
Cliff headed off into the uknown (he’d forgotten to bring his maps!) and we found ourselves down a narrow little road surrounded by fields and there – on the fence – was a beautiful brightly coloured bird. Cliff thought it was a rare Desert Wheatear - it wasn’t - it was a Black-Eared Wheatear, still rare! We’ve never seen one before so great excitement. In the same area were several Corn Buntings, a gorgeous little Woodchat Shrike and rare (to us) Red-Rumped Swallows. And, unusually for here, although very common in the Algarve, we saw a stork and a stork’s nest. Oh, and we heard a cuckoo, first this year. All in all, a successful morning of birdwatching. After lunch we went for a short walk on the tracks around the campsite – hooray – the sun came out very briefly. Then Portuguese lesson – today role-playing, pretending we were shopping and wanting to buy a shirt for Cliff. Great fun. Dinner at the Pau Da Canela – Cliff had breaded lamb chops (five!!) and I had duck in orange sauce. Definitely NOT Nouvel Cuisine!!
Black-Eared Wheatear --- Woodchat Shrike --- Red-Rumped Swallow
Fri Mar 29th
Guess what – even MORE rain today! And storm force winds. We don’t have the safari room up, thank goodness, but we are wondering if the awnings over the slideouts will survive as we can’t do anything about those! Cliff drove to Portalegre first thing to get Dylan fixed, also tried to go to the vet to order more food for Sammy but as it’s Good Friday they were closed. I spent the morning doing chores (oh, the joys of being a trailer-wife!). Still pouring with rain and blowing a hooley so afternoon spent doing jigsaws, reading and looking at photos to remind us what blue sky and sun looks like! After tea we managed to go for a short stroll up the road and back in between showers. Spotted a Spotless Starling – how do you recognise a Spotless Starling? Well, it has a yellow beak and red legs and – of course, no spots! Tomorrow’s forecast is for better weather – let’s hope it is!
Sat Mar 30th
Woke up to sunshine! Hooray! Got out as quickly as we could and walked up to Marvao, UP being the operative word! Stunning views, beautiful little cobbled lanes, wonderful ancient gnarled trees, lovely wild flowers.
It took 1 ¾ hours to reach the top so we stopped at the café for lunch where there was a grey parrot in the window – he kept us amused with his ‘Ola’ ‘Bom Dia’, ‘Uma bica’ and wolf whistles! Saw Mr and Mrs Hoopoe on the way up and a bat flying around - don’t know what he was doing out in the middle of the day. Also a cow-herd with his mule – we wondered how they managed to get around the countryside with their cows and now we know. When we returned after lunch we for another exploratory drive. We came across olive groves surrounded by yellow flowers and this tiny stream which was full of a waterweed in flower – from a distance it looked just like a miniature road!
Sun Mar 31st
Back to torrential rain. We managed to nip out to Castelo Da Vide to do some shopping this morning then retreated back to Brian to do more jigsaw puzzles!. Didn’t make it to the Kingdom Hall this afternoon, too much rain, floodwater and fog. Rain not let up all day – sat in the trailer watching the water rise around us. Our neighbour’s pitch is already flooded by water running off the road and Dylan is now sat in his own little pond!
At 5pm Cliff rushed off to help a friend of Gary’s. He came back 2 hours later shattered. He and 4 others had been helping a lady whose house had been flooded by the stream at the back of the house. Her husband had recently suffered a stroke and just come home from hospital so was unable to do anything. They built a dam to stop the stream coming in and then painstakingly swept out the downstairs of the house. They managed to stop the water coming in but the poor lady now has been left with the mess to clear up and sort out. We felt so sorry for her. We are still watching the stream at the side of the trailer….
Guess the flower – BRUSSELS SPROUTS!
Contributed by Chris & Cliff
(Published 3rd Mar 2013)
