Lots of things going on... November.

Rainbow from our roof.

We took the Land Rover 90 on a little off road drive just on the outskirts of Silves to the Windmill, it was a great drive with some amazing views. Shall be doing a little more of this for sure, the tracks are probably fire breaks which is ideal for getting over the hill.

Off roading local.

'Windy' Ryan

Silves Windmill and the 90 

Neils parents and brother arrived, it was going to be a little more cramped as Ian had to sleep in the living room on a blow up mattress, the sofa bed in the apartment was pretty useless as we found out when Darren stayed, with Pee Pee here too night time activities (loo visits mainly) where going to be interesting, if he had a chance he would be on a bed, any bed… Pee Pee I mean not Ian, it turned out he was happy to share the blow up mattress with Ian.

Art in the town

Cinnamon Doughnut Sticks.

The fair came to town for a holiday weekend, this was an enjoyable evening for us all especially as the scrumptious doughnut like things covered in Cinnamon sugar and roast chestnuts were plentiful. Matty is quite a fan of rides so he and I went on almost the fastest there, it was pretty fast and I was ready to get off when it stopped, it wasn’t until a few days after when we went again and I asked Matty to go on for a second time with me and he said no that we found out it was bit too much for him, it was too fast he was badly bruised where he had been thrown around in the seat, poor love. 






Visitor´s mean we get to do a bit more sightseeing, we decided to take in Loule, Sagres and Monchique, both were lovely days out, great scenery and some very tasty traditional food of pigs cheek and wild boar stew plus of course the obligatory visit or two to Caffe Duetto in Silves for more delish cake and tea from Val.

Sagres

Sagres Fortress

Monchique.

Monchique.

The arrival of Dennis also meant the we could get the caravan positioned on the land in a more suitable spot, Dennis worked for Land Rover forever test driving vehicles all around the world, moving around the display units and taking folk out on the off road courses, so what he couldn’t do when it came to driving/towing was not worth knowing. He managed to get the caravan between the Fig tree and container using the Defender, this was some feat, the gap was small and the turn was tight, it took a while and a lot of shunting in the pouring rain, power steering not working properly either, 

Watch the Fig tree...

Jean and Ian had a good view from the Barkas of the whole show, those of you that know Dennis will be quite aware of how skilled he is when it comes to manoeuvring anything on wheels, but what he achieved for us that day was nothing short of excellence and I think he enjoyed it too… 

Sheltering.

In place.

Neil had been planning the layout of our house, this took many evenings of discussion, reviewing and rethinking, the main considerations were size which impacts on cost and the layout as the plot is not south facing. We came up with a design that worked for us and very excitedly met with Catarina to see what she had come up with. At the first glance of Catarinas idea we were pretty much smitten, she put a twist literally in the aspect which we had not thought about, that was Neils hard work and torment over, best use of space pretty much wasted, however, Catarina was positive about what he had prepared and found it all very useful, it gave her a good appreciation of what size home we would be happy with and what spaces we wanted within it. We spent a couple of hours at the land discussing ideas, materials and methods before heading home full of positivity, the next stage was for Catarina to show us a selection of more mature ideas to consider, Eeeek!!!

Our plot and the neighbouring ones are full of fruit trees full of tasty produce...

Edible Rubies.

Carob blossom

Olives

Abandoned birds nest.

Subida Impossivel in the background.

Two events this month kept the boys happy the annual Silves Subida Impossível, (impossible hill climb for motorbikes) and a Rally with a stage that was close to us. The Subida Impossível was a two-day event and was very well organised, the first day was the dirt bikes on what I can only describe as a mini enduro/trials course, it was great fun to watch them hammering around throwing clouds of dust our way. Day two was the highlight, the hill climb, the steepest ‘hill’ I have seen for sometime with only wheels to get up, it was more like a cliff face and I really could not imagine anyone getting to the top without a rope, in which case what would be the point if you know what I mean, we asked around and it appeared a few people make it every year, so we happily sat ourselves on the grass to watch the action. It was a very tight turn at the bottom of the hill which meant no run up at all but to our delight it was not long before someone made it to the top much to the joy of the roaring crowds, by the end of the day quite a few made it actually, it was an exciting and satisfying event.




Now we rushed off up the Monchique hills to catch the rally, it was daylight when we arrived after quite a long wait and in the dark (good job we took a picnic) the cars finally came screeching around the corners, sparks flying with brake disks glowing, and sirens, yes sirens wailing, not really sure what all that was about, it was a little like Key Stone Cops on Nirto, this was followed by the more run of the mill Subaru’s and similar, it was a late night by the time we got home but it had been a fun day.

Monquiche Rally picinc.

Pee Pee and his post.

One thing we have been wanting to do for years is make stuff, any kind of stuff and this is the result of throwing together a bit of wood from our land and a blanket from the bin and Pee Pee loves it. Result!!

Picnic lunch at Praia da Rocha

Mom and Dad arrived again, yes again!! And although the weather was not as warm as their previous visit we still managed a couple of visits to the beach and even a swim, we had a lovey time, sunny most days but the nights were getting cooler and with no heating we were all sitting in our dressing gowns. Ryans electronic dart board had some use too which was great fun and caused much hysteria which warmed everyone up a bit.
This time dropping Mom and Dad off at the airport was quite different due to the fact in 3 weeks we will all be staying with them for Christmas, no time at all, how wonderful!!

Praia da Vau

November swim at  Praia da Luz.

Soaking up the sun.

On the domestic front the apartment although it is more than adequate in size for us plus guests with some bunking, now the weather is changing we are feeling the cold, its not ‘cold’ in the grand scheme of things especially after Wintering in Bulgaria for 10 years and we are all missing the snow, yes we are!! The Bulgarian Winters did bring excitement and it was all very cleansing with the crispness, coldness and brightness on the sunny days. What probably makes our place worse is the fact that its top floor with a flat roof and facing west with no south exposure at all, we are wrapping up and going to bed early. We would have liked to move somewhere with a garden by now to be honest so that the boys and Pee Pee who is getting fatter by the day can get outside, we have put up poster asked around and advertised in the local shop and cafe but it seems that rental property in our neck of the wood is like rocking horse shit!! So, for now we shall stay put and get out the jumpers, and maybe go and sit on the roof in the sun for a bit of natural warmth and who knows if we can crack on maybe we will be in our new home next winter nice and toasty.