This has been one of the wettest Christmas / New Years for many a year which is no consolation for those that have been in the Algarve both walking and biking. But you know even though this must be so disappointing all of our clients have taken things in their soggy stride and keep reassuring us that we are not to blame for the weather - that is so true but we do feel somewhat responsible (illogical though that is). It hasn't been only mainland Portugal that has suffered, there has been widespread damage in the Azores and in Madeira a flight from the UK carrying some clients tried to land 3 times in gale force winds before having to give up!! They arrived the next day.
Is all this a result of climate change? Who knows? But what ever the weather you are guaranteed a warm welcome if you do come to Portugal - May 2010 be good for you all!

Seasons Greetings to you all where ever you maybe!

The phone rang at 7.00am which always makes me a bit anxious (usually only emergencies and family) however relief, relief it was neither but only Kate from U tracks in Australia wanting to talk business! Fortunately I was compis mentis having had my much needed 2 mugs of coffee! (If anyone is reading this from down under then U Tracks are our agents and are to be recommended for all your travel needs).

We had a great walk yesterday and everyone kept saying how much they were enjoying it - why? It wasnt really the scenery which was good but more about the fact that we walked through tiny hamlets where local people were still carrying on their daily lives - it was so good to see that just beyond the tourist spots you can still see folk like the man in the photo carrying on his livelihood - here he is mending a wheelbarrow!

While taking my dog on a short walk this afternoon I was treated to a wonderful display by a pair of booted eagles riding the thermals overhead. This is a walk I do very often, usually I must admit from pure laziness but my dog enjoys it running, sniffing back and forth as if it is her first time and this got me to thinking........ Often people will as a way of an excuse tell me that they will be missing a Wednesday or Saturday walk because they 'have done that one'. I never see walks like that, to me there is always something new to discover and see (we very rarely repeat walks in a season so it may be a good 9 - 12 months since these folk walked a particular walk) - nature is never still and walks cannot be 'ticked' off like a shopping list.
It has been a very busy week, a company in the UK wanted a proposal for a sponsored cycle ride across south Portugal and a Dutch company wants to bring 18 people for a short break in March, both have involved visits to new hotels etc which has been very interesting. Why oh why when business is difficult do some hotels want to put prices up - their logic just beat me!