Ameixial

Dogs, bees, brooks and flora. Butterflies alight and bees swarm over nectar rich veins and dogs bay for the iron running deep into my being. Cockerel not on the table cries over sacrificed fowl. And I am onwards.

***

Was that a Dutch fight? Two Dutch who didn't like each other, but I might've misunderstood. The femme told me not to eat his left overs (but I couldn't help it as I didn't want to waste any of the wonderful food) and he was digging at her once she left the other table. Antagonism, but probably bedfellows. I didn't mind him giving me his creme caramel, but touching my leg was a Dutch too far. Now I am horizontal, again, in the albergue in Ameixial: apparently there is a four day walking event in March so it has a purpose built Albergue, but the three mulheres I thought were taking me to the edge of town to strip me of what little mantle I have left! But it wasn't to be... C'est la vie?

That was a long day. But by 2pm I was wolfing down another Galo. Still the previous cock-a-doodle-doo wasn't in this pot... Back to horizontal now I've worked out the electricity controls... They were too short to be the Witches of Eastwick...

The village on the N2 is closed at 6: Ameixial. Three café and none open. The gasoline station has a 'bar' but at 1€ a pop for Sagres Preta I prefer to return to horizontal and a flask of windfall oranges and lemons (well they would've been windfall if it so happened next to my hand reaching out to grab 'em) for tomorrow. I do hope the bovine woman in the gas station was having a gas when she said nothing is open until 7:30am? I may hitch to the next available café open at a reasonable time or just go opposite to the panadaria which sounds active already...

I foraged and broke today into to three. The final forage was definitely the best! A couple of ripe prickly pears - prickles managed well - after a restaurant turned me away at one o'clock with another hour left until the end of day three.

A fonte, now I understand how to use it... Having seen a disused one earlier on this morning, where water is drawn up from the nether regions which neither of the feuding Dutch could reach, and low and behold I had absolutely more water than I new what to do with...

First thing this morning I came upon a ladened bush with tonnes of berries and, although they looked familiar, I could not be sure if they were an an edible type or one surely to render me into a long deep sleep: myrtle! Yup look just like blueberries, but I didn't want to die a little over an hour into the fantastic third day!

And I got it wrong Ameixial is still in the Algarve! It was the final stop on the bus route I perused Monday thinking of a way back to Faro on Sunday; but it's so obvious that it's going to be BlaBlaCar along the N2 now I know of it's existence!

The lady at the bar must've been telling me the truth. I can't sleep beyond 5:30/6am as I get older, but hanging around for a coffee until 7, 7:30 or 8 is next to impossible... I must find a coffee... Hang around? Yup I stood on the crossroads and thought of hitch hiking but now, with only ten minutes until it opens I am too cold to go anywhere...