A rebel without a clue.

Made a growling dog happy, and a bonafide companion (before I shoo-ed him back), with a little tenderness behind the ears. An older boy guarding the crossroads out of Ameixial: he kept a dangerous looking black dog away with another low rumble of discontent! Am now walking towards the midway break at Santa Cruz, perched on the other side of a valley in Alentejo. Crossing the Vascão at the mill I left the Algarve. It's my forth day today so I am nearly over the peak of the expected seven days. Amongst the scrub and pasture I hear the plaintive cries of ewe and lamb in a distinctly different environment with all its cork oak and lichen. No arbutus, carob, prickly pear, oranges, lemons or limes today; and definitely no Myrtle... *** Café a Colmeia do Vicente and it's the only place before Almodôvar so I must eat here, but do I stop here? If it's more of the rolling hills on the borderlands? Loan, the young Doberman, was fun to be around! *** Those lonel...

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 Ga...

A quarter to six awake. Not the warmest night's sleep, but I wasn't uncomfortable. Shame about the exit light always on: but it's a retirement home so it's compulsory and I used a snood scarf as a blindfold. No alcohol sloshing around my insides. Retired around 6pm and was out like a light until someone decided to buzz the outside gate. Then I struggled with the several layers of bedding to keep the cold out and my body warm as I crept towards wakefulness... As the sun went below the horizon the sky lit up with a good omen? Red sky at night... I think I'd prefer a difficult day with the sun for company... Rain is too much already! Opção for 2 * coffee and cheese and ham toastie... I simply had to have something warm on this chilly morning, and they won't do OVO... Why won't they do eggs? So a tortilla for lunch? And some fruit ... Not quite there so to the top of town for one more coffee, a bolo de Arroz   apples and bolinho de almond...

It's a simple village. Where simplicity is the order of the hour. Like yesterday I did a circuit of the centre, around the ruined castle, now I sit opposite the Associação Cultural de Salir with obligatory 20cl Super Bock Stout. The sun is shining... and I am sleeping in an old folks home this evening! *** And what a day. Fim meio-dia and exhausted. Salir. Staying in an old folks home, gratis! I am on the trail of a true Caminho and two days out of Faro it exists: so now it's forward into the unknown? Not east or west, but straight ahead for another 5 days... It was very wet mid morning and the future depends on getting off to the correct start tomorrow! The chef in Porto Doce is French. Galo Portuguese/Gallo French. Coq-au-Vin is French... La vin is Portuguese - I didn't ask? Fried bread is clever? Especially if the bread is local? Waste not want not. I asked for piri-piri because I thought he'd not do the meal justice, and I love piri-piri, but...

Faro. Phew. A good night's sleep in a Hostel. Only one other guest in my room Brian from the UK, who is escaping the cost of England; why else would you come to Faro? Perhaps for the climate, obviously, and to chill the fuck out? That's why I am here. I was last in Portugal just prior to dog sitting Archie in December, and had a few days of nice walking along that Caminho Portugues route out of Porto, but I had a very tight budget, and quickly ran out of money, and the weather desolved into awful. Five days. This time I am hoping for 7 days prior to heading back to the flat in Leeds to have this new heating and water system installed by the contractors to Leeds City Council. Then I've Ruby again before Glenn and I go to Grenoble, and surroundings... *** Day One yawns into being. As the first plane screams overhead @ 6:30am. The man, Brian, sleeps with a light on. And has sleep apnea... I thought he was choking a couple of times. What with the night guy cleaning the corridor...

That feels like the end of Christmas for me. Andy Stoney didn't have his Christmas jumpers on... And he didn't acknowledge me. Lola to my right and Archie too my left... The fire on. A warm bath... Peace. Peaceful. I won't be long going to Lalaland... 29th December. Can you be more loved?  *** Good night's sleep, minor issue in that Lola fell out of the bed... That's never happened before. She must've been in a dream running away and wriggled to the border land of Mattress and Space? Today I want another peaceful day. I have it inside, but it struggles to get heard amongst the frenetic pace of Christmas; where everything is noisy, busy, extremely bad for my sanity - although it's in me to forgive. *** Andy had his Christmas jumper on again yesterday. I saw him across the street after I'd been shopping for New Year's Eve supper... Great food. Laurel and Hardy. Easy... I heard no fireworks. Lola went out around 2 and around 4 and around 6. Probably all...

Christmas Day. A bit of gurgling from young Archie, but it was well passed 6am. As I switched on the smartphone it's already 6:45! Finally I slept in ... The wind has subsided, for today and tomorrow, before the next autumn storm rolls in on from the Atlantic on Wednesday. Where's winter? It's lost in the far north and is keeping away. There is a fallen tree across the footpath which runs passed the allotment, and covering a portion of the space where kale was growing. Spent yesterday sober. Bad night's sleep on Saturday. Thought that Archie would wake me during the evening to ask me to take him for a crap. Stupidly I didn't get him out in the evening before I went to bed, after watching Wayne's World... Breakfast television. toast for breakfast. Banal magazine fill on the box. Fat people preparing food for more fat people who haven't eaten this week ... The number of people wedged into the pubs as I walked down to the overflowing river with Lola for her sol...