This look like an iris but it is in fact Gymnandris - I call it the gin and tonic plant because the flowers only open at gin and tonic time!

Our last day and another lovely one at that.   We spent it packing and making sure that everything is safe to leave and that the watering systems are working.   

This afternoon 4 of our neighbours from the closest village walked along the track at the back on their way to collect the yellow flowers of a certain plant which they use to make tea.

 On their way back they came up to see us and we shared some Medronha and 'chatted'.  I found that I am able to understand and say a little more since I started the classes again but they speak too fast and when I want to say something I'm slow and by the time I've got it together the moment has passed!  Anyway it was nice to see them and they stayed a while and had a good look round because one thing they are and that is nosy!!

They gave us some of the flowers and told us how to make the tea.   It is very good for us apparently and the collecting of it is an annual event.

Yesterday after my class we went to Rosi and Bob's for drinks.  They took us to a field near them where there were hundreds of orchids in flower.  Sadly they are all very small this year due to the lack of rain. Then we went on for an Indian together to say goodbye until the next time.

Another beautiful day.  Been busy preparing house and garden for departure on Wednesday.   Enjoyed my favourite hour of the year - the evening after the clocks go forward and the hour between 7 and 8 in the evening.  A lovely sunset and eating out at 8pm - not possible later in the year because of the mozzies at dusk.

Turning the compost heap

It was one of the loveliest days since December.  There was no wind and temperature rose to 31 deg in the shade by the afternoon.  This is what Michael did today 

Walked up the hill to check the water level in the cisterna ( that's the holding tank for our water after it has been pumped up from the well)

Set up the automatic leaky hose water irrigation on the veg patch

Cleaned the water filters (our water is filtered twice before reaching the taps and our drinking water is filtered a third time)

Topped up the solar batteries (12) with distilled water

Cleaned out the swimming pool filters and mended them

Topped up the swimming pool and checked the chemical balance

Weeded among olives

Tied up broad beans

Cleared the dead wood that I had fished out from the woodland walk

Finished improving compost heaps and turned one into the other

Wow!!

Cytisus and coronilla which I dug up from the wild when they were babies and planted outside the back door

For the last few days the pesky cold north wind has been back keeping temperatures down so we have been lighting the fire again. Despite that the hills all around are slowly becoming more and yellow with cytisus and coronilla and touches here there with the pinks and whites of the heather.   Soon they will be covered with white flowers from the cistus. 

Today it was yoga then Portuguese class.  Then we drove in the new car to Faro not using the motorway.   This was because we were on our way to the Via Verde office to change the transponder from the old car to the new car to enable us to use the motorway in it.   Sounds complete nonsense?  That's because it is. 

In order to use the motorway you have to buy or rent a transponder registered to the car stuck to the windscreen which records every time the car passes beneath a gantry to pay the toll which then comes out of the bank account.   Without a transponder you have to go to a Post Office within 5 days to pay the toll which may only be a euro or two.   

So having had the transponder changed over to the new car which only took a minute in their office we were then able to use the motorway for our return journey.

For lunch we went to Macdonalds for a Big Mac Meal each and sad to report we ate two each.  But these kept us going pretty much until breakfast the following morning.

Today in the afternoon we collected the Ford Fiesta.  It drives like a new car and we are very pleased with it.  Peter is going to buy the Corsa when it is repaired and he is going to pay for it by painting our house while we are not here.

We had the first picking of the broad beans and delicious they are too.  There are lots more to come and hopefully Peter will be able to make use of them and maybe freeze some for us.   There is a second crop which should be ready for end of April when we are coming back for a week.  For a few weeks now we have had lettuce, radish, rocket and baby spinach from our tiny veg patch and there are some leeks to come.   Michael has fixed an automatic leaky hose irrigation system there for when we leave.

Our flight home is on Wednesday afternoon and I have yoga and Portuguese in the morning so that is going to be a busy day. Home for a bit of a rest methinks!

Today it was Portuguese class in the afternoon.   I was pleased that I had most of the homework right - well as much as anyone did.  There are 4 of us in the class so we get through quite a lot in 1.5 hours twice a week.  

This is the spring fed well which provides all of our water.   It is set into the hillside and is only about 3ft deep but it is full all the time and has never run out while we have been here.   Noticeably though it fills more slowly in the summer than the winter.

Inside the well there is a solar powered pump which pushes the water about 100m up to a tank above the house and then the water is gravity fed down.  We have had the water tested and it is good water for drinking.  We filter it a few times before it reaches the tap in case of any deposits.

Running between the tank and the well is the electricity lead for the power and a pipe for the water and it is always our big fear that while strimming or other work we cut into them which would be a disaster so we have to be quite sure where they are.

The bare truth is that if it wasn't for the well we couldn't live here.

Peter has been digging up his asparagus bed and has about 50 crowns going spare.  We have taken some and have planted them and I am taking some to the next garden club meeting to see if there are any takers.  They are good crowns - 2 to 3 years old and producing well even now a couple of days after planting. 

A photo from the archives taken on the day the water tanks were delivered in 2009. This is just one of two of them

We have had a problem with remembering what we did on what day so this is a summing up of the last few days.  

The big news is that it rained big time - the first rain since we arrived here Dec 15 so it is much needed.  Everything picked up almost immediately and is all looking refreshed now.  It has been changeable ever since with localised showers and thunderstorms.  

In between Michael has been glueing the new trim around the swimming pool.

  A few months ago we noticed that the part of the liner which is exposed above the water line had split and there has been considerable discussion as to how this might have occurred.  The worst scenario is that it is subsidence and the best is that being in direct sunlight all the time the liner has degraded.

  So the solutions started at a new liner at worst.  We have gone for the second scenario and have bought some trim to cover the splits all round and protect the liner from further damage.  We shall see.  Not an easy job to glue the trim to the liner all around and at one point Michael overbalanced and gave himself a nasty shock when he fell into the pool.

I have completed the pruning of the early flowering shrubs and am bringing the garden up to scratch before our departure in 10 days time.

At the moment it is pouring with rain.  As we have no loft and the ceiling is the underside of the roof the noise of the rain is like being in a shed, caravan or tent !

Looking down on the terrace garden

The Corsa which escaped down the hill is in for repair and meanwhile we have borrowed Peter's runabout.

A busy day today.  Language class at 11 - I am just about keeping my head above water at the moment - and while I was there Michael went to the local garage and looked at cars. He saw a Ford Focus, €8000, 55,000k, one owner, 2011.  With the good exchange rate at the moment this comes to just over £6000. After he had collected me we completed the deal and we collect it on Tuesday

Then home and snooze before I set out again for yoga at 5.30.  I felt almost too tired to go but went anyway and as is usual felt refreshed and invigorated afterwards.  Meanwhile Michael had put the lamb stew I had prepared in the oven so that was ready when I got home.

Today it was another garden club meeting - this time a talk on Linnaeus by a very competent speaker.  Well anyone who can make a talk on Linnaeus interesting has to be competent.  Then it was lunch with some other members then home.  

This is the work of the wild boar.  They are here somewhere on our land every night but either we have not put the 4 night video cameras out or we have put them in the wrong place and the boar have avoided them yet again.   They are very thoughtful because they have not dug anywhere where we have planted in fact they are useful because they turn up large stones for us which we then use in the rockeries.They do all this work with their snouts looking for underground roots and shoots.

For an area that has always been at risk of water shortage it amazes us that the Algarve houses have not been built with gutters.

 This was the case with ours when we arrived and one of the first jobs was to get Bob who used to help us in the early days to install them.   He had much trouble in sourcing them because they are not readily available here, and now we are fully guttered.  

At the same time two water tanks were brought up the track on the back of a truck and placed near the swimming pool.   So the rain water from the gutters goes into them and is used for the swimming pool.  It all makes perfect sense.

I left Michael installing some reed screening to hide the tanks  (the old ones having come to grief in a storm) and set off for my Portuguese lesson.   The standard is a tad too advanced for me but I manage to keep up knowing I have to do a lot of revision. What happened when I arrived back home is covered under the tab  HANDBRAKE  at the top of the website.

Plant of the week - Sparaxis, a bulb

Up and out to Leroy Merlin to buy screening to hide the blue water tanks and swimming pool chemicals.  I spotted a small shelf unit in the same colour wood as our kitchen and knew immediately where it could go.   I asked the assistant where the flat packs were and she said it was the last one and the display model and I could buy it reduced from 47€ to 33€.  You have never seen anyone grab anything so fast, checked out and in the car.  I was so pleased with my bargain.

Then home and quiet afternoon in the sun before heading out to friends Gina and Mike for an evening at their house. They live 15 minutes away also among a myriad of tracks and we became confused as to which way to go.  There was a lady walking a dog and we said we were looking for Gina and Mike's house.  She said Ah they are the British couple? Yes, so she pointed out the way.  There are no addresses around here.   Also there were Cath and Dave so a jolly time ensued with much recounting of tales and laughter.

Spring is here! The lizards have emerged from hibernation and here in a courtship ritual.

We have had two quiet days here in lovely weather.   Michael has been trying to clear the swimmming pool which has become rather green over the winter and I finished the second washing up bowl rock pool at last.   

There has been a considerable amount of wild boar activity around us.  At night they turn over large areas with their snouts looking for roots and shoots.  it looks like someone has gone over with a plough and they bring large stones to the surface.    We have had 4 night cameras out where they have been and have not recorded a single thing although we know the cameras are working.   It is very frustrating and we think the boar are having a laugh with us. We will keep trying and surely we must get lucky one of these nights.

We see surprisingly little wildlife here - the occasional eagle overhead, woodpeckers, robins, blackcaps, geckos.  The birds seem to have gone away to get married at the moment as there is very little birdsong. Butterflies are beginning to come to life - orange, blue, white, but they never stay still long enough for us to get a good look. 

The broad beans are just beginning to show small pods now.  We had hoped they would be earlier than this so we would be cropping while we are here but the cold nights a month ago probably held them back.  We may get a couple of meals from them before we leave in three weeks and then they will be left to their own devices until we return at the end of April.   We shall see.  Otherwise we have been picking lettuce, radish, rocket and baby spinach. 

I was up early to get to the local Yoga class I have found which started at 9 am.  It is a lovely class and I am enjoying it very much.

 One of my fellow Yoginis was going on to her language class afterwards and I asked if I could join her.   It is an intermediate Portuguese class and there were only 4 of us which was good.  I was very reassured to find that I fitted into the work they were doing very well and it is just at my standard so I shall go again.

So after 1.5 hours of Yoga and 1.5 hours of class it was time to go home and rest my body and brain for the afternoon.

Later on a good gardening friend came to see us for tea, chat and plant talk. She leads one of the garden clubs that we belong to and she thought we would make an ideal venue for the club one day.

These freesias are at their best in the garden now - when we were out visiting gardens the other day the one thing we were all agreed on was how well freesias do everywhere here.

This is a succulent in our garden called Kalanchoe. I love the way the sunlight filters through the leaves to give this effect.

Big day out today.  It was the monthly meeting of one of the garden clubs we belong to and it was a day of garden visits.  Rosi and Bob gave us a lift so we met up with them and set off east to Moncarapacho for the first visit.

We were shown round by the owner and from the chat around me it became apparent that although we all call ourselves mediterranean gardeners it actually all comes down to very local differences in soil and location as to what will grow successfully.  I heard 'oh that does well with me' and 'I can't grow that' from people who live a short distance from each other.

There are three bands going across the Algarve from east to west.  First the south where it is sandy and influenced by the sea, then a band called the Barrocal which has typical red soil and sandstone boulders and the north band which is us with clay and stone known at Schist.  Amongst it all are pockets of alkaline and acid soils. 

That's why every garden is different not only because of the gardener's preferences but also because of the local conditions.

After a very jolly lunch we went in a convoy of about 30 cars to our second destination.  This was a garden made by a professional garden designer around his house 6/7 years ago but which he left behind 3 years ago.

 It was lovely but we could see how the garden really missed the hand and love that had made it.

Then we all said goodbye and Rosi and Bob took us to a couple of nurseries on the way back before dropping us off at our car.

We called in at Peter's on the way up here and shared a G & T with him to aid our recovery from what had been a long day.

This is the device by which we connect to the internet.  It measures 8 cm by 5.5 cm and is a 3G wireless mobile router supplied by Vodafone Portugal.   It charges up and has a battery life of 6 hours..  This means that we always have internet connection indoors and also for 6 hours when we are out.  We have a MacBook Air which is light to carry and comes with us wherever we go so we know it is safe and we both have Iphones.   The router is 15€ a month for 6 months and 30€ for the remainder of the year.

We choose not to have television so we spend our evenings either doing not much or Scrabble or a DVD.

We live here very cheaply.  Our outgoings are the car insurance, tax and petrol plus our food.  The council tax is just 90€ a year and of course we have no energy bills.  We buy diesel in cans for the back up generator and the boiler which provides the underfloor heating.   We have two deliveries of firewood a year at 130€ a time.

We are not lighting the fires any more as the weather has warmed up now and we have had some beautiful sunny windless days.   So we have been catching up with strimming, mowing and weeding.

Suddenly everything has changed.  The north wind has gone and the overnight temperatures have risen to double figures.  As you can see the vine has responded by throwing out some new shoots and the forecast is good for the rest of our stay.

A quiet day here today - Michael sorting out the pool chemical levels and me putting in more plants.   Now it is time to start going round weeding so we leave the garden in good shape when we go. 

But mainly just to enjoy the warmth at last.

View from the apartment

Awoke to another lovely sunny day and our apartment is sheltered from the wind.  We took a ride in the car along the coast to the east of us and visited the beaches of Olhos da Aqua, Marie Luisa and Eulalia.  We first saw these beaches 25 years ago and we were so delighted to see that very little has changed since then - they are still wild and unspoilt.  The only difference is that each has its own beach cafe now.   The local councils have given subsidies to one cafe per beach to provide toilet facilities and deckchairs with umbrellas in the summer as an amenity.  The lifeguards operate on each beach from the beginning of May to the end of October.

A few years ago on Maria Luisa beach several people were killed and some were injured when falling rock fell on them and since then a survey of all the cliffs has been made and warning signs put up with placards showing where it is safe to sit.   Today I saw a couple lying under the cliff at Maria Luisa exactly where the accident happened and I felt duty bound to warn them and tell them what happened there.  I pointed out the warning notice just by them which they had not seen.  Little miss busybody I expect they thought.

It was a lovely ride which we enjoyed and we returned to the apartment for salad lunch and snooze and then a walk on our beach Praia da Oura (Golden Beach) in the sun

We packed up our gear and returned to QV in the evening  stopping at the local Chinese for supper.

Taken on our beach walk

When we put the boat, Silueta, up for sale in Corfu in 2008 we had to remove all our personal belongings from her.  We had agreed by then to purchase QV so it was a question of moving house from the boat to QV.

We went around the rubbish bins in Corfu and found suitable sturdy boxes and set about packing up all bedding, towels, clothes, books, cooking utensils, cutlery, plates etc.  

In the end it amounted to about 5 boxes which we put into our rubber dinghy and rowed ashore to the local Post Office which was tiny and part of a grocery shop.

We don't think that the owner had ever had to deal with such a consignment as this before.as he was somewhat befuddled with the task of sending 5 boxes to Portugal. 

We addressed them to the Cat Charity shop which our friend runs having asked her if she would mind storing them for a while and reminding her that they were definitely not for sale!

So when we moved into QV in September 2008 we fetched the 5 boxes which had miraculously arrived and the contents were what we initially set up home with. 

Somehow or other the clothes which we call 'our boat clothes' have lasted us out pretty well for living in the hills and only making occasional forays out to the big wide world for errands and shopping.

But it has become increasingly apparent that now we have made a few friends and have a social life the 'boat clothes' weren't cutting the mustard any more - so today I had a trip out to the big shopping mall for a big clothes shop.

I did quite well and am pleased with my purchases but I was sad to note that there were very few customers about in the shops and a lot of stock for sale.  The assistants were trying hard to look busy but the tills were not ringing as much as they would have liked.

Then it was a lovely beach walk followed by supper at the beach cafe and scrabble  Michael won

Sunset last night

We have booked a long weekend at the timeshare by the sea to do some beach walking and have a mini holiday.

 I have found a very nice Yoga class locally and so I went for the hour and a half class in the morning, then home, packed and we headed down here by mid afternoon.  We brought with us all the left overs from the fridge and had them for our tea.

It is much busier by the coast than it was in January and many more people about and more restaurants open.   I think there is a sense that Spring may be here at last.

Wednesday 4 March

Friends Heather and Bill came for lunch today.  They had not been here before so they experienced the WOW factor as they arrived and saw the view and the surroundings.   We spent a very pleasant afternoon chatting.

Another much needed quiet day.  The first warmer day without the wind and what a difference it made!  The garden suddenly seemed to lift its head to the sun. I finally got to planting out the small nursery I have collected over the last weeks and getting them watered in.  Michael chainsawed up some kindling for the fire.  

The sun is going down at 6.15 now and dark at 7 which is one hour later than it was at the December Equinox and it is lovely to see the lighter sky.   

There has been a lot of wild boar activity around and although we have been putting the night cameras out we have not captured them yet.   They dig up the soil - even large stones - in search of roots, bulbs etc.   

The photo is of a group of plants in the terrace garden.  Orange, pink and white.  Not a combination I would use at home but here with the bright light it works well.   I planted some bulbs of Crinum powelli pink form but took them out because the pink washed out in the light - at home the paler colours work well so I shall taken them home again.

The almond blossom nearer the coast is almost finished now but higher up here it is just starting.

We have planted 11 almond trees  but like all the other trees we have planted they are very slow to get going.   They sulk and look sick for a year or two then seem to get their feet down and start to put on some growth.   I think they take time to get used to the idea that they are living at 425m above sea level which is above the zone they normally thrive in.  So we are pushing the boundaries out with our trees.  

Today they were all watered as there has been no appreciable rain since November and none is forecast until April.  This is not a state of affairs that the Algarvians like as they depend on the winter rains to get them through the 4 months of summer drought.

Spring blossom by the back door

So Spring is here ha ha!   This winter will be remembered in the Algarve as cold with protracted strong north winds.

However as our visitors have left us now and it has all gone quiet again we have no excuse but to be brave and get out in it and catch up with the jobs.   We both feel exhausted and have withdrawal symptoms from being indoors too much and not feeling the lovely fresh air here that maybe not such a chore after all.

There are trees to be planted, one olive and one pine,and logs to be moved after our second delivery of the winter.  I have a number of plants in pots that are dying to be out of them and in and growing away.  The weeds are catching up but I am leaving that job until nearer our going home time so I don't have to do it again! !

Generally we are in recovery after a busy month and can look forward to this month which has only three dates ticked in the diary and they are garden meetings which we shall enjoy.  

So we are starting our wind down time til we go home.