Friday 29th August - Scootering around the Algarve coast.

I got up in plenty of time to make the 10am booking. Breakfasted and ready but Rachael and Sirena still not up at 9.45. Then I got bollocked because I didn't wake them up... ! Sirena, bless her, ready in five minutes but Rachael stuffed around doing god-knows-what for ages and we didn't get to the scooter office until after 10.30. Were then informed by the rudest woman on the planet that we would have to wait a half hour for the next pick up. An hour later we finally got taken to the scooter garage and got sorted with the insurance and paperwork. Around 12.00 we got on the road - map in hand, ready to concur the Algarve coastline. The scooters weren't the best but Sirena and I thrilled to be back on our beloved scooters again! First time for Racheal who was understandably a little nervous.

It turned out to be a brilliant day out, despite the rocky start. We visited all the little coastal villages right out to Sagres - the southern most tip of Western Europe and the place once considered to be 'The End of the World'. Luz, Burgau, (where we beach-picniked on the left-over mackeral which was still devine), Salena, Budens and inland to Vila do Bispo. We spend a couple of hours at the fortress of Henry the Navigator, who was famous for in the 1400's, charting and mapping much of the geography of the area without ever actually sailing anywhere.

Incredible views of the steep cliffs and the local fishermen perched on the edges, casting their lines out to the crashing waves 100 feet below. It really did feel like the end of the world and I can now understand why they used to think the earth was flat.

In the evening, we headed back to a restaurant we had spotted on the beach at Budens. Arrived as it was getting dark, after getting a little lost and having a nerve-racking time finding just one elusive gas station, after we had passed so many on the way there~! Isn't that always the way? I rolled into the station on fumes alone.

Dinner was another feast. We shared plates of chicken-mango salad, the most perfect grilled swordfish and juicy lamb cutlets. The electricity kept cutting off making for a strange semi-candle-lit evening for the three of us under a million stars, with Mars shining right above us. Portugese food proving to rival French cuisine!

A chilly ride back to Lagos with nothing but our sarongs wrapped around us for warmth ~ very uncool. Saw a shooting star on the way home~!