Just back and we had a lovely week, with fantastic weather!

It was great to see Carvoeiro so busy, especially during the day. Many of the bar/restaurant owners we spoke to told us it had been their best summer for years
and they were still doing good business in October. There was definite feel of optimisim for next year.

We visited all our usual haunts and enjoyed some lovely meals, although it was a bit different with a six week old and a vegetarian in tow , nice to catch up with Rich and Marj and tofinally meet Joeysoap and wife (hope the Alentajo trip went well) Hope to get back really soon

I would have left the vegetarian at home to child mind the 6 week old.

tricky wrote:Just back and we had a lovely week, with fantastic weather!

It was great to see Carvoeiro so busy, especially during the day. Many of the bar/restaurant owners we spoke to told us it had been their best summer for years
and they were still doing good business in October. There was definite feel of optimisim for next year.

We visited all our usual haunts and enjoyed some lovely meals, although it was a bit different with a six week old and a vegetarian in tow , nice to catch up with Rich and Marj and tofinally meet Joeysoap and wife (hope the Alentajo trip went well) Hope to get back really soon

Brief meeting but welcome all the same Tricky - by the time I went to catch up with Joeysoap in Cocktail Garden he had gone - next time maybe JS.

we are also just back from CVO. Really lucky with the weather as I made a mistake with mrs soaps holidays and booked a week earlier than planned. Lucky mistake!
Really enjoyed this trip, lots of walks that we hadn't done before, Marina to Albandeira, all the way to the 'green lighthouse' in Alvor via the boardwalks and pathways, up the steps at Centianes and along the cliff top to the lighthouse. Have to say that it is spectacular up this walk for about 400/500 metres past Centianes and then its just hard work for not much reward. As Tricky mentions we did intend to go up the west coast as far as Vila Nova de Milfontes but the weather was too good for driving and then the time just slipped by (as it does) so didn't get doing that trip this time. Also tried the cliffs up near Paraiso beach and there are spectacular views but maybe stopped too early as we thought they were too close to the cliff edge in places. Is there anywhere else you can joint the cliffs walks on that side of CVO further out a little bit?

Delighted to visit Licy (and hubby) in her fab villa and it was great meeting Tricky and family (gorgeous baby included ) in Monte Carvoeiro. Sorry I missed you HR, maybe next year.

The one big disappointment (again ) was the motordrome. We were in Alvor on Sunday, walked a fair bit, came back into the town and there was a travel agent on one of the (main) streets and he had a number of brochures on display on his stand. Included in this display was a leaflet for Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the motordrome and I only discovered this on Sunday at around 5.30pm. If somebody tells me it was packed to capacity I will be as this was the first I heard or read about it this year. These guys will seriously have to take a lesson on how to advertise an event so that tourists are aware it's on.

What an " incredible" weeks weather, Tuesday torrential rain ( golf courses closed ), then thursday night and friday even more and heavier rain ( golf course probably closed agan ). Last night even more thunderstorms and rain, now clear skies and getting up to the low 20,s.
Guess what ? local forcast for later next week , chance of even more rain as we are on the fringe of the big atlantic storms heading for the UK.
Take full advantage when the sun is out, the painting can wait for another trip.

uk.weather.com forecast is pretty good for the next few days. 24C tomorrow,

Not what the locals say,increasing chance of rain from Monday onwards,. certainly cooler as well 13 degrees this morning. got up to 22.

It's been lovely today. I'm still comfortably sat outside in shorts/t-shirt.