15th Mar ARMACAO DE PERA – OLHAO

Hoorah, today we found a cycle shop; they haven’t got the right size wheel for Brett’s bike (but they can order one) so they’re going to try straightening the wheel first (this will cost a lot less, so fingers crossed). This means we’ll be hanging around this area for a while, so we’re booked into another campsite for two nights. The Algarve is VERY built up, there are hardly any aires or places to wildcamp, hence all the campsites – but we are staying very clean (using all the free facilities like hot showers!).

Right next to the campsite is a nature reserve (saltmarshes), Ria Formosa; it’s absolutely full of different birds. We turned a corner and there was a flock of .......................

Real wild Flamingos!!

We didn’t realise they were indigenous to Portugal. There were also spoonbills which Brett tried to take a picture of but they wouldn’t stand still (too busy trying to catch fish). There’s one of the only fresh water ponds in the Algarve (all the other one dry up) there, it had a hide, so you could watch the birds – it was a ‘twitchers’ dream. In fact we’re going back tomorrow with our binoculars and my super duper camera.

Today we heard our first cuckoo, we’ve been seeing swallows for weeks - so summer has officially started (here anyway!).