125. São Bartolomeu de Messines - Portugal - House and Pet Sitting - Episode 42

I was relieved when we finally got to our pet sit at São Bartolomeu de Messines. The freeways were generally good, but we had to be wary of the potholes in the slow lane due to use by larger trucks. Some potholes were up to 25cm deep and wide, which would have caused significant damage to the wheel if we'd copped one. So I spent more time in the fast lane watching out for drivers coming up behind me doing a 'little more' than the speed limit of 130kph. (Max: he's a RHS driving pro now!)

The owners greeted us with glasses of wine and a meal and the cat, Mushtie (also called N2), made himself known very quickly.  It's good having a cat sometimes. We can get out and about for longer stretches.

We all had an early night. We'd had a huge day and the owners were leaving at 5am the next day. The sit was for 7 days so we wanted to make the most of the time exploring the Algarve. The house was just on the outskirts of a little village called São Bartolomeu de Messines. It was tidy enough, but having no insulation, as soon as the temperature dropped, we had to turn the heaters on. The construction seemed to be to the minimum spec and not built to suit local conditions. This seemed to be common with many dwellings as mould was prevalent on the north walls of many of the surrounding dwellings that don't see the sun in the winter/spring months. We had to run a dehumidifier constantly to keep moisture levels down.

We were literally surrounded by orchards of oranges.

The sandstone used in walls and construction has a distinct reddish colour 

Highlights from the coastal villages.

Wicked hot chocolates!

Contemplating life, the universe and everything...

Views across to Lagos.

And now, we make our way to Seville airport to catch a plane to Palma, Majorca to meet up with Daniel, Ellen and her sister, Meredith. We'll be there for a week and hopefully, the weather will be suitable to take a flight with the newly graduated pilot!