Tuesday, February 3rd – Happy Birthday to me! : Bar. do Velho – Salir

Is there anything better than the warm glow that surrounds you each time you realise it’s your birthday? It certainly pushed me up a few hills today.
The legs benefited from the day of rest, and a short 16km section today meant that I could enjoy it. Another fine day, mist for a while, but fifteen degrees when the sun was out, a lot better than the snowy conditions I see back home.
I had a quick look at the papers while internetting, it’s shocking how detached from everything you get after just a few days away. Good shocking.
I saw the bad economic news continues, which wasn’t far from my thoughts all day. I saw talk that only the Euro is saving Ireland from being the next Iceland.
It brings up an interesting question, because if nature abhors a vacuum, capital likes it even less. Iceland has naturally realigned its cost base by the devaluation of its currency. Surely the same cost realignment is required in Ireland, but the Euro stalls it from happening. No doubt there are many difficult years ahead, with government being forced to fill the vacuum with whatever that can be sucked out of home values, pensions, state services. Difficult days indeed.
On the good news front, the recession is having no effect whatsoever out in the woods. I can assure you that down by the river, things are in fact blooming. Let’s hope that this is the result of the current realignment, that people are forced to remember the value of a good walk in the woods. Let’s hope crooked teeth and home made jumpers come back into vogue.
The rain started as I entered Salir, which is probably the largest town I’ve been in yet. I’m further south now, closer to the coast and Faro. You can tell you are closer to the urban centers as the proportion of people wearing sunglasses increases dramatically. Must be the bright lights.
I’m staying in a fantastic little place about a mile north of the city called casa de mae. For thirty Euro a night, you get your own little hobbitesque house (complete with six foot door height and four foot bath).
Being a bit out from town, by the time I was settled, there was no way of getting into town through the then lashing rain. I gave it an hour but it was unrelenting. So it forced me into a two mile fast jog into the restaurant, breathless and soaked through. I arrived and eat, dried off a little, then had to do the same back before it got dark. Not Ideal, but I think my underpants drying on top of the TV are giving the place a real homely feel.