Gates galore

You know when you become aware of something and then it’s everywhere you look? Like when you settle on a make of car, and then almost every other car is that make. Well, that happened on our recent walking holiday in Portugal. Not cars though, gates. And once we’d spotted one, the others just kept on coming.

The first was actually mentioned in our walking notes on day two; it said the gates might be shut and gave a detour. They were right, the gates were firmly shut, although the fence to the right had quite a large gap, and what looked like a track through. We contemplated it for a while, but on the reasoning that the gates were probably shut to stop walkers accessing the footpath, we decided against it as if we did encounter anyone we probably wouldn’t have had that warm a welcome. And more importantly, it could be a long way back retracing our steps. So instead we took the less exciting detour and missed the strawberry trees it seems - but we did take some time to admire the gates instead.

IT’S DEFINITELY SHUT

But then gates became a thing. The next is probably more accurately described as a garage door, but as it’s got a gate in front of it, I’m claiming it for this post. It was towards the end of the day’s walk as we reached Azeitão. I’m sure the pictures tell a story, I’m just not sure what it is…

A domestic gate - and garage door - in Azeitão

We stopped in the town for a refreshment or two, and could have quite easily have stopped a bit longer. But knowing we had a hotel to aim for, and reading ahead the walking notes promised some azure blue gates. Which we found easily.

The Bacalhōa gates in Azeitão

Aren’t they blue? And just look at the blue against the already blue skies. In the days to come we were to discover more blueness in the Bacalhóa estates, but for now just drink in the colour, and yes, as you probably guessed the wine also comes later.

We still weren’t at our second hotel of the walk, and with a quick glimpse behind us there were yet more gates. These only got a quick glimpse as by now, the beer consumed in the town was making its presence known, and so we were both keen to get to the hotel. We did see them a couple of times more though, as they became a bit of a marker on the walks that followed.

Ornate, but shy with it.

We also found the gates to nowhere.

The gates to where? In Azeitão

We reached the main road again and then before long we were at the gates of our hotel. We’d spotted the hotel soon after we saw the blue gates, but our route took us the long, and quieter way round.

Our Azeitão hotel

The next day we were off again exploring the town of Azeitão on foot. There wasn’t a shortage of gates that day , but only one set makes it into this post.

Azeitão town

We had three nights in the pink walled and ornately gated hotel, and for our second day based in Azeitão we took the longest, and prettiest walk to the coastal village of Portinho. Part of the route was through a convent, itself part-way up a hill. Seeing the gates was a welcome relief, until we got through them and saw the hill continued and was possibly even steeper. On the plus side we were no longer on the main road, and therefore some of this walk was backwards uphill to enjoy the views and to give our muscles a break. We’re not the only people that do that, surely?

The convent gates, but still more uphill walking

I’ll share more from the convent as it was beautiful and peaceful as you’d expect. Apart from the dog which wasn’t so keen on me. Everytime it barked I jumped, and I think it had some fun with me. MOH walked past it fine, but me not so much. In the end I took a different route giving the dog a wide berth, which suited us both.

Gates and Azulejo tiles

I’ve not shared any tiles here from our Portuguese trip, and we saw some fantastic tiles throughout our whole visit. I suspect that’s why. We saw so many that it’s hard to choose a selection, or even to know how to show them at their best. I’ve realised though that the best way, like life, is to just get on and do it, so here’s two pictures of Azulejo tiles, which show two completely different uses. And luckily, both are next to gates, so they qualify for this post too.

Beautifully stylish Azulejo tiles, and a rather functional gate by comparison.

The walk to Portinho was very picturesque and challenging at times, but it was definitely worthwhile. Though I was glad we weren’t walking back. There was time for dinner in the village, and then a taxi back to the hotel ready for moving on to our final hotel the next day.

We set off for Palmela the next morning and along the way encountered these ochre walls, which if I’m honest were more attractive than the gates. I thought we were in for a day of functional gates, and initially we were, but then things changed.

On our way to Palmela

Functional gates despite their extra width and the palm tree

Our walk took us along a ridge complete with windmills. Some were in ruins, others had been made into homes. And of course the ones that were now homes had gates. The first we saw was a typical country cottage gate, though not painted white, but the white of the windmill more than makes up for that.

A simple gate for a windmill

And further along, we were back to the gates we’d become used to, but this time with a windmill residence behind them. Our hotel for the next couple of nights was the Pousada in Palmela, which didn’t have gates as such, but as you’d imagine was at the top of a hill and no doubt quite a fortress in its day.

Gates as we’ve come to expect, and for a windmill too

For our final day of the walk we took a circular route around Palmela. Once again gates were used as markers in the walking notes, and after quite a lot of ups, I for one was pleased to see these as I knew that the route would be levelling out before descending again. They do look rather swan-like to me, do you see swans?

Anyone else see swans in these gates?

As we headed down again, sure of the knowledge of what goes down in these walks most certainly goes up again, I deployed the tactic of snatching a break by taking some photos. And yes, more gates.

A few repairs underway

We went up and over the ridge with the windmills from the previous day and I was sorry to see them go until I realised that we’d be walking past the gates, quite literally, of Quinta do Piloto another winemaker, and one which was open to visitors and had a shop. You can just feel my interest peaking can’t you? We made a plan to buy a bottle of wine for our hotel room picnic, as after a week or so of eating hotel breakfasts and good dinners, neither of us could say we were truly hungry, and I was done with walking up and down (or rather down and up) hills.

Quinta do Piloto, the wine was as good as the gates

I always make sure there’s plenty of room to squeeze a bottle of wine into MOH’s rucksack. Even if that means decanting some empty water bottles into my own bag, and as we left, him laden with just one bottle of wine (and if you remember, it was the one that the cork broke) my last gate picture was of this rather magnificent (and yellow) looking house, of course, complete with gates.

Fancy and belonging to a yellow house, I was always going to include these

So there you go, plenty of gates from the Setubal Peninsula, if gates and ironwork are your thing, then you know where to head.

My garden in July

Well, how wrong was I? In this post last month, I said I thought we’d had the hottest and wettest weather. Then, as the saying goes, July said hold my beer!

We melted one day, and squelched the next, and what’s more, the seeds I sowed last month started to germinate and grow. Some in the greenhouse, and some outside in pots, like the beans below. Although on one morning inspection - yes often I pop out and check on them before I head to work - I noticed the squirrels had decided to have a closer look. So the spare gabion basket was quickly deployed to prevent them digging up any more seeds, and the bean seeds that were on show were quickly prodded back under the soil with my index finger.

It seems to have worked though, as the beans have germinated. Although some of the dwarf beans have decided to reach higher, and are behaving more like climbing beans, and the runner beans failed to germinate. That pot is now home to a courgette which is taking its time to produce.

I’ve had more success with herbs though. I’d chopped the mint pot, and as I hoped it would, it’s sprung right back so clearly I need to drink more mojitos. This month was also the month that our agapanthus flowers started to break free from their pod.

It’s fascinating to watch, and when I mean watch, I mean observe as it’s a really slow moving drama.

The lettuce seeds germinated and were pricked out into the new oblong pots. To prevent any wildlife interest, the pots were quickly covered in chicken wire, which was most probably left over from the fox-proofing episode a few years back (which is still ready and waiting for use if it’s ever needed!)

Our patio and alongside the conservatory was filled with the scent of jasmine on the balmy evenings, at times it could be quite overpowering, but still quite lovely. This cascade of jasmine, which is alongside the conservatory was tamed and tied into the trellis, and I’m really pleased with how it’s progressing along the trellis, providing privacy.

The jasmine hasn’t made it to the agapanthus yet, but as you can see, as the month progressed so we inched closer to flowering agapanthus, but not quite yet.

We had a couple of days of in July and used some of that time to tackle the pear tree. It was, of course, festooned with pears, but as we’ve never managed to eat one of them in all our time here I felt less guilty about some severe pruning. We’ve not managed to eat them because, like the cherries, it’s a race to get to them before the wildlife, and those that are left are still rock hard. I’ve tried cooking them but with little success. In fact the most enjoyment I’ve had from the pears is when I find a decomposing one in the beds, that’s almost perfectly preserved, it’s fascinating (and clearly not edible)

We took a few of the large branches off, aiming to straighten out the profile of the tree, which had started to lean over for the light. At some point we’ll have to get the gardeners in to prune the laurel which is claiming all the space.

There were several trugs carried out to the green bins, and our gardening time was restricted to how much space we had in those. As you can see it’s a much smaller tree now, and the plan is (if the tree understands the plan) to remove the older branch once the tree has recovered and is growing more upright, but for now it’s there as a bit of an insurance policy.

I’m hopeful that it will do what’s required, and while this is quite a severe pruning, if it behaves like the forsythia we cut a month or so back, it’ll be ok. The forsythia has put on much fresh growth and now you’d not realise it’d barely been sticks after MOH had tackled it.

I’ve jasmine growing throughout the garden and the one in this pot was starting to look straggly and the canes a bit skew-whiff, so that had some attention too and is looking much more compact, and has since filled out a bit. Having a cone of flowering jasmine, sounds a perfect addition to the garden and I’m already looking forward to when it flowers.

Talking of flowers, the overwintered geraniums continue to bloom, and bring a welcome pop of colour to the garden.

Our strawberries are done - it was great to eat so many fresh from the garden. The redcurrant plant produced some berries, which of course disappeared the weekend we were in Liverpool and I’m waiting for the salad to grow enough so we can eat it. I also need to pot on (or probably out) the parsley, and the kale which is still in the greenhouse, but that’s venturing into a job for August.

How was July in your garden?

Reflecting on my week #94

I’ve had one of those super productive weekends, the sort that make you wonder what happened the week before. And unlike Stephen Covey I’m starting at the end, and with the new - or rather old - crochet project I picked up last night. I planned to settle in to catch up on some hooking last night when a nagging voice in my head said to measure my navy-yellow-green wrap. I was using the slightly unconventional measuring method of comparing to one of my favourite wraps, one that’s the right length and drapes well. Just as well I did my comparison measuring as my project was at least six inches longer than the wrap.

There still seems quite a bit of wool left - so perhaps I could have made my wrap a little wider, but I’m not going back now! I know there’s not that much left though as the cardboard I used to start the ball of is just starting to show. But after planning to do some crochet, while MOH cooked tea, my hands were at a bit of a loss. So I turned back to some squares, which I first picked up in March this year, and the project which came to Portugal and then Liverpool and remained untouched. But now I’m already a square down and making good progress on the next.

The pattern is much more brightly coloured and designed to replicate Portuguese tiles, and while mine will be variants of grey with the multi coloured yarn I’m using, I think that will mean I’ll focus on the stitch detail. I’m pretty sure though at some point I’ll be making a full on colour version too!

Most of Saturday and Sunday were spent in the garden, which is why the evening of crochet really appealed. In the greenhouse I made a tomato discovery, and the salad leaves just outside the door are doing well too. Less so my kale seedlings which were nibbled the very night before I planned to plant them out. Some may make it, but I think I’ll be sowing some more and hoping they survive and catch up with where there should be.

Our agapanthus are still cheery though, the flowers are mostly out and there’s a haze of white blooms just outside our conservatory. The second pot of agapanthus, which is in a more sheltered position has no flowers and it’s clear it’s not happy there so once I’ve bought some more to bolster its presence it’ll be moving into the pot next to these. That sort of makes me a little twitchy as we’ll lose the symmetry of planting, but if the plants aren’t happy there, then it’s all a bit half-hearted really. The plan is to fill the three pots by the window of the conservatory with ferns, which should be very happy with the shady, and damper conditions.

My project for the weekend was one of those that now you’ve started was much bigger than you first thought. This section of the garden is just along from where our new neighbour had some over enthusiastic pruning. That hasn’t been repeated so I shall be magnanimous and put it down to an enthusiastic error. The ivy which they’ve cut from their side has now died, and so this weekend I released it from the trellis from our side of the fence. It was quite something when with that final snip if fell away from the trellis, and relief from me that it was quite happy to fall on the other side of the fence.

I’d kept as much of the top growth that I could, so that I could work out if it was worth saving, or not. And with the trellis showing for the first time in many years we were keen to have something grow back there quite quickly. So my next job was to ‘encourage’ the plants to grow where I wanted them, I think there’s almost as much twine as plant in the end result.

It’s still a work in progress and these pictures are for those of you who are pleased to know my garden is a real garden and goes through scruffy looking moments too. The photo above is how I left it, as well the crocheting was calling and as I said earlier in this post MOH was cooking dinner. That means there’s a constant stream of questions asking where this is and where that is, in fact it’s hardly relaxing at all. It’s just as well the results are always tasty; yesterday he cooked duck legs in a tomato and date sauce, which tasted way nicer than I’ve just made it sound.

It wasn’t all gardening and crochet though. There was gin too. Our latest box of gin had arrived during the week and it only seemed right to try it out. I was a fan, but then again I much prefer botanical gins. MOH prefers dry gin, and while he was happy to drink this one he would choose something more to his palate. He thinks I was swayed by the name, as that’s one of the places I stayed when I popped over to Australia for a few weeks back in the millennium. It’s also a place I’d happily go back to too, especially now I know they have at least one distillery.