Ruth’s Day

Ruth: Yesterday’s plan had Gord’s name written all over it, with 18 kms of hiking and walking.  By the end of the day I was singing Leonard Cohen’s lines, “I ache in the places I used to play.”  This has become my theme song leading up to turning fifty next month. Gord, on the other hand, at sixty has the stamina I had at … wait … I never had his stamina. So today I needed a Ruth day. 

We started by driving up to CaldeiraVelha, one of the many hotsprings on the island. Ahhhhh, such a lovely soak with a chorus of frogs singing to us as we enjoyed the beautiful surroundings. 

We continued up the road to the edge of the caldera above Lagoa Fogo (Fire Lake) from where we hiked down to have a picnic at a beautiful beach on the lake.  It was a steep and difficult descent with my recovering body, but the pastel de nata, my favorite Portuguese treat, was a great reward. 

By the end of the day we still clocked ten kilometers. Gord was able to tolerate this more reasonable mileage because I sent him out for an eight kilometer morning run.