We are running out of roads on Graciosa. Our current challenge has been to criss cross around the island and cycle all of the paved roads at least once. We are now at about 97% with one more day left. Ok make that two, our Monday night ferry has just been postponed for a day because of winds. Yesterday’s ride took us down a little ...
Gordon: We are starting our second week in the Azores and we are as happy as clams. This trip is structured differently from most of our outings, in that we are deliberately moving less frequently between accommodations. We have abundant time, and changing lodging less frequently seems like a good idea during this plague year. As it happens, COVID is not actually much of a ...
Ruth: Today we spent the day cycling up, into and around the caldera on Graciosa. It was a stiff, steady climb up the flank of the volcano before we popped through a tunnel in the crater wall and onto the floor of the caldera. The Azores, unlike many places, is becoming more wild rather than less. In the information centre there is an old picture of ...
Gord in the Guatalupe Cemetery Maria and Ruth Gordon: Manoel “Emmanuel” Tavare de Miranda was born on the island of Graciosa, a few kilometres from where we are staying, in 1648. He was my seventh great-grandfather.According to the genealogical records that Ruth has researched, Manoel became a sailor and left the island of his birth as a young man for the bright lights of 17th ...
Santa Cruz da Graciosa A windmill near Santa Cruz Natural swimming pool at the North end of Graciosa Ponta da Barca September 17, 2021Ruth: We have now settled into our apartment in Santa Cruz da Grasiosa and had our first day of exploring on the Island of Graciosa in the Azores. After three flights and more than 20 hours in a face mask we arrived ...
September 13, 2021 Gord now has a folding Bike Friday too. They are packed and ready to fly. Ruth: We are climbing out of our protective cocoons to travel for the first time in a long time. I’m not sure it is the right decision, but we are going. We bought tickets to the Azores back before Covid numbers started surging again in BC. Today ...
Ruth: We took our last ride today before packing our bikes for the flight home tomorrow. The wind was calm, an unusual occurrence in the Azores, so we headed up to the caldera. Once we were up into the cloud and fog at 500 meters I decided to coast back down to a bakery in Horta, while Gord pressed on to the 900 meter rim. ...
Ruth: Gord has never really understood the purpose of a beach. Perhaps he is just prejudiced against anything that falls below an alpine elevation. Although I would be bored silly with a beach vacation, I do love a beach day. There are only a handful of beaches in the Azores but two are near Horta. Today we were both feeling less ambitious and did a ...
Ruth: We are back on Faial for three days before we go home on Monday. Reunited with our bikes, we headed out with them this morning, climbing halfway to the caldera before we took a forestry road that traverses the flank of the mountain at 500 meters. We choose our road of descent carefully to place us at the bakery in Cedros on the north ...
Gordon: Our host José’s face lit up when we told him we were planning to do the Norte Pequeno hike. “I wrote a book and I promised to deliver a copy to a friend who lives at the fajã on that walk. Could you deliver it to him? He likes to serve coffee to tourists.” Armed only with the additional knowledge that his friend’s name ...