Laurie Alyce Adventures

“Go for a hike on the Algarve” they said, “it’ll be lovely” they said…well, yes and no 🙃 so join me for a day hiking 10K along the 5.7K (should give an early indication as to how it went) Seven Hanging Valleys Trail when I probably should have just sat on the beach with a book 😅



Day starting very positively - very smug about my matching blue outfit and feeling confident it would complement the Algarve colours in all the cute pictures I would definitely get because I wouldn’t be dying of dehydration and heat exhaustion….the start of the trail is difficult to reach by public transport from Portimao so I got an uber 🚖

The trial is also called PR1 and is (mostly) helpfully marked with little red and yellow lines indicating direction…however I quickly learned these kind of show up when they feel like it and aren’t consistent (insert joke about modern dating here)

The trail is immediately very beautiful - the soft rock coastline has led to a very dramatic series of arches, stacks and stumps (thank you GCSE geography) along with a number of huge caves (like the famous Benagil one) that you can barely see into from the top due to the safety rails which many people determined to be suggestive rather than prescriptive…anything for the gram though!

At this point I’m still optimistic and smug…I’ve got 2L of water, suncream and knock off nerds gummy clusters, what could go wrong?

See, lovely isn’t it!

There were lots of people out kayaking on the turquoise waters, which is an activity I did last time I was in the Algarve, and would highly recommend, in fact…

At this point I got massive dejavú and a quick iPhoto album search later I realised I was walking above the beach I’d kayaked to on my last visit! A very strange feeling!

At this point the photos of me largely stop (for reasons which will become clear…), but I still enjoyed trialing my camera which has been great fun to mess around with and try to find a recipe that works well for me

I’m very much a photography beginner so any hints, tips and constructive criticism are very welcome!

This was very cool to see and I was incredibl

Stop 2: Just a PortuGAL Faro from home 🇵🇹

Lots of you guessed it! Stop 2 was just a short FlixBus bus drive across the boarder to Faro and the Algarve 🚌 but since I’ve stayed in Faro before I decided to visit my favourite hidden gem of the city (see pictures 3-4) before jumping on a train to Portimao, which I was driven through on my last visit but didn’t stay.

The buildings are giving classic Mediterranean meets retro Miami vice vibes to me 😍 and the beach…well good luck finding a spare square meter! I’ll stick to wracking up 20k+ steps a day wondering around and taking pictures 📸

Having a FUJIFILM UK and Ireland has been so much fun on this trip, I’m definitely a beginner but it’s so fun playing around with different recipes and settings!

I only have one night in Portugal so tomorrow we cross borders again…but this time by plane ✈️ let me know your guesses in the comments and I’ll let you know if you’re warm/cold!!!

Flight isn’t until late so tomorrow I’m going to get a hike done…is that a good idea in the Algarve sun? We’ll find out!!

(Also, not a single one of you better say that I look like when Robin Hood and Little John dress up as fortune tellers…I KNOW! 😭)

Stop 1: Short but sweet and Seville be back 🇪🇸

Seville is a city that’s been on my tbv (to be visited) list for years, but the flights have never quite worked out, so when the opportunity to start my no-plan summer here, I JUMPED at the chance ✈️ here are my notes:

1. Seville is super affordable - 2 nights accommodation in a centrally located boutique hotel in the old town cost £40 a night (booked with Booking.com ) and dinner out was less than £20 for a drink and 4 tapas plates

2. It’s all walkable - public transport routes seem good in the modern section, but understandably they’re limited in the old town, which is flat and small enough to walk through. It probably takes about 45 minutes to walk from one side to the other, but I didn’t mind that at all because…

3. It’s incredibly beautiful 😍 The city is rich in history and culture, and buildings of gothic, neoclassical and Islamic architecture are everywhere!

I’ll be posting some vlogs of what I got up to over the next few days but for now I’m on a FlixBus en route to destination 2…🚌 any guesses where?!