Last days... weeks...

In one of the last days of March I had the chance to organize my first geocaching event, it was a walk around Piódão ( Uma aventura no Piódão - A caminhada ) , a traditional village in the Serra do Açor Mountains.

It was quite stressing the last moments, once we had a rainy days, but it was a very pleasant surprise that on the day of the event we had a sunny day, the first in the last weeks…

All the requirements where gathered to have a great day, and with all the participants, we really had great moments, showing this area of the country to all the ones who took a few moments to join us in this journey.

What was supposed to be a small gathering of people, become a group of 70 people, from the youngest to the adults… all walking together and helping each other on the hardest moments.

The places we went through were magnificent mountain views, which leave us with great memories.

I think the highest point was on the little village of Foz de Égua, almost at the half of our journey, where we stopped for lunch, and where all the people had the chance to appreciate the natural beauties of this quiet place.

It exceeded all the expectations, due to the great weather, to the presence of wonderful people, and mostly because I was with my family on this event, without the girls by side this wasn’t possible!

One week after it was the time to go a bit south, this time to the Templar city of Tomar.  I went for a new event,   II GeoPasseio na Mata dos 7 Montes [Thomar], organized by Paulo Hercules, which was a great host, showing us the best places of this natural beauty.

I also had the chance to meet some new geocachers, all very helpful on showing us some of the best places in Tomar.

I must admit that in the number of geocaches that I’ve found this year I’ve been very far from what happened last year… sometimes it’s not easy to conciliate the geocaching activities and the family requirements, especially if you are the only one that likes this sport… the girls have other interests, and geocaching isn’t on the top of the list… Even so, from time to time I have to go out and leave them for their activities.

Two weeks ago I was invited by some friends for a geocaching day in the area of São Pedro do Sul. I must say that by the people involved I couldn’t refuse this. And also for the area where we went, I must say it was the best choice. We had a full day, full of wonderful views, and most of all …

Besides the caches we found, the places that I’ve seen and for sure want to go back for a closer look, that have great mountain landscapes, with beautiful rivers on the lower parts of the mountains…

Yesterday, on a very important day for Portugal, the national day of the revolution that ended the fascist regime that we had until the 25th of April of 1974, I took the opportunity to celebrate this in two ways.

First in the morning I went with a group of fearless geocachers in the search of these great spots:

 Vale da Tormenta  and O Aviador 

It was a great adventure, and wonderful photos. It’s not far from home, but I needed someone to with me in these caches, it’s not advisable to search for them alone.

On the afternoon I went with the girls to Leiria, and there we found:

 Hansel and Gretel e a Casa de Chocolate  Don Quixote e Os Moinhos Misteriosos

Very well projected and implemented cache containers, with a great history, the best to be done with the family.

Let’s say that in terms of geocaching quality this was 5/5 day.