It's been too hot in Portugal to run a 10k, 1st in the Algarve, then in central Portugal. I got the opportunity to visit the far north, in Amorosa, and woke to a cloudy and relatively cool 19C. Bliss!
I set off with my soaked buff on my head - now a standard piece of running kit this summer - and Google maps and Endomondo fired up on my phone. First two miles were on a good cobbled road, then I headed off on a good track through some trees and found myself in a village of quite large prosperous-looking houses. The road turned to smooth tarmac - lowly for running on, as I could enjoy looking around, enjoying the gardens, without worrying about twisting an ankle 
This didn't last long though, and I was back on a dirt track through agricultural land and trees. This part of Portugal is particularly green and lush as they have quite a temperate climate and decent rain fall. Lots of pretty wildflowers at the edge of the track, so I stopped frequently to take photos and check the map.
I smelled the most glorious patch of hay as it was being cut by a small tractor - a minty herby mix that must be the tastiest hay ever! The track became more sandy as I got closer to the sea, then stopped abruptly in someone's business premises. The map showed a through road so I went closer to check. A Portuguese man was there and we had a conversation in mixed Portuguese (him), French/English (me), and sign language (both of us) which was basically "does the road stop here? The map says it goes it goes further on"
"yes the road stops here, but you can carry on if you go through the field here around the edge of my yard"
"thank you but no, I'll go back up the track - it"s easier for running - thank you"
Remarkable how we can communicate without a common language sometimes
So I ran back a short while and headed towards the beach via a very soft sandy path - hard to run on - up through the dunes, past even more glorious wildflowers, then down the other side onto an enormously long beach. I stuck to the tracks made by a vehicle as these were a little more firm for running on, wondering vaguely what might have made them, then found out.
I stopped dead, as there was a cow, pulling a cart, right at the edge of the sea! A man with a long stick was with the cow. I couldn't see what they were collecting - seaweed for fertiliser perhaps? They were heading south, but I carried on north, now on the harder sand nearer the sea, then along a sort of concrete pier where I saw a small blue fishing boat just heading out to sea. I had to retrace my steps along the pier as there was a big drop down at the end. Nowhere to go now but through soft dry sand, and into a bigger village with restaurants, cafes and more traffic. And a little dog which decided to defend it"s territory and barked as it ran after me. I decided not to try to outrun it and faced it, telling it what a good dog it was - sometimes that works back home in Scotland, but not so much here! It backed off a bit so I carried on jogging, and it carried on barking and following me. A car came around the corner and the passenger wound down the window and yelled at the dog in Portuguese. Whatever he said did the trick, and the dog stopped.
I checked my maps again and decided I'd better head for home, despite the temptation to carry on exploring, and used Endomondo to find a route to rejoin the smooth tarmac road that led to the cobbles. I passed a very elderly-looking, very tiny Portuguese lady pushing a wooden hand cart and gave her a cheery "ola" as we passed each other. Portugal really is a mix of ancient and modern and all the more charming for it!
I needed half a mile extra when I got back to my starting point so ran down a wooden boardwalk onto the beach again, across the soft sand to the water's edge and ran up past people paddling, fishing, sunbathing, for 400m and back til Endomondo told me I'd reached my goal. The sun was out of the clouds by now, so the temperature was climbing. All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable 10k, topped off by a refreshing swim in the pool by the condo. I could get used to this! 
week3run1 ✅. 3 x 17 mins with 1 min walks. 
How did your parkrun or (not)parkrun go?
