Meet my new book and hear all about it

The cover of my new novel, “The Sunshine Solution” a Digger Doyle mystery

I am very excited to say that my new novel, “The Sunshine Solution” is now available in Kindle format as well as in paperback. It’s the second in my Digger Doyle Mystery series, featuring the feisty young reporter,Elizabeth “Digger” Doyle. My first novel, “The Power of Rain” came out in 2022 and won a National Federation of Press Women award. The books are inspired by my years as a reporter at the Albuquerque Journal.

You can get my books through Amazon or my website, RosalieRayburn.com. Best of all, for my Albuquerque friends, the new book is now available through some local bookstores: Organic Books in Nob Hill, Bookworks on Rio Grande, Treasure House Books & Gifts on the plaza in Old Town Albuquerque. It will also be available soon at Books on the Bosque on the West Side. I love supporting independent bookstores!

Write a review

I’m asking all my readers to please rate it on Amazon or Goodreads and write a brief review so that more people can enjoy it.

Here’s what some readers have said about “The Sunshine Solution”

“Rosalie Rayburn’s “The Sunshine Solution” takes readers on a gripping journey through the intricate world of investigative journalism and political intrigue, presenting a sequel that lives up to the high standards set by its predecessor, “The Power of Rain.” Reviewer Pratibha Malav in Goodreads.

Or this from Sarah Jane Herbener of Savvy Communication,

“In her fiction debut, 2022’s The Power of Rain, author Rosalie Rayburn introduced a fascinating and multifaceted protagonist in newspaper reporter Elizabeth “Digger” Doyle — and then created a story worthy of her, with insightful characterization, deft plotting, and a sense of place so strong that the reader could practically feel the New Mexico desert breeze and taste the red chile in the posole.

Now, in The Sunshine Solution, we revisit Digger as she navigates newlywed life and an intense political campaign with her beloved Maria; settles into a new career in government, now that her longtime employer, the Las Vistas Courier, has folded; explores the hopes, dreams, and challenges of life in today’s New Mexico; and, of course, helps to solve a brand-new mystery, one that will keep readers guessing, with clever revelations at every turn.

Illuminating, profound, deeply romantic, even comic at times, the Digger Doyle novels truly are a treat, even if you’re not a mystery buff. If you haven’t read The Power of Rain, you’re in for a double treat: start there and then continue with The Sunshine Solution. You’ll love the time you spend in Digger’s world.

Meet the author

I’m also happy to say that I have scheduled two events in February where I will be reading from the new book, talk about writing it, and will have signed copies for sale. The first event will be at 10 a.m. on Sunday, February 17 at the Martha Liebert Public Library in the town of Bernalillo. The second booksigning/reading will be at 1:30 p.m. at Treasure House Books & Gifts on the Plaza in Old Town, Albuquerque.

The Digger Doyle mysteries are set in New Mexico.

Portugal rolling in dough at Christmas

A tray of Rabanadas, a Portuguese variation on French toast, is part of the dessert selection at the Christmas Eve meal.

In Portugal, holidays and festivals of any sort always involve food. Christmas has its own repertoire of specialities. Many of those feature dough in the fried form. Think of a half dozen variations on the humble donut and you get the idea.

The traditional favorites have delightful names and some surprising ingredients. There are “rabanadas”, or golden slices,which are a Portuguese take on the popular French toast recipe. They are made from sliced baguette bread soaked in milk, then dipped in beaten egg and coated with cinnamon and sugar.

Azevias are another doughy deep-fried treat often made with a sweet potato, chick pea puree or squash (abobora) filling! Another donut-like sweet served at Christmastime are “filhós”, also called “sonhos” which means “dreams.”

A selection of desserts: Bolo Reinha (left), azevias (top) and rabanadas (below)

Getting away from dough, Bolo Rei is a highly visible treat sold everywhere in Portugal during the Christmas season. It is a round, slightly heavy, cake with a hole in the middle and decorated with colorful pieces of crystallized fruit. A variation on this cake is called Bolo Rainha, or Queen’s cake. It is decorated with nuts and dried fruit but no crystallized fruit.

What no turkey?

I was honored this year to be invited by a Portuguese friend to join his family for their Christmas dinner. In much of Portugal, the most important Christmas meal is a family dinner eaten late on December 24 or Christmas Eve. The main dish is codfish served with boiled potatoes and cabbage. Apparently the tradition of eating fish at Christmastime dates to the Middle Ages when the Catholic church forbade eating meat around big religious holidays.

Pieces of baked codfish (bacalhau), and potatoes and a plate of cabbage are the traditional fare on Christmas Eve in Portugal.

The popularity of dried cod fish in Portugal has its origins in trade with the Vikings. Those ancient Norsemen caught the fish and used salt to preserve it. Salt they bought from Portugal. It made a lot of sense in the centuries before refrigeration. Television ads nowadays still promote “Bacalhau de Norwega” in December.

The fish has to be soaked in water to remove the salt before it can be cooked. But even though it is laborious to prepare, bacalhau, remains one of the most ubiquitous foods in Portugal. There are reputedly hundreds of recipes based on bacalhau. Every supermarket has a display of the huge, triangular shaped dried fish that give off a distinctive odor, that reminds me of a smelly locker room.

Dried salted cod fish (bacalhau) on display at an outdoor market in Portugal.

Now that Christmas, Natal, is past, we look forward to the Passagem do Ano, or New Year’s Eve. Which is an occasion for a lot of fireworks.

New Year’s Eve fireworks display in São Martinho do Porto, Dec. 31, 2022.

Follow my blog to learn about everyday life in Portugal. Or check out my website, RosalieRayburn.com to read all about my novels.

Sun shining on my new book

My new book, The Sunshine Solution: a second Digger Doyle Mystery

My latest New Mexico-based mystery featuring intrepid reporter Elizabeth “Digger” Doyle came out in mid-November. It is a sequel to “The Power of Rain” which came out last year and won a National Federation of Press Women Award.

Digger Doyle earned her nickname by exposing the shady secrets of politicians in the fictional New Mexico city of Las Vistas. In “The Sunshine Solution” Digger has landed her dream job with a government department in Santa Fe. When her new boss asks Digger to spy on a political rival’s announcement for a multimillion-dollar solar energy project, she suspects her boss is hiding something and the project is a cover-up.

Investigating the solar company, Digger and Manny Begay, a former newspaper colleague, follow a team of imposters from the ancient walls of Chaco Canyon to the twisting streets of Santa Fe, to a struggling Native American pueblo community. The pursuit brings Digger into conflict with powerful forces bent on revenge by harming her wife Maria and destroying a man’s political career.

Support local independent bookstores

I believe it is very important to support all kinds of local businesses. Too many wonderful shops have been swallowed up or forced to close because of giant megastores and online shopping. That is why I am delighted to say that my books are available from local bookstores in Albuquerque. Organic Books in Nob Hill, Treasure House Books & Gifts on the Plaza in Old Town, and Bookworks now have copies. Books on the Bosque on Albuquerque’s Westside, has also told me they plan to carry my books.

Of course, both books are also available in paperback and Kindle format from Amazon.

Mark your calendars for these events

I am excited to say that I have also arranged two book signing/reading events. I worked with Library Director Joseph McKenzie to hold a book signing/reading at the Martha Liebert Public Library in Bernalillo on February 17. The second event will be at Treasure House Books & Gifts on February 18. More details will be available closer to the dates, but please mark your calendar. I hope to meet and chat with my New Mexico readers at one or other of the events.

A dog’s tale

In other, totally unrelated news. Readers of this blog may remember the story of Divina, the little dog who adopted me after she was abandoned in my village. I walk Divina every morning at about the same time as the bakery van drives through delivering fresh rolls. The delivery lady, “padeira” in Portuguese, stops at the houses where the occupant has hung a bag on the gate with enough change for the day’s rolls.

One morning a few months ago, Paula the kindly padeira was stopped at a house and Divina rushed up to her, all big brown eyes and wagging tale. Who could resist? Paula gave her a piece of roll.

Fast forward to the present day. Divina and Paula now have an unshakeable friendship founded on bread. Divina even discovered she could jump over my front wall to run after the bakery van. I had to put up new fencing. Ah, the joys of being a dog mom!

Portugal lively with Christmas spirit

Festive lights and throngs of people reflect the lively Christmas spirit in the Baixa area of Lisbon.

Christmas spirit is everywhere in Portugal in December. Markets in cities and towns sell handmade specialties and decorations. Churches and public places stage nativity scenes called “presépio” in Portuguese, and the streets of my small town of Tomar, ring with Christmas music.

December has begun with the usual wet wether. Rain in Portugal often falls in torrents and many people complain of dampness in their homes. But the Christmas spirit survives. The town of Tomar, near where I live in central Portugal, set up a mini-winter wonderland in the Praça da Republic, its main square. A tiny train chugs around a snowy landscape, and a festive carousel twirls round while several market stalls sell artisanal items, sweets and seasonal drinks.

Of football and families

My Portuguese teacher recently told me Portugal is all about the three “Fs”, which stand for “Football, Fado and Fatima.” The first one needs no explanation to anyone who was alive during the last month when the World Cup dominated the sport world. Football (soccer in the US) is practically a national religion in Portugal. When I watch the evening news on SIC Noticias, there is about five minutes of spot news coverage before it switches to interviews and discussions about leading Portuguese teams such as Benfica. And of course, Cristiano Ronaldo, is pretty much a national hero.

Fado is the traditional Portuguese singing style, which has a slightly mournful sound meant to convey a sense of longing. Fatima is a pilgrimage site in central Portugal where the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared to three shepherd children in 1917.

There should also be a fourth “F” for Family. The family is extremely important to Portuguese people especially at Christmastime. On Christmas Eve, families get together to celebrate with a meal called “consoada”. The tradition is that they abstain from meat, so the main dish is salted cod “bacalhau.”One favorite recipe for the cod is “bacalhau com broa” in which a bread made from corn meal is used along with sliced onions and potatoes. This is often served with boiled potatoes and cabbage. In the north of the country, close to the border with the Spanish province of Galicia, octopus is a traditional dish.

On December 25, Portuguese families in typically resourceful fashion, use the leftovers from the consoada meal to make a dish known as “roupa velha” or “old clothes. I remember a similar sounding dish called “ropa vieja” on the menu in a Cuban restaurant in Miami. When I went to order it, I made a critical mistake, calling it “ropa sucia” which means “dirty clothes. Luckily the waiter understood what I wanted.

Sweets and other traditions

Portugal has wonderful bakeries where you can always find a tempting display of sweet pastries. Stores everywhere at Christmastime sell the traditional “Bolo Rei” (king cake) which is a round, rather heavy, cake decorated with crystallized fruits in red and green.

Streets and marketplaces in towns all over the country are festooned with lights and decorations. Seasonal markets selling artisanal crafts and liqueurs are typical as well. And what would Christmas be without a nativity scene. In Portugal a nativity scene is called a “presépio”. One of the best-known presépio displays is in the town of Penela, central Portugal. Set up around the town’s hilltop castle, it features around 200 animated displays as well as an array of street entertainment and cultural activities.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, or as they say in Portugal, Feliz Natal e um prosper Ano Novo.

And of course, don’t forget to follow my blog and get a copy of my new book “The Sunshine Solution”

A giant conical yuletide tree graces the Praça do Comercio in Lisbon at Christmas time.

When Irish Eyes are Smiling: memories of home then and now

A winding country road in County Wexford near my former family home.

I took a break from Portugal last week to go visit my brother in Ireland. He has recently returned to settle there after decades in the US, Asia and France.

Ireland was our adopted home for many years. My father brought us to live in the “Emerald Isle” in the early 1970s. In those days, Ireland was a poor country with a high rate of emigration––young people fled to England or the US seeking jobs and better opportunity. Not so now!

Ireland is bustling with activity; its population growing, cities expanding, an impressive network of new roads and an array of international foods that were unthinkable in the seventies.

Actually, living in the country in Portugal now reminds me a lot of Ireland many years ago. And there are things about Ireland that remind me of Portugal! In Enniscorthy, the town in County Wexford nearest my brother’s, and my late father’s, home, I heard Portuguese spoken in a local Dunne’s Stores supermarket. There is even a Portuguese restaurant in Enniscorthy. How times have changed!

College Days

I flew Ryanair from Lisbon to Dublin. My brother and sister-in-law picked me up from the airport and we headed into the city. I have visited Ireland several times over the last twenty years, but am always amazed at the increase in city traffic. It took us more than an hour from the airport to reach the city center and find a parking hall near St. Stephen’s Green.

We searched for a lunch spot and as luck would have it, we happened upon O’Neill’s. The pub is a stone’s throw from Trinity College my brother and I were both students. O’Neill’s was always the pub we could go after evenings studying in the library and get a half pint before closing time. In those days a half pint of Harp used to cost about 14 pence in those days. Of course my weekly budget was only about £5. (That was long before Euros.)

Scenes from Trinity College Dublin. Left: Front (Parliament) Square with the chapel on the left, Campanile in the center and the Exam Hall on the right. Right: The Graduates Memorial Building and the Campanile.

After lunch we wandered over to the college. It was a gray and drizzly day which reflected the color of the, mostly eighteenth century, buildings in the TCD campus, but it was fun to walk around and reminisce about our four years as students there.

Colorful fields

Ireland is commonly referred to as the “Emerald Isle” for a reason. Ample rain all year long makes for a lot of green fields. But there is a richness of color everywhere. During the summers the crops are a dozen shades of golden. In the autumn there are the browns of newly plowed fields, and the deep greens of hedgerows. It was a joy to see a whole variety of trees in vivid fall colors. Where I live in Portugal I am surrounded by evergreen oaks and olive trees which remain unchanged year round.

A corn field in County Wexford after the harvest.

Favorite Foods

I mentioned the astonishing array of international foods now available. The local Dunne’s Stores supermarket had a whole aisle full of Indian, Thai, Italian and other specialties. I saw several Indian restaurants in the small country towns as well. But the old favorites are still there. Irish soda bread! The delicious loaves made with a mix of brown and wholemeal flower, sour milk and bicarbonate of soda as a rising agent. Nothing like it for breakfast or at any time of day. With Irish butter of course!

A pile of Irish soda bread loaves. The cross cut on the top is to prevent the loaf from cracking and splitting.

Follow my blog to learn about daily life in Portugal. Check out my website https://www.rosalierayburn.com/to read about my novels.

Grateful for Portuguese healthcare, there for you when you most need it

The Cristo Rei statue appears through the mist above the Tejo river near Lisbon. It was a reassuring sign when I suffered a minor accident.

A recent trip to Lisbon to visit a friend gave me an unfortunate opportunity to experience the Portuguese healthcare system. I ended up taking an unexpected trip by ambulance to a local hospital where I received a CT scan, X-rays and saw an orthopedic doctor. At the end of the day, they cleared me to leave, with no concussion, no broken bones, and no bill! They called me a taxi and that was that.

In the USA I would probably be facing bills totaling hundreds, if not thousands of dollars. Here, no bill. I am enrolled in the Portuguese healthcare system, thank goodness!

One missed step causes crashing fall

I had enjoyed a lovely breakfast of coffee and a chocolate croissant with my host at a local cafe, packed my things and said my farewells. I was planning to take the train from Lisbon back to my home in central Portugal.

My friend’s apartment is on the first floor (second floor American style). A steep flight of narrow wooden stairs leads to the ground floor. Halfway down, I missed a step and plummeted headfirst downward, hitting a wall with my head and left shoulder. I lost consciousness briefly, was shaky and in great pain.

My friend called the 112 emergency number and minutes later an ambulance arrived. The young “bombeiros” crew, who are trained as firefighters and EMTs, took me to a local hospital. I arrived at the Garcia de Orta facility around 10:30 in the morning.

The waiting area was full of people in all states of pain. People on gurneys, in wheelchairs, hooked up to oxygen supplies and medication drips. Hospital staff rushed back and forth constantly.

This was a normal hospital on a normal day, but the frenetic atmosphere made me think of news reports on how very terrible the situation must be at hospitals in Gaza which are currently under bombardment and have no power, water or medication.

I feel fortunate for the help I received

Within about half an hour, I was triaged. I had to show my “Numero de Utente” to prove I am enrolled the Serviço Nacional de Saude, the Portuguese healthcare system. Then my superficial cuts on my knees were bandaged. A short time later I was prepared for pain medication which was given via a drip. I was told I would have a scan to check for concussion and would then see an orthopedic doctor.

About 90 minutes later I had the CT scan, then the shoulder X-ray. Another 90 minutes of waiting and I received the all clear results about the CT scan. No concussion. I was told I would see an orthopedic doctor next.

The afternoon dragged on while I waited to see the ortho doc. But around 4:30 p.m. someone came around offering me a small sandwich and a bottle of water. Half an hour later I was called in to see the orthopedic doc. He tested my left arm and shoulder and declared it was not broken and the tendons were ok. Just get checked again in a week, take ibruprofen for the pain and ice it, he said.

Then I was cleared to go. They even called a taxi for me to get back to my friend’s apartment.

I was so relieved by this experience. But this is not to say that all is perfect here in Portugal. On the news the next morning there were extensive reports of strikes by doctors, nurses and other hospital staff, protesting and low pay and long working hours. I would definitely support their cause!

The hospital in Tomar, central Portugal. This is the first port of call for patients in my area. If your case is more serious, you will be transported to a larger hospital in Abrantes. Each region has its different levels of hospitals. There is also a parallel system of private hospitals for those with private health insurance, but these are the regular Portuguese health system facilities.

Follow my blog to read more about daily life in Portugal. And check out my website RosalieRayburn.com. I have a new book out. It is a mystery called “The Sunshine Solution”.

My new mystery novel about to launch!

The cover of my new book, “The Sunshine Solution” coming out in November.

I feel as excited and apprehensive as a mother about to give birth! My new book, “The Sunshine Solution”, will be coming out in just a few days. It is a sequel to my first novel, “The Power of Rain” which won a National Federation of Press Women Award.

The Power of Rain introduced readers to investigative journalist, Elizabeth “Digger” Doyle, a plucky young reporter who earned her nickname by exposing the shady secrets of corrupt politicians in the fictional New Mexico city of Las Vistas.

The Sunshine Solution continues the exploits of Digger and Maria Ortiz, the artist activist whom Digger helped to save a historic Spanish chapel from a rapacious development scheme.

The new story opens with Digger settling into a job at the Cultural Affairs Department while Maria is running for election in the state legislature. All seems calm.

But when Digger’s new boss asks her to spy on a political rival’s plan for a solar energy project, her reporter’s instincts tell her something is amiss, and trouble ensues!

What advance readers are saying

And this:

Digger investigates a scheme to establish a solar panel array at a site that encroaches on pueblo land and features developers with conflicting motives – altruistic for the candidate for Governor, Chris Lovington, and devious on the part of Digger’s boss, the Secretary for Cultural Affairs.

At the same time, an election is imminent and Digger’s wife Maria is a candidate for the State Legislature, with all the tensions and drama of a political campaign. Maria contends with a vindictive ex-girlfriend and a corrupt opponent and Digger uses her journalistic skills to uncover and reveal the unsavory truths about the complex election issues.

In the background is the state of New Mexico itself, its scenic beauty which the author describes with great effect, and the cultural and historical background of iconic places such as Chaco Canyon and the city of Santa Fe. – Sue Broidy, author of “An Unexamined Life”

The Power of Rain won a National Federation of Press Women Award.

Background to the stories

I spent 18 years as a reporter in New Mexico and I always thought there were great stories in the political theatrics I witnessed. I also wanted to honor New Mexico, a state I love for its rich blend of cultures. There are the many Native American pueblo communities, the areas that belong to the Navajo Nation, the extensive history of Spanish settlers from the early 1600s, and of course a lot of cowboy culture. It is an arid state, but the high desert and the mountains have such a magical beauty of their own.

So I hope you can enjoy my new novel, and read the first one if you haven’t already met Digger.

Early morning in Albuquerque looking at the Sandia Mountains.

Epic Bike tour in northern Portugal: Part 3

The famous “ponte” in Ponte de Lima, northern Portugal.

(Apologies for the gap in finishing the account of this wonderful three-day bike tour in northern Portugal. Olive picking season arrived early and when those olives are ready, you better pick’ em because the rainy season will soon arrive. It’s like the old saying, make hay while the sun shines.)

Anyway, back to the tour: We spent our second night on the road in the charming little town of Arcos de Valdevez. After a typical Portuguese meal of grilled chicken, french fries and rice with a tiny salad, we wandered back to a place we had seen that had a tempting selection of ice cream. I am not much of an ice cream fan, but my fellow cyclist Graham is.

While we were sitting there, a marching band from the local unit of firefighters, bombeiros, paraded past banging away on their drums for all they were worth. Apparently they were practicing for some upcoming event. It was a good thing it was only about 8:30 at night, not midnight because the drumming was ear-splitting.

Unique time piece

Much more interesting was the aquatic clock in the middle of the square. It was a large bowl-shaped stone circle divided into units marked with roman numerals up to twelve. Each unit had four holes from which a fountain of water could gush. As each quarter hour passed another fountain would begin to flow, showing the time.

I took the photo on the left just before 7 p.m. The one on the right shows the time at about 9:30 p.m. according to the fountains.

The next day dawned bright and clear and we headed off for the 50 kilometer trip back to our start point in Viana do Castelo. Within a few kilometers we passed through the gorgeous little town of Ponte da Barca (Translation: Bridge of the Boat.) The bridge was built in 1543 to replace the ferry boat that people, especially pilgrims going to Santiago de Compostela, used to cross the river Minho.

Our route took us along pathways and roads paralleling the river. We were grateful for the shade as the temperature rose. Unfortunately the route was undulating and we had to scrabble up steep inclines in several places. We kept passing a Spanish jogger, we guessed he was Spanish because of the radio he was playing from some device as he ran). Each time we were on the flat or downhill, we passed him, each time we had to climb, he passed us.

The dreaded cobblestones

Unfortunately much of the route took us on cobblestone roads. I remembered this feature of Portugal from when I walked the camino in northern Portugal in 2018. I could not believe how many of the remote roads were made of cobblestones. The amount of labor that must have gone into the road building in olden days is staggering! They do last, but they are so uncomfortable to ride on. Another teeth rattling experience.

Riding past a tiny bridge over a rivulet near Ponte da Barca.

At the halfway point, we stopped in the town of Ponte de Lima. Another town famous for its bridge and its association with the pilgrim route to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. (In case anybody hasn’t heart of it, this is destination for pilgrims who go to visit the tomb of St. James in the cathedral in S. De C.)

I also discovered that Ponte de Lima is a major tourist destination. The place was teeming with tour buses and visitors strolling around its narrow streets. We stopped for lunch at a little cafe with a strange name. We kept trying to figure out why we couldn’t recognize any of the items on the menu. Graham employed a translation app which revealed the mystery. They were all very rude spoof names!

The cafe name and menu uses language that is bleeped on the radio.

After lunch, we took our own stroll over the bridge. The original part dates back to Roman times but that section is now on land. At one end is a church and a large statue wishing pilgrims a “Bom Caminho” or good Camino.

Graham, the cycle tour organizer, posing beside a statue bidding “Bom Camino” to the thousands of pilgrims who cross this bridge at Ponte de Lima.

The last 20 kilometers still took us over a lot of cobblestones and by then it was getting hotter and I was definitely getting tired. However, we finally made it back to Viana do Castelo and crossed the long, long bridge over the Minho, pedaled our way through town, found the car where we had left it, and climbed off our bikes and lay down and rested our weary bones for a few minutes. It was a great ride and I can’t wait to do another one!

Strava map showing our route on the third day.

Follow my blog to learn more about daily life in Portugal.

Olive harvesting in Portugal: brings friends, and neighbors together in new ways

For the first time, I harvest olives from my own two trees, with the help of my wonderful neighbors, Chris and Anemie.

Note: I wrote this post in the fall of 2021, but it’s olive season again here in my part of Portugal and I am out picking olives with many of my neighbors. I love the way people follow the seasons, performing the age-old tasks that bring them together. Portuguese olive oil isn’t well known in the US or Britain, but it is superb, and in my little corner of Portugal, it is made with love.

October in my part of Portugal means Olives. This year the trillion or so olive trees that cover the hillsides and valleys around my village are loaded with olives. Great news for all my neighbors because last year there was nary an olive to be harvested.

I too have become obsessed with these little nuggets that yield valuable oil and tasty treats. I only have two trees on my land but the amount of olives hanging on those branches convinced me they needed harvesting. I made an agreement with one set of neighbors, to bring my olives over to their place. They have enough trees to yield the 400 kilos of olives to warrant their own pressing at the local “lager” or olive press. This means, they can make an appointment to bring their harvest and get the oil from their very own olives.

If you don’t have a big enough yield for your own pressing, you just take them along to the lager and they get mixed in with others. The oil you get is a mixture of your own olives and that from everyone else.

Olive picking in some parts of Portugal is highly mechanised. But here in the central part of the country, it is still a very labor intensive job, done by hand. It’s an opportunity for friends and neighbors to come together and spend a few hours or days working at this basic task.

First you spread out a huge green net to catch the fruit. Then, someone goes up the ladder into the tree, cuts branches and tosses them down to the picking crew on the ground. You can strip the olives from the branch either by hand or a small plastic rake. Once the tree is picked clean, the crew gathers up the big green net and dumps the olives into a large plastic bucket. It reminded me of documentaries I’ve seen about fishermen collecting their catch in the old days.

This year, my Belgian neighbors helped me pick, I also helped some British friends and neighbors pick and clean their olives. It’s a community affair and I love it!

The next step is to run the harvested olives through a machine called a “Lena” (leena) to remove any remaining twigs and stems. It’s basically a big drum with a hopper on top, a shaker mechanism and a fan that blows the cleaned olives through to a chute where they drop into a big bucket. The cleaned olives are then stored in heavy plastic backs until they can be taken to the olive press.

Olives harvested from my trees, my neighbours German workaday volunteers operate the Lena machine to clean the olives, and I beam at the cleaned olives in the big purple vat. Behind me are plastic bags of olives waiting to go to the press.

Exploring Portugal by bicycle: Part 2

The 50-km route on our second day took us through breathtaking countryside with views of vineyards, terraced hillsides and unique cornstacks.

The morning of Sept. 29, the second day of our tour dawned bright and clear in Monçao. Our companion Chris wasn’t feeling well so he decided to take a bus to Valença where he could get a train back to Viana do Castelo.

Graham and I were going to continue, but first he had to do some minor repairs on my bike rack. Many kilometers of riding over bone-shaking cobblestones had loosened a couple of the bolts. That fixed, we set off on the 50-kilometer route to our destination in Arcos de Valdevez.

Tough climb, fabulous scenery

I knew the second day would be tough because we had to climb over a mountain pass. Actually it was just a large hill by Rocky Mountain standards. The first few Kms were relatively flat, but we had a hair-raising moment when an oncoming van decided to overtake a car and missed Graham by about a foot. My heart was in my mouth as I saw it fast approaching him, envisioning a gruesome scene at the roadside.

All was well however and we pedaled on. By late morning we reached the top of the pass and stopped at a cafe for some caffeine and a small, but very welcome cold beer. The proprietor seemed grumpy to start with but gradually warmed up and shared his local knowledge.

As we continued, with a blissful 3.5-km descent, we had a breathtaking view of the terraced hillsides where farmers grew grapevines and corn. We saw many of the strange corn-stacks that are typical in that part of Portugal and several of the beautiful, caramel-colored longhorn cattle.

This lovely lady was standing right by the fence and was very happy to see us.

The descent brought us to the village of Sistelo, in an area known as the “Tibet” of Portugal. Among the cluster of stone buildings in the narrow streets there are many restaurants and lots of tourists, even in late September. It’s easy to see why. The area is stunningly beautiful and there are numerous well-marked walking trails.

Gruelling path

We followed a trail marked as an “Ecovia” for walking and cycling. Alas, it was better-suited to hikers as we had to wheel our bikes up and down many steep slopes while navigating around big rocks. Meanwhile, the afternoon was heating up. It took us an hour to cover four kilometers of this terrain.

Finally, we found a spot where we could get back onto a road but we still had about 20 kms to go. Graham had hoped the last section would be fairly flat and close to a river. He loves to take a plunge in the Portuguese rivers. However, the road continued to undulate and there was no convenient point to access the river.

An espigideiro, a structure used for storing corn. They are typical in northern Portugal and the Spanish province of Galicia.

By the time we finally reached Arcos de Valdevez at about 5:30, I was exhausted. I’ve done a lot of cycling over the past 20 years, including two five-day tours in Colorado and several 100-mile (century) rides. But that day was the toughest day’s cycling I ever remember.

The Strava image of our second day. (I forgot to start recording until after we had ridden almost 10 km.)

Follow my blog for Part 3 of the bike tour and to learn more about daily life in Portugal.