Turquoise water at Portinho da Arrabida and Fenda

We took some time until finally decide to visit Fenda, which is a "long fissure of overhung, bomber orange limestone" very popular for its climbing routes. Before Covid-19, it was not possible to take the car anywhere near, although this could be assessed by bus (a good measure by the local council!). Outside summer time, the place is too busy on sundays. We then visitied on a week day, outside the summer season, but still with summer temperatures. The place was empty and we had the rock for ourselves. However, there were not many routes we could climb because most of them are graded 6+ and overhung. There is, however, some very easy routes on the other side of the fissure and also further along. We have gone back on a sunday during winter time and there was lots of people, some with loud annoying music. So, this was a bad choice for sunday climbing. The beauty and uniqueness of the feature, which is inserted in the Arrabida Natural Park impressed me, as well as the colour of the water and of the sand of the beach named "Portinho da Arrabida". Unfortunatley, the amount of litter I found on the trail leading to the climbing area, right at the heart of a nature reserve, also impressed me for the negative. Later on, at home, some related news called my attention: the manager of the restaurant located in the car park was asking for measures to contain the declining of the beach area, this threatening his business, both in terms of infraestructure damage and in terms of decreasing numbers of people that the beach could bear and consequently the decreasing number of people visiting his restaurant. He claimed for a very short-term and expensive coping measure, namely for sand to be artificially injected in the beach so this could increase its capacity in terms of people per m2. It is clear that the impacts of climate change are already noticed at this low level. Individuals feel this in their day to day life, and their businesses are being negatively impacted. Our politicians prefer to hide their heads in the sand, prioritising climate change mitigation measures instead of adaptation measures, and implementing none of them.

 

Blue sea and orange sunset at Guia, Cascais

Since we have decided to start to explore climbing spots in Portugal we have been surprised by the variety, beauty, and uniqueness of some of these spots. In Guia, Cascais, the surprise came from the fact that, from the road next to the sea I never imagined what was going on down there. When I went down the stairs for the first time I found a completly different environment, whith climbers from different nationalities climbing routes with funny names (e.g. Nestum com grelos, Striptease). From that day onwards, we have been back several times, as it is just an hour from my seaside village in Portugal. This climbing spot can be very busy during the weekends, as it is just in the outskirts of Lisbon, and acessible from the city centre on a 30 min train journey. In the week days, and especially if it is a coollish day, it can be very quiet. The cliffs face South, so it is a perfect location for the winter as it catches the sun and it creates a microclimate, with the temperature feeling like 20oC. Sometimes at high tide, the rock can be a bit wet at the bottom and because it is a very popular place, the rock gets polished and it can be very slippery to start with. The sunsets are beautiful and worthwile waiting for. The views from the cliffs include some landmarks South of the Tagus river, such as Espichel cape and also the Arrabida mountain range.