It was good to have a full night’s sleep after two early starts but the weather forecast was again poor, heavy rain all day and the same tomorrow. The plan had been to take a boat trip to see the birds on the Ria Formosa estuary but although the morning was dry, the strong wind and threatening grey sky ruled it out. Instead, we mooched round the town which has little interest. The Pension has a kitchen so we shopped for food, had lunch and walked out of town looking for a tidal mill and environmental centre, which we failed to find. The rain began so we walked back and were glad we didn’t have to go out to eat as the rain ramped up to biblical level. Jeff, the Australian owner of the Pension, told us he’d been there for three years and had never seen rain like it, not a great start to the holiday.