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dined at Andre’ s, recommended by hotel staff. The meal was excellent; steak with pineapple, spiced apples, crisps, and garlic aioli for Kelvin, and a spot-on shrimp curry for me. We skipped dessert, being too full, and left in the rain, bracing ourselves for the showers forecast for our fifth and final ACT day.
After a restless night, we managed an early breakfast and were on the road by 8:30am. The rain held off at first, allowing us to pack up in the dry, but soon settled in. Navigating the slippery cobbled streets of Portugal’ s towns and villages demanded extra caution. Once out of town, tarmac gave way to easy dirt roads, thankfully free of the rocks that might have made things much trickier in the wet.
We reached Mina de São Domingos, the mine we ' d seen in ACT videos, and took advantage of a brief dry spell to explore and take photos. The landscape, with its vivid colours, unusual water patterns, and abandoned structures, had a striking, almost apocalyptic feel.
Continuing on, we skipped our usual coffee stop thanks to the ample cups at breakfast, taking a snack break in the middle of nowhere with boiled eggs, apples, and biscuits from the breakfast buffet. Kelvin also had to remove his broken tablet mount.
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