Wake-up Walk

I typically wake up with a cat tucked into my arm. He’s content to follow the rhythm of my sleep cycle. Although I wake up at 6:00 A.M., we have an understanding that 6:00-7:00 A.M. is my transition period from sleep to wake. He mostly stays still. I go in and out of REM sleep during this hour (as recorded by my Oura Ring). Blair does as well, witnessed by the twitching of his whiskers and paws.

Blair sleeping in my arms in our house in Sao Miguel de Machede, Evora Portugal — Blair sleeping in my arms in the morning

7:00 A.M. arrives and we both agree, it’s time to get up. Our goals are different (he wants food; I want coffee), but both objectives lead us in the same direction towards the kitchen. After feeding the cats and making coffee, it’s time for my ‘wake-up walk’. Coffee in hand, I head out to survey the property while the cool morning air (summer mornings are typically around 58 degrees/15 Celsius) clears my head and slowly gets me ready to take on the day.

Travel Coffee Mug — Ready to head out on my walk with my lidded travel mug.

Rather than just wandering the property, I decide to create a sort of rustic track around the perimeter of the property. The 1 hectare (2.3 acres) property is basically a big flat rectangle so it’s perfect as a simple and easy walking track.

Google Earth view of Monte da Casa Branco Evora Portugal — Google Earth view of Monte da Casa Branco

Since this walk has two purposes; 1) me waking up, and 2) surveying the property, my walk takes me around the perimeter as well as through the orchard and the interior backyard. The walk takes about 20 minutes with a distance of a 1/2 mile/800 meters (just under 1,000 steps). The perfect distance to get though a cup of coffee and assess what needs attention (watering, pruning, staking, trimming, mowing), while I slowly transition to being fully awake.

Property walking path in Sao Miguel da Machede, Evora Portugal — Wake-up Walk path around the property

Starting from the kitchen door, cup of coffee in hand, I exit the interior fenced-in portion of the yard which protects the pool and immediate area around the house (protecting us from what, I’m not yet sure). There’s another fence around the entire property. My journey begins in the Southeast area of the property, taking me around the dog kennel (future office/studio for Mike) and then down to the Eastern corner to look at the sun rising over the Serra da Ossa mountains.

Continuing on the perimeter path, I arrive at the Northern corner of the property and look out at the Castelo de Evoramonte in the distance with the morning sunrise lighting its fortress walls.

From there I head West towards the planned vineyard. Not much to look at yet but I love day dreaming about what this will look like once it’s planted. The Western portion of the vineyard will be planted on an North/South access. There will be an identical vineyard on the opposite side of the driveway planted on an East/West access, but it will be half the size since the other half is where the orchard is planted.

I then wander along the Southwest area of the property which straddles the road and over to the orchard.

The orchard is looking a little shabby right now and needs some attention but it is producing fruit, including plums, figs, apples, limes and pomegranates. My path zig zags up and down through the orchard so I can get a close look at what’s ripe and may be ready for picking.

I have plans to expand the number of trees here as well as planting berries (strawberry, blueberry and blackberry) along the fence line.

Exiting the orchard, I head through the motor court where four rather large olive trees create a very attractive arrival experience. These are also in need of some grooming.

From here I head back North along the side of the house and re-enter the interior gated portion of the yard and head towards the pool to complete my wake-up walk. I’ll often see sheep in the fields at this time and pause to look at them before heading inside.