How We Ended Up at Oitavos Dunes

Mark’s aunt Lesley asked about how this trip came about so this is the answer I gave her:

The golf story: originally we were renting a house in Ireland ( Bar Tra, Lahinch, Co. Clare – I think you’d love it so do look, should come up by name ) for three weeks at Mark’s good friend’s favorite course of all time. That was enough to convince Mark because they are golf simpatico so we invited him and his wife to join for a bit and the plan was on. We couldn’t have been more excited, I love Maureen, Todd’s wife, and the art on the walls (turns out Sheila, the owner, was a painter in earlier years) while Todd and Mark were in golf heaven. This was Mark’s retirement celebration and well beyond what we’d normally spend. I was even meeting my oldest and dearest friend in Dublin for Bloomsday – a great knees up to celebrate James Joyce’s Leopold Bloom from Ulysses. Truly a trip of a lifetime for both of us! Anyway when that couldn’t happen, I looked for something wonderful to note Mark’s retirement and this course is very highly rated and they had a good five day special at the hotel with rounds of golf so Mark checked it out and approved. It is also one of the clubs we could find membership fees for so it was on the list to play. Being a member makes more sense than playing by round because of cost and the memberships in Portugal are mostly very reasonable. So our first week here was all about a vibrant town and the next five days have been all about golf. I’m enjoying lolling about with little else to do but walk the dog and drink nespresso. The gin and tonics also rock – had it with lemon for the first time and much sweeter but delicious. Mark is enjoying the hell out of this course – very different, a links course which generally means by the water where the wind is a major factor in play or at least that’s what I think it means.