Here follow Peter Weaver’s consolidated e-mails to friends (for them to forward) and copied to Safe Communities Portugal –written and released from the start and as the fire progressed.  They provide a very personal but contemporaneous view of our experience of the fires from 3rd to 11th August 2018 (with subsequent explanations in italics). Names and e-mail addresses of recipients and other participants have been omitted.

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My location: 600m above sea level in the hamlet of  Casa Velha / Relva Grande, North-facing on Picota, Monchique. Nearest marked place on Google Earth: Casa Jaede, Monchique  (N.B. not our property).

Available views from our site: We have a wide view from East-North-East through North and then on round to see Foia and Monchique which are to our West.  On a clear day we can see beyond Castro Verde to the North and to the sea and sand dunes of the West Coast, North of Aljezur. Picota ridge is just above us, blocking a view of land to the South.