Saturday 22 October 2011

Cliffs

The cliffs of the Algarve are famous for many things, not least of which is their tendency to collapse at a moment's notice.  To this end, it is always vital to keep a good look out for where you are putting your feet when walking along the tops.  The cliffs are made of various layers of fluvial sandstone - deposited by Triassic rivers - thin bands of river-smoothed pebbles and a few layers of intruded volcanic magma.
This layering gives the cliffs the appearance of those bottles of coloured sands you used to get on childhood, seaside holidays.  It also leads to some seriously crumbly edges, seemingly held together by nothing more than the roots of the numerous pine trees clinging to the precipice.
It all leads to a rather picturesque scene, stretching as far as the eye can see.

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