kb57
Well-known member
I posted this on the year list thread recently, but thought it worth repeating on the Portugal thread.
The access from the northern part of the Quinta do Ludo saltpans to São Lourenço golf course has been closed off by the landowner. This apparently occurred this summer, and was in response for refusal of planning consent to turn the farmhouse they'd purchased (the one just east of São Lourenço golf course) into a hotel.
It is fenced off, and when we were there last week was being guarded by a security guard, and monitored by CCTV. This closes off a circuit from the west end of the airport runway, along the coastal path to the golf course lagoon, and back through the northern and central part of the salinas. Access information in guidebooks such as the Crossbill guide is therefore invalid, although AFAIK you can still access the northern part of the salinas (up to the piles of salt) then cut south through the pans to the coastal path.
The coastal path route from the airport runway to the golf course, and the path up the east side of the golf course past the lake and bird hide are all still open - there are a few disused salt pans in the north west of QdL which will no longer be visible though, some of which held good numbers of waders as well as flamingos when I was last able to visit earlier this year. Interrupted views of some are still available from the golf course path.
Obviously a hotel development in this location wouldn't be great news either, so hopefully the new landowner won't get his own way eventually with this proposal.
The access from the northern part of the Quinta do Ludo saltpans to São Lourenço golf course has been closed off by the landowner. This apparently occurred this summer, and was in response for refusal of planning consent to turn the farmhouse they'd purchased (the one just east of São Lourenço golf course) into a hotel.
It is fenced off, and when we were there last week was being guarded by a security guard, and monitored by CCTV. This closes off a circuit from the west end of the airport runway, along the coastal path to the golf course lagoon, and back through the northern and central part of the salinas. Access information in guidebooks such as the Crossbill guide is therefore invalid, although AFAIK you can still access the northern part of the salinas (up to the piles of salt) then cut south through the pans to the coastal path.
The coastal path route from the airport runway to the golf course, and the path up the east side of the golf course past the lake and bird hide are all still open - there are a few disused salt pans in the north west of QdL which will no longer be visible though, some of which held good numbers of waders as well as flamingos when I was last able to visit earlier this year. Interrupted views of some are still available from the golf course path.
Obviously a hotel development in this location wouldn't be great news either, so hopefully the new landowner won't get his own way eventually with this proposal.
