Dear Editor,
For 37 years I have been walking in the Algarve and have always felt safe. Then, this week, within the space of 10 minutes, my wife and I were attacked by two dogs, the first of which resulted in me having to receive medical attention.
Alarmingly, both incidents were on a public road and are included within Julie Statham’s popular book of Algarve walks.
This one, our favourite, we walk at least three times a year. We see many others using it as it takes us along the banks of the Arade and Odelouca rivers. We take many of our guests, using a restaurant at the end for refreshment.
As we walked into the hamlet of Vale da Lama this week, a dog ran out of an unfenced garden and attacked my leg. The second incident occurred about 10 minutes later as we walked towards the water sports centre.
We don’t feel we can use this walk again and we would certainly not take anyone visiting us.
We have read much recently of the tourist authorities wanting to make Algarve the safest of destinations. If they want to achieve their objective then they need to do something about the owners who do not control their dogs outside the boundaries of their property.
Andrew Ketteringham
Almadena
