The Lucky Escape was Ingrid´s. The first to arrive at Tunes, she had carefully parked her car off the road in an empty-looking yard conveniently located by the railway line. Just before we all set off on the walk, the kindly Á do Indiano restaurant owner tipped her off that the yard was the collection area for metal scrap which gets removed by train each day at noon and that her vehicle could well be in Lisboa by 3pm and on the high seas to the Middle East by the next morning. Suitably “galvanised " by this advice, she speedily re-parked and did not require a banana booster for the rest of the day.
Meanwhile, Andrew, our leader, was champing at the bit for the Off because he had ordered lunch for 1pm precisely, while Lindsey tried to locate late-comers by phone.
“And where exactly are you, David ?”
The Starters (all bar one)
David just makes it as Andrew steams off
Anyway, we were all delighted to welcome David back to sunny Algarve.
In attendance:
Leader – Andrew
I/C Communications – Lindsey
Walkers – Paul & Myriam, Hilke, Ingrid, Hazel & John, David, Maria, Rod, Dina, Jim and his daughter Siobhan
Non Walkers and Lunch Participants – Susan Frew and her Mother, Lindsey’s Mother.
Dogs – Misty and Ember
The Track
(Click to enlarge)
The Statistics
The stats according to Myriam's GPS were:-
Total Distance: 13.4 km
Total Time: 3 hrs. 47 min.
Moving Time: 3 hrs. 28 min.
Overall Average: 3.5 km/hr.
Moving Average: 3.9 km/hr.
Total Ascent: 353m.
Max Elevation: 182 m.
The stats according to Ingrid were:-
tot.time 3.48
mov.time 3.16
tot ascent 361
max elevation 244
mov avg 4.1
overall avg 3.5
distance 13.3
(you can see that she went faster and flew higher than anybody)
And the stat according to JohnH´s antique device was:-
Total distance: 12.94 km
The I/C Communications´ Report
“Total distance walked – 13.5kms, not counting the extra kms put in by Rod, Paul and Andrew.
“We all arrived outside the Indian Restaurant Á do Indiano, Tunes for the start at 9.30am and had the usual photo call and realized that David had not arrived. Luckily, after a brief phone call we discovered he was just the other side of the railway track and arrived 5 minutes late – hence no photo of him among the other 13 starters.
We set off through the village of Tunes, over the railway track and under the IC1 road, where we turned left and up hill for a few minutes – time enough to warm up and have to discard the first layer of clothing. Some wondered if Hazel was going to do the full strip …….
All eyes on Hazel
……..but of course not!
“Why pick on me!”
There was a good view over Tunes and to Algoz and Colina Verde beyond. The first almond blossoms were appearing.
The Leader offers us a choice of “flat or not so flat”
“We then walked through shrubs of Thyme and some scrub across green fields, down tracks and over walls (lots of walls).
There was ready help for the elderly and infirm
and in-flight refuelling for the Leader
We were then treated to the Leader´s favourite Beauty Spot, a well-tended alfarrobal.
“Passing two old disused ‘Ceramicas’ with their chimneys still standing tall. There was a good view south with the sea in the distance. We walked through the area of Cerro de S. Vicente eventually descending towards Purgatorio and through a low tunnel under the road – fairly tricky for the taller AWWs and then through a small vineyard.
“There was a little bit of tarmac and then left up and out of Purgatorio to Monchina. A hedgehog was spotted by the more eagle-eyed and refreshments were taken.
Christmas cake
“We then descended through another tunnel and under the Via do Infante passing a small wood of Carob trees. We were following the line of pylons that follow along the ridge. At this point Lindsey left the group to go home to pick up her mother. Andrew realized we were now running a bit late and would have to shorten the walk in order to be back at the Restaurant for 1pm.
“Here there was quite a pause when Rod realized he was missing Ember. Rod and Paul back tracked, shouting and whistling to no avail. They then continued on their own up to Aldeia dos Matos (elevation 160 m.) – the same route (more or less) that Andrew had taken with the group.
“Andrew’s group had continued through scrub and over walls (yes, still more walls – clearly, Andrew does like his walls) .
It´s all downhill from now on
until they managed to re-join the dirt track and thence they retraced their steps back to the restaurant, only 15 minutes behind schedule. To the Leader´s great relief, the restaurant was still open.
“Rod and Paul then arrived at the restaurant hoping that Ember would have beaten them to the cars but she was nowhere to be seen.
The Curry Tiffin
“A very good lunch was had by all – the phone number for any one interested is mobile 933610262 or 282 574795. The owner is Denis. Sadly, the meal was somewhat overshadowed by the loss of Ember. Rod drove off to try and find her. After lunch Andrew and Rod did a further 7kms from Purgatorio to Tunes to try to find her but, alas, no sighting. Dejected, they both returned home.
The Happy Ending
“At 7pm, Rod received a phone call from someone in Aldeia dos Matos to say they had his dog who was playing with their children!!! Ember had walked into Matos and made friends with the locals. Thank goodness, she had a collar with a telephone number on it. When Rod arrived to collect her, she was happily warming herself by the friendly Portuguese family´s fireside.”
Tailpiece
The RCB tells me that it is the tradition for our blogs to end with a quotation, and somebody else told me once that the most easily comprehended English is that composed solely with words of one syllable. So how about this little bit by the well-known Mr. Anon:
“When you think a thing, the thing you think is not the thing you think you think, but only the thing you think the thing you think.”
Have a very Good New Year.
RCB's Bit
And a New Year's Bonus of two videos:
And if, as the ARCB has demonstrated, it is now 'de rigueur' to insert irrelevant but amusing quotes then I have dredged this conundrum up from my youth. It is a sentence written by a rather pedantic Use of English Examiner in his report on the exam results of a group of schoolboys - probably one of the better schools- and it makes perfect sense if punctuated correctly!
No prizes, but I will be interested if anyone can remember enough of their English Grammar to punctuate it.
"If one more boy who had had had had had had had had would have been the least common answer."
I wish a fabulously Healthy and Wealthy New Year 2012 to all our readers!
