AWW 21.09.2011: First Footing.

Having had to take the desperate measure of volunteering a walk for today from the safe distance of our gluttons' tour of Vancouver Eating Establishments, as usual I was proved right when it turned out to be a perfect day for a gentle introductory stroll in the Castelejo area, and not the ordeal that some may have imagined in the throes of the heat wave earlier in the summer.

The turnout of 16 was excellent, and despite the lack of response from the ARCB, who may have fancied that his star pupil, the CB (Des) would not have assimilated the lessons on the dark art of Blogging, I have had to dust off my own half-remembered methods, and have been badly let down by MS Live Writer, which allowed me to spend half an hour composing then crashed and failed to save a word of the script.



We started the walk in the carpark of the Trilho Ambiental, inland from Castelejo Beach

 First Footers

Leader: Paul

2011-12 Debs: Myriam, Ingrid, Tina, Dina, Hilke, Janet, Carol (guest of Rod)

Leading Men: Rod, Chris, Andrew F., Yves, Phil, John O', Al (Chris' son-in-law),Alex (Janet's son).
Dogged Followers : Tiggy, Sasha, Misty, Ember

The Track:

Stats:

Total Distance:          10.4 km

Total Time:                 3 hrs

Moving Time:              2hrs 30 min.

Overall Avg.:              3.4 km/hr

Moving Average:        4.1 km/hr

Total Ascent:             186 m.

Max Elevation:           160 m.

Tech and Gadgets Section:

       Being the first walk of a new season, there were a few items of Tech, Tech clothing and gadgetry on display.

First this hi-tech walking stick handle, gifted to Myriam by a sister who wanted her to 'see the light'!

            Four section lightweight pole with LED light and compass.

Of course there was new headgear,  some good..........

..........and another one.....

Most ladies favoured straw

Also some hi-tech Aprés Walk Footwear, apparently chosen independently by Tina and Carol in UK

More in the next issue!

The Walk

The Apprentice Chief Blogger (Des) is keen to take on the task, once his technical skillset has been remodelled, but sent me a trial text, which saved me, as the Leader from overtaxing my jet lagged brain. Here it is, illustrated by some of his, Myriam's and my photos:-

Just a few musings while I give this programme a test-run.

Wednesday, September 21 and the first day of autumn saw the old, and not so old faithful gather for the opening round of the season. Glorious sunshine, familiar faces, the odd new dog or two, an adequate supply of bananas and GPS devices: the scene was set and we duly drove from café Zig Zag to the start point.

Paul led the walkers at a reasonable pace: many of us were quietly thankful for this as the long summer had taken its toll on the old legs. 

 First stop - Torre de Aspa

  The gentle amble took the group through dry but beautiful terrain until we were reminded that walking sticks are not a fashion accessory but a necessity when going down and then up some very steep slopes. A number of us had to tread very gingerly as we had left shillelaghs and sticks behind; some kind souls even shared theirs…

 View from the Coastguard House.

Rod and Alex - on the edge

 The only descent.........

........the finale to the beach

From another p.o.v.

Yves does the arty stuff!

By lunchtime we were safely back at the Zig Zag café where the lost sheep rejoined the flock: Paul had nearly managed to claim the first 10% loss ratio of the season!

 The lost sheep

A show of hands

Doesn't look like a baby's bottle to me! (Antje, her daughter Sonia and grandaughter Bridget joined us at ZigZag.)

A good, enjoyable walk that probably set the tone for the remainder of the season, thank you Paul!

RTC: we will need to firm up expressions of interest, and also ideas to mark the tenth edition of the walk; Paul and David, when he returns, will collate any help gratefully.

(RCB's note: As David has unfortunately been unable to organise the RTC this year, I will send out another call circular in the near future.)

Lastly, this new ‘blogueur’ needs all the help he can get, and a hefty dollop of patience and tolerance while he finds his stride: all suggestions (helpful ones, please), ideas and anecdotes from the walks will be grist to his mill, thank you all!  

Thanks Yves - you are on your own next time!!


Next value added item, - a video shot with our newly acquired Flip Mino HD.

And lastly, the Caption Competition:-

Suggestions by email to Yves, if you can't figure out how to comment below.

Test Blog: New Season- New Kit!

     The ARCB (Attempting to Retire Chief Blogger) clearly hasn't quite succeeded in his aim, as he has kindly invited me to participate in compiling the New Season's Blog, while I am at a bit of a loose end, as Myriam is packing for our return to the Algarve after a calorie-packed tour of the former Colonies of Canada and America.


     Clearly we haven't been wasting our time here merely shopping, eating and being entertained by relatives - I have managed to fit in a bit of serious Walking Kit Procurement, and of course you may recall that Canada is the Home of the Tilley Hat, and there is a main store in Vancouver that has a well-worn path from our temporary abode in Burnaby.


     I honestly didn't intend to come away resplendent in an example of Mr Tilley's Finest Millinery, but as Fate would have it he had just produced a new Organic Ecological Model, and although a quick conversion of the price in CAD revealed that it was not exactly the cheapest ever, I remembered the Tilley Promise of a new one at half price should it ever be stolen, lost or otherwise defective.


    Myriam commented that I looked even more like Indiana Jones in it (not really, but it makes for better copy!), so the deal was struck.


     I won't plunge into a full review of all the features at once, for fear of losing even more readers of this blog, but suffice to say, the wider brim and use of organic cotton make it even cooler than the LT5. Moreover there are no holes in this model to admit wasps or killer bees.


Here it is, and take no notice of the old man modelling it - the light was bad and neither was my best side!

      

Note the wider sweeping brim and the vented anterior section.

There is more - an ultralightweight 11-pocket gilet suitable for carrying masses of gadgets, sweets and liquid refreshment across the Algarve wastes, but that is a teaser and is unavailable for photography because of the aforementioned packing. Prepare to be astounded and delighted next Wednesday on the warm-up walk.

Looking forward to working off the summer's damage and see you all soon.