AWW.23.11.2011: Terry’s long and hard Walk…

Friday, November 24, 2011




Pain, Pain go away and don’t come back any other day!
Rarely have so many sensible people gathered to inflict so much pain on themselves in so few hours in the name of fun! Of course, should anyone know better, please do inform the Blogueur and the record will be straightened forthwith. After so much rain and under an uncertain sky no fewer than 21 hardy souls entrusted their well-being to Terry for another toughening up walk before the Big One…
‘There will be some climbing in the morning; then it is mostly downhill’ said Terry; ‘We believe you! ‘ said the trusting Walkers and we set off. The Leader was candidly honest in his appraisal but unclear about the meaning of ‘some climbing’. Quite soon, there was a brief stop to disrobe of heat-retaining layers and to top-up on banana-boost; some bananas grew on the path, allegedly.
      
 One for the track…                                                               One from the track…
The Leader was maintaining a reasonable pace that allowed most Walkers to admire the stunning views around our track; in the autumnal sun, the Algarve hills are so beautiful that most of us failed to moan and whinge; it was argued later that shortage of breath may have been a contributing factor, qui sait?
Lunch was taken in an accommodating Café where tables were kindly provided (future Leaders, please take note?). The downhill part soon beckoned, through even prettier wooded valleys and across a river, in truth a stream that one Walker forded quite bravely.
During a brief stop we nearly lost our German representative who remonstrated very volubly with the Leader; he accepted the ‘bill-hooking’ in a manly, leaderish manner although he could have invoked the 10% loss-rate rule quite justifiably: 1 out of 20 is barely 5%!
The shadows grew definitely longer as we reached the finish: the cold beer helped us forget sore knees and things: we are now almost ready to face the Big Challenge (it says here in the Blogueur’s briefs). Thanks Terry!

The Trusting Walkers:
Yves, Terry A, Jim, John O’, Jill, Hilke, Dina, Tina, Ingrid, Maria, Paul, Ian, Myriam, Sue, Antje, Hazel, Alex, Chris, Terry M, John H


The Hounds trusting their Masters: Sasha, Tiggy, Rusty, and two more who liked us…

The Route:



The Stats:
Total Distance:        24 km.
Total Time:              6 hrs 35 min.
Moving Time:          5 hrs 30 min
Moving Avg.            4.4.km/hr
Overall Avg.             3.6 km/hr
Total Ascent:           839 m.
Max Elevation:        521 m.

The leader:
      Trust him at your peril…

The Leader’s Report:
As the dust has settled and the sun still shines from the blue sky, my picking wet Wednesdays to walk is just a memory from the last walking season.  We all met at Besteiros: 19 Walkers all on time, photo at 9.30 am and away. As I know it is a three hour walk to the top at Barranco, I took a short detour to avoid the river which is quite full after all the rain; it's amazing how the rivers can go from dry to running with a lot of water in such a short time.
 
    
  Bon, on y va?

 
    Ingrid? Talk to us?
 
We walked a bit of the Algarve Way before turning right and starting to climb.
 

One for the money!
 

Two for the show!
 

Three, get a-ready!
 

Now, go, Cat, GO!
 
                  
                                            Well done, you may sit a while.
 
                    
                                                         Who goes up, must come down!
The switchback trail afforded us fine views to the West, after quite a bit of puffing, panting and banana eating we reached the turn down to Quinta; nice new signs are showing the way, looking for the track which contours through the valley, the green of the trees clean and vibrant,
                                       
various fungi for Antje to sniff and pick to take home for the gourmet to cook and Chris to sample.  
        
 

‘We are going there’; a point well made!
 
           
 Short, but welcome break…
We kept pushing ever upwards till we reached the main road at Barranco, the café and lunch beckoned, three and half hours to the café not bad at all! Our posh walk Lunchers, Terry M and Yves, did not disappoint, even coming up with hot custard for their dessert! What next: a Fortnum and Mason’s hamper delivered to the lunch stop?
   
                      Le déjeuner…                                               les sandwichs.
Half hour for lunch sitting in the sun was not bad for late November. Now the walk along the ridge top with views all round; the Camara has erected  boards depicting the Bio Diversity of life along the ridge, next to the only trig point for the obligatory trig pic.
 

                                               David’s cistus is clearly there.         
                                                                             
                            HMS Unicorn

                                                    
                                        That’s NOT the way to do it!
 
We seem to have picked up two dog from the lunch stop: a Tiggy look-alike and a brindle dog, both well fed and with collars. When we started to drop down the Algarve Way/Via Algarvia route, the Tiggy look-alike was persuaded to go back. After going down hill all the way to the river, we were able to hop and skip across it; which cuts the corner a bit.
 
   
     “It’s my stone and I’ll cross if I want to!”
 
A big tree had come down on the path but was easy to get round for the intrepid Walkers.
 

                                                       Three wise ladies…
 
Not far now and on time for a four o'clock finish! As we headed for the bridge again we stayed on the road to get back to the cars and café only the find the café shut: the need to pick the olives is more important than beer-starved walkers, so we moved on to Salir for much needed refreshment.
          
Drinkers, mostly happy; all tired… and Thilley hats, indoors! Tsk, standards are slipping…
              
 
Thanks to all who came it was a good day; my apologies to Hilke for upsetting her knee: I do hope it's better now.
As the brindle dog was looking a bit worried when we all left, I went back on the way home. Had he still been about, I would have taken it back but it was nowhere to be seen, so maybe he headed home muttering to himself about the foolishness of following Walkers.

 
                                  Glorious day, good walk; thank you Terry!


And of course Myriam’s Cinemascope contribution:

The way up....

.....and the way down

“Walking is good for one, better with a crowd, best with friends!” Anon.

AWW.16.11.2011: A foot massage of the dog’s spine…(or Um Passeio no Espinhaço do Cão)

                                                              Autumn colours

“I am aching all over”, said Ian;
“If you ain’t aching, it ain’t a good walk”, replied Rod…

Their kit dried and pressed, their spirits rekindled, their boots clean of mud and their eyes gleaming with anticipation, a surprisingly large congregation of Walkers met up in Bensafrim for another exciting day: ‘somewhat longer than before…’(dixit Rod). He was true to his word.
After some drivers of the opposite gender had finished parking near the appropriate places (some shunned gaps in which the Ark Royal could berth comfortably and opted for snug spaces with hard kerbs, feminish logic?) Paul gathered us for the usual Starters’ picture and we set off, the group having scooped up Janet and Terry M. ‘en passant’, welcome back!
The weather was perfect: a mild temperature, mostly sunny, a very light breeze and the odd dark cloud patch making empty threats; the air was clean and pure after the recent rainstorm, what more could Walkers ask for?
The morning went by uneventfully, apart from one climb that Rod described as ‘moderate’; the rest of us panted ‘the lying Thod!' as we peered up the hill to see ‘unfit’ Terry merrily tip-toeing and skipping along, another ‘lying Thod’! Lunch-time saw the group making themselves uncomfortable on piles of logs; the Leader had thoughtfully brought along enough food for both his hounds and there was no fight, for once…
The second leg of the trek took the group past many and varied puddles and mud pits that were negotiated with consumate skill by most, only Myriam having to adjust her footwear. Some very minor medical and surgical attention had to be extended to some tough Walking Wounded along the way and soon (finally! said some…) we invaded the café back in Bensafrim. Myriam and Paul had collected the RTC commemorative T-shirts and those were distributed to the Walkers who will wear them with pride In the Sagres restaurant, no doubt.
As dusk settled gently, the group members scattered towards their homes and waiting spice*: remarkable timing; well done Rod and thank you!  

The Starters:
Paul, Peter S, Chris, Ingrid, Andrew, Terry M, Janet, John O', Tina, Sue, Antje, Lindsey, Dina, Ian W, Yves, Hazel, Myriam, Rod, Maria.


 

 The Hungry Hounds: Tiggy, Sasha, Devana, Misty, Ember.

The Route:
  

The Stats:
Total Distance:         26.21 km
Total Time:               6 hrs 48 min.
Moving Time:           5 hrs 45 min.
Moving Avg.:            4.6 km/hr.
Overall Avg.:             3.9 km/hr
Total Ascent:            558 m.
Max Elevation:         223 m.

The Leader:
                                   
          Don’t be fooled: under this hard exterior hides an even harder soul…


The Leader’s Report:
There must have been some misunderstanding of the leader's walk description for 19 folk turned up...and there wasn't even a drop-out point identified!
At least it was a bright and warm morning following a week of rain as we set out from Bensafrim, very punctually indeed!
 

  
 Happy walkers

                                                                  
 
Off we went in a westerly direction along wide tracks until we turned off... Well, most of us did, except for those striding away in front who were too engrossed in worldly conversation... and climbed  up to the first ridge from where there were some great all round views.
 
 
 
            
 
 
We followed a path along the top for a while until we joined the main track from Bensafrim  towards Carrapateira. This was pretty uneventful until we neared the farmstead of Corte Medronheiro. Our leader was about to suggest dogs should be put on leads when a tinkling bell indicated the presence of sheep nearer than expected. The dogs inevitably heard this first and were gone in a flash...the luckless lone sheep was set upon by 4 dogs and appeared beyond redemption (or whatever happens to dead sheep) before the  hounds were called off. Before the discussion on how this delicate situation should be handled could be ended, the dead sheep jumped up and vanished from the scene.....just goes to show that sheep too know all about «playing dead» !
 
                          
                                                                         Gotcha! Not dead!
 
 
This was the end of excitement for the time being and we continued down into the Carrapateira River valley, already looking really lush and attractive. The river crossings provided no particular challenge...although the paparazzi had their cameras primed.
 
                                           Will she? won’t she fall in? foiled again…

 

                                                                                    Broody wet watel!

 
 

        Sue wanted nothing to do with the threatened lynching of the Blogueur…

We passed a cottage right on the track which had been taken over by a group of new world travellers (or whatever you choose to call them these days). Judging by the quantity of empty beer and wine bottles and general furnishing lying around there, life didn't appear to be too testing.  

                         
                  

 
One ring-studded individual involved in repairing an ancient 4X4 engaged us in conversation but the monosyllabic grunts gave little indication of what language he (or she) was speaking, so conversation was limited.
 On we went down the valley for a while before turning off to the north up a narrow track which ascended very sharply up to the Espinhação do Cão ridge.
 
 

                                                  More like the Grand National, but uphill…

Morning glory...................

                                                                          Hush now, big boys don’t cry!


By then there were increasingly strident calls for lunch, ignored of course until we came upon a large pile of cut eucalyptus, a van and a large forestry machine...
 
                                                                  There be Walker-eating Dragons!

Here we settled for lunch. Anyone hoping for a lift back in the van were in for disappointment: there was nobody around  and they had the keys.
 
 
                                                                  A quiet moment in the autumn sunshine
 
 
 
 

 I say, old chap, this is awfully tempting; prepared it yourself?
 
 
We continued for some kilometres along this stretch of the dog's spine with increasing mutterings about how much "in excess of 20.5kms" ( the walk's description) as our leader intended. He wasn't going to be drawn! 
 
                                                                            Ruins on the way…
 
 
Eventually we did turn towards home and wound our way back in a southerly direction. We joined a main track and continued along this until an approaching vehicle suggested we, along with the dogs, should move out of the way. This was only partially achieved, but the driver clearly had no intention of slowing down until one of the dogs obliged him to do so rather suddenly. We remonstrated for a while in Portuguese and others of our many languages until his polite response of  "well! get your f*****g dogs out of the road!"  rather pointed to him  being a most uncouth Brit!
 
 
                                                                                     Nearly there!
 
That was really the end of any excitement until we plodded into the bar. The 20.5 kms had of course been exceeded...by some 5.5 kms indeed !! Perhaps we were slightly nearer getting used to the RTC daily distances! 

...........Afternoon Delight

 

                                 Bar ‘Mon repos’

 
Well done Janet! After a couple of months lay-off, she complained not a word (she must have been secretly training in the Slovenian Alps!).
 
 
 
    
                               Soi-disant ‘unfit people’, yes well!
 
 
 

       The girl with the donkeys had a device to observe migrating birds and tits, she said.

 
 
                                                                            Look! some migrating lesser-spotted Walkers!
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              They migrated that-a-way

                       
Not at all exhausted either, was Myriam who immediately produced her ‘Accounts and Debtors’ books and proceeded to distribute, against strictly prompt payment of course, the RTC T-shirts.

                             
                                   Which migrant ordered the 42FF?


                                       

And finally: Please, will the custodian of the Walkers’ Patented Sécateurs bring them along to the next outing? Thank you.

 
                                Weary Walker, simply follow thy leader.

(*) Mouse > mice; louse > lice… Spouse > spice?