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.
It was an excellent walk, good training for the RTC. Good lunch stop, thank you, Terry and thank you, Bloqueur, for the hot custard. It supplied the energy for the rest of the walk. Will you bring some more next time?
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