AWW 04.01.2012: The Return of the Updulator or A Tale of Two Naves

How on earth could we have forgotten so soon what a proper David Littlewood walk is! First, the warm welcome at Casa Benjamin to soften us up; next, a leg-stretching full-speed march; then the expertly-rehearsed moment of hesitation and consultation with Google Earth charts; and finally, the authoritative command “ Stay close to me  – this next bit could be tricky” and the headlong plunge into the unknown prickly and rocky stuff. Yes, the Updulator was back, and in style. And there we all were, “lambs to the slaughter” as he has characterised us, including first-timer Geoff as well as Celianne freshly back from her exploits in the Himalayas; in the words of Rum Doodle, she has indeed “been high”.

Poor little lambs
 Leader:-  David
Those with short memories (or first-time sacrificial lambs):-
Rod, Terry A, Celianne, Geoff, Sue, JohnH, Hazel, Paul, Bob, Ingrid, Hilke, Antje, Jim, Siobahn.
Companions:- Alfie, Misty, Sascha, Rusty, Rosie.
The Tracks
( two of them because JohnH´s gizmo didn´t get switched off at the end so included the car ride back to Casa Benjamin. And Rod´s gizmo didn´t get switched on until about an hour into the walk.)


(Click to enlarge)
The Statistics
are difficult to come by because, as will be revealed, most of the usual statisticians had dropped out before the end, but it seems that :
the final distance to the bar at Nave do Barão was   20.8 km and the total time was 6h 20m.
Paul and Ingrid were nearly in agreement about the first half details:
Total Distance (First Portion): 15.34 km
Half Time: 4 hrs. 30 min.
Moving Time: 3 hrs 40 min.
Overall Avg.: 3.2 km/hr.
Moving Avg.: 4.2 km/hr.Total Ascent: 280 m.
Max Elevation: 291 m. (Ingrid got up to 334 m somehow.)
Paul adds that Janet will be thrilled to know that the Tilley count was up to 6 with Geoff and Sue both sporting their UK cold weather models. Also that there were 8M to 7 F at the start and 6M and 3 F for the second “half”.
And just in case you are not thoroughly bored with statistics by now, you will surely be fascinated enough to consult the Tracks again and to be told that it took us only 1 hr 30 mins to move from Nave das Mealhas to the Offroad spot, and then a whole 1 hr 10 mins to struggle from Offroad to the Lunch spot.
Enough already? Then on with The Leader´s Report:


“Return of the Updulator or Benafim the Hard Way.  
“All arrived in time for coffee and seasonal bites before the customary photo. Departure was around 9.45am and all set off with enthusiasm on a beautiful, cloudless morning. The first section of the walk, albeit lengthy, was accomplished without incident, as the group took the tarmac as far as Nave das Mealhas ( or Dumpsville, as the Leader renamed it on the spot), and then the stony track to the gravel road overlooking the Tor valley and the Algibre.

Gear got adjusted

Dogs took on water

while passers-by took photographs of them.
Sink holes and lime pits


were inspected
“We then descended to the Boliqieme – Benafim road, where the Leader made an announcement that must have chilled the experienced hands to the marrow, in spite of the increasingly warm morning. ‘I didn’t recce this bit’, he said – or something rather more verbose to the same effect. No-one ran screaming back to their car, so memories must indeed have clouded. (No chance, the cars were miles away!)

“Maybe that way…?”
“Wielding his Google photos, the Updulator set off and almost immediately led the group into some thickish scrub as he attempted to find a track over a low ridge, bypassing Alto Fica. A better track was eventually found, and the next tarmac road was reached, and we paused briefly.


“Good progress was made from there across the plateau, and Benafim came into sight as we began to descend into the valley in front of the town. At this point it proved impossible to find a convenient track through a belt of thick scrub halfway down the hill (and a veritable labyrinth of walls without access tracks).

“So while the group settled down for a lunch-break, the Leader set off to look for the least worst passage through the thicket. He reappeared directly below the group some little time later, triumphant but with bloody elbows which were treated with some antiseptic cream kindly donated by John H.


Rod´s Lunch break track, while looking for the exit

Celianne demonstrates the Himalayan Hip-Hop

Down in the jungle, something stirred.

“All managed to fight their way through the short but seriously dense belt of undergrowth to reach the valley floor and commence the straightforward march towards Benafim. John H to his chagrin was by this time feeling rather unwell, and was eventually rescued from the last part of the walk by Ingrid in her car. Happily he recovered, and at the time of writing is reported to be well.

Angels of Mercy
“A very short refreshment stop was taken at the bar in Benafim. The rather more upmarket establishment on the sunny side of the street appears to have closed, but there is always a cheerful welcome from the proprietress of the more workaday bar on the southern side. Here also some members of the party decided to call it a day and left for home, namely, Ingrid, Paul, Antje and Hilke. Ingrid and Hilke took John back to Covões for some TLC. (Paul reports;” I didn't even get a beer for my efforts as Antje dragged me away in a tearing hurry for something or other!”)
“The remaining ten set off for the ridge walk back to base, passing the enormous new citrus plantation on upward slope out of Benafim, with the first of two large reservoirs now lined and full of water. On reaching a point of decision above Nave do Barão, the vote was for a descent to the latter and the bar, in preference to completing the circuit to Casa Benjamin. The objective was achieved without further incident (democracy in action on a walk…unheard of in days gone bye!) but the bar sadly was closed. Dinah was summoned from her hilltop to ferry drivers back to Covões and another Wednesday Walk concluded”.
 
Thank you, David, for a traditional New Year´s walk and for an excellent report. Now, the attentive follower of these blogs will have noted before now that there are far more pictures taken when the walk is young, so to speak, than towards its close. That is because those blessed paparazzi can´t keep it up for ever. Very much the case on this walk when all the usual suspects chickened out at Benafim and the video expert was absent as well, with the result that so far there are no pics taken during the second part of the walk. So, for example, we have no evidence to show whether the democratic voting process above Nave do Barão was conducted in a seemly fashion or whether there were any untoward “incidents”. It´s not too late, however, should any of the remaining ten have pictures they would like published; they can be added to this blog, no problem. Send them to hopejh@sapo.pt  and your application to join the much maligned ranks of the AWW Paparazzi Brigade will be sympathetically considered.