Cash, the cheques, or the ATM wander
Our Leader for this outing had planned it very carefully; all was nearly in place and notice was duly given: there would be a few ‘hillocks’… Quite was constitutes a ‘hillock’ was open to interpretation and his interpretation was at odds with Walkers’! Perhaps, given the number of stops at various ATMs on the way, the route mirrored financial ups and downs? with the odd détour along the way; à la Myriam…
Ascent 14a Descent 19d
‘Never mind’, said the troop as they followed in mostly good spirit: they were so out of breath on the harder bits that they could only whimper their grumbles, this Blogueur hears, with difficulty.
Somewhere between Hillock 38b and Descent 51c, the Leader intimated to the Blogueur that decent photos (?) of theWalkers could be garnered if he went sprightly up towards ‘that tree over there!’; the trusty soul obliged and soon found that Route One to the summit was not necessarily a good idea. It must be recorded that Misty shunted tirelessly through the bush between the group and the lost soul: give that dog a biscuit!
Left: normal route; right: idiot’s route; both lead to the trees at top right!
For all their exertions, the Walkers were rewarded with some stunning views of the mountains and the first cistus of the season with many pretty anonymous flowers (Lindsey, where are you?).
Turtle-back Mountain
What they lacked in numbers, the Walkers made up in presence: many of the feminish paricipants could be heard from considerable distances through the thickets of eucalyptus and around many hairpins in the steep tracks –steep enough for Hilke to slip upon some stones and fall upon her padded bones (poor rhyme agin, but factual accuracy must prevail!): no damage done, except to pride.
Huff, puff, chin-wag…
All was well in the end as the Walkers retired to the Café; no cake, however, small cock-up on the catering front… must have a word with the Secretary!
The Leader, and Paul:
The Leader’s report:
Boy, this was wuff!
This walk, a thinly disguised (alright, blatant) means of checking my Sudoku Symphony Geocache, was originally mooted on 11.01.2012 (link) but I had restrategised on that occasion, and opted for an easier walk which could have been led by Myriam if necessary.
The weather and physical condition of most of the participants was optimal on this occasion, but as often happens when one is accurate about a walk description, numbers dropped and we only had 11 valiant starters. Rod remarked how pleasant it was to have a group of a manageable size, but the sad truth was that there were only four men to manage seven ladies, a mathematical conundrum that led Myriam to speculate out loud on certain inequalities arising.
Chief Cacheer: Paul
Check Accounting: Yves, Alex, Rod, Hilke, Janet, Liz, Myriam, Ingrid, Dina, John H.
Watch Dogs: Misty and Ember (on probation)
Hilke rejoined after convalescing from an operation that would have kept a Premiership Footballer off for a full season, and John was going solo while Hazel took a short medical leave, including, allegedly, 6 weeks off cooking and washing up, which she had John signed up for. As for the other usual suspects, Chris and Antje were celebrating their nuptials in the ‘trending’ honeymoon resort of Pedralva, where they must have got a great deal as a result of leading 20 walkers into the cafe on their walk the week before! David and Terry were probably aware of the financial penalties of living too far east along the A22, Ian W. reputedly had guests to entertain, and Frank was feeling his age, and preparing for his 70th at the weekend.
A very descriptive track by John - can anyone else see the emu with ruffled wing feathers?
Stats:
Total Distance: 15.6 km
Total Time: 5hrs 20 min.
Moving Time: 4 hrs 10 min
Overall Average: 2.9 km/hr
Moving Average: 3.7 km/hr
Total Ascent 660 m.
Max. Elevation: 256 m.
As you will have noticed, the few hillocks that we strolled up mounted to a decent 660 m., but the temperature and slight breeze was such that it didn’t seem too rigorous. Once off the main road we started with a gentle warm up climb, up a good track.
Then down the other side and before we knew it I was stealthily extracting the first cache ‘1st Movement - Allegro’ from it’s hide.
Don’t peek...!
Another hillock then took us up to some fine views of Picota before we descended and crossed the main track to cache 2, ‘2nd Movement - Presto’ while we were still fresh.
After this cache there was a bit of an obstacle course down a steep descent which led to a narrow track through brambles and a water jump to the main track again.
From below.....................
...............from above
The water jump
Once the blood had been staunched we kept to the main track for a good distance until just past Tojero we crossed the small stream and circumnavigated the foothills of Cabeça d’Egua before attempting the direct assault on the summit.
A tricky crossing Dina’s harpoon skills
Going up
Summit photo!
After a quick banana break at the summit, we had fine views of the Autodromo, and incidentally cache Movement #3 - Adagio, for we were all slowing up by now. We had a long crumbly descent to recross the stream, which was accomplished without wet feet. This would certainly not have been the case last year at this time!
Morale still high No wet feet!
After another half an hour or so of gentle incline we reached the designated lunch spot on the shore of a limpid pool.
Ladies about to lunch...
There was even a bench with ample seating for 5
And the leader was so generous with his break that.........
.....some took the time for a ‘soneca’!
It was a slow start after lunch, but excitement was mounting as we headed for the cache Finale, of which alas I have no photographic record. Then we turned for Romeiras and this was mostly downhill until the uneventful crossing of the stream that flows through the village.
After this, it was just a few hundred metres back to Casa Pacheco, where Dona Aldina had thoughtfully rearranged the tables inside as there was a cool wind rising.........
.......................in fact Yves needed to huddle for warmth!!
The mission had been accomplished, and a few hillocks conquered. Myriam handed round small stashes of seeds, known as ‘Peter peppers’ in the States where they had been acquired from a friend. She is very excited at the prospect of which of the ladies can nurture the biggest one. This is what she is hoping for (link) if you can bear to look!
L’assiette du Gourmet: For zis weak, we ‘ave ‘omelette aux asperges’ et ‘fraises à la crème’. The omelette is a true Walker’s thing with many eggs but for less vorace appétits un oeuf is enough, they say. As Easter approaches, remember: you can beat fresh eggs but not chocolate eggs! These should be submitted to zis Gourmet for quality contrôle.
Tail-piece: We found Shergar!
Getting older is like riding a bicycle, if you don't keep pedalling, you'll fall.
Pepper, Claude D.
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