AWW 29.02.2012 But the ladies would not play…
‘tis only once every four years and we outnumbered the ladies by a fair margin; some of our younger fellows had made an extra effort to look at their more presentable for the occasion: toupées were glued on, Tilleys were pinned on, shirts were patched on…All to no avail: the ladies pretended not to notice! Being the prudent chap that we all know and some love, John O even took the precaution of going away on ‘important business’, just in case. He needn’t have bothered, we were treated with all the spontaneous indifference that could be mustered.
Our leader for the day had opted for a stretching route, with a loop or two craftily added to the original recce; even HE was unsure at times but his innate sense of direction and a modicum of luck eventually saw the troop safely back at the Café. After our exertions - thank you Rod, the cardiologist’s invoice will follow- the beer tasted even sweeter than normal: were those hills steep? In fairness, we were duly warned, so perhaps we should not complain too loudly.
Our new Masonic Grand Mistress striding into what looked innocuous enough, but not for long…
The river crossings were mildly entertaining and we did learn some fluent Belgian.
Wet water!
Some slopes, however, were another thing; in some instance(s) we encountered about 37 of the 76 known species of thorns in the Algarve along the 1-in-3 section, soon to be followed by the other 39 species on the remaining 1-in-4 section… Lindsey could have told us all about them but she had a note from her Mum excusing her PE for this walk.
How the group clambered up without any turned ankles is remarkable!
As usual, there were many minor points of discussion that might have merited inclusion in the Blog but discretion being the better part of valour, this Blogueur had to turn a deaf ear to an animated, and lengthy, exchange among the Gang of 4 + 1 about ‘quality vs quantity’; on a Leap Year Day, mark you! We may be enlightened on the next such occurence?
The clear weather had encouraged several Walkers to bring their cameras and an avalanche of good pictures clogged up the Sapo line to Algoz: all cannot be included but they will be saved and properly archived; watch this space if we should suffer a dull day. Thank you all for your contributions, they are truly appreciated!
The Starters:
John H, Terry A, David, Antje, Paul, Alex, Janet, part of Terry M, Liz, Tina, Myriam, Yves, Ingrid, Chris, Dina, Frank, Rod, Ian.
The wolfpack:
Sasha, Tiggy, Rusty, Misty, Shelley, Rosie.
The route:
The stats: or a combination thereof
Total Distance: 14,72 km
Total Time: 5 hrs 04 min
Moving Time: 3 hrs 58 min.
Overall Avg. 2.9 km/hr
Moving Avg. 3.7 km/hr
Total Ascent: 629 m.
Max Elevation: 397 m.
The Leader:
The Leader’s Report:
Well at least there were plenty for them to choose from...the men outnumbered them 10-8 for once!! And so we set off from Alferce on yet another warm and sunny day... It is difficult to go anywhere but up or down from Alferce so on this occasion we went down...and down right to the bottom of the Ribeira de Monchique valley. Crossing the river was no real challenge in the absence of rain for so many months, but even so there were a number of foot-fussy folk who needed a pause to dry their toes. We started ascending the other side before the possibility of a second crossing; that was indeed fortunate as somewhere at that point the foul-smelling effluent from a pig farm way above made the stream distinctly undesirable. So we wound our way ever upwards through open spaces with dramatic views of the the Monchique Serra over the valley (framed, of course, by inevitable pylons, and soon to be spoiled yet further by the proposed feldspar mine!) and then through cool shady eucalyptus groves. With the top of the ridge still someway above but at least in sight, we swung off on to a contour track for a while. This seemed to lead nowhere except for an apparently licensed but fortunately unoccupied beehive zone, and right at the end we set off up a narrow track...well, it might have been a track 2 or 3 years ago but since then used only, it seems, by javali! A few muted oaths and moans could be heard as we struggled up though tight and thorny undergrowth but nothing verging on mutiny! At last the top of the ridge was reached and we set off along the relatively level ridge-top track; at least level for a while until we ascended once again to the Montinho trig-point: the high point of the watershed ridge dividing the Monchique and Odelouca river valleys. There we stopped for lunch looking directly across the valley towards the Picota massif, a glimpse of the coast to the south and the hills dividing the Algarve from the Alentejo to the north.
Then we set off northwards back along the ridge track and crossed the Monchique to S. Marcos road following a track that swung round westwards along the ridge. From this winding track mostly through eucalyptus plantations, there were intermittent views back down the valley or over rolling hills to the north.
After 3 or 4 kms the track descended sharply back down towards the Monchique River which we crossed at the point where the Monchique-S.Marcos crosses it as well. We crossed the road and immediately ascended up a dirt track towards Alferce.
This was a green and shady track through medronho and cork trees winding slowly upwards until it came to an abrupt end amongst a few cork trees. Progress had to be up a very steep slope through cork oaks until we reached a farm at the top.
From here it was an easy walk back to the village and to much needed refreshment at the Café Caixinha.
Well ladies, you had your chance...the next time February 29th falls on a Wednesday is in 2050, see you there!!!
Life’s ups and downs…
Tina can walk on water Ingrid cannot…
Andante, con brio;
Andante, ma non troppo;
Andante, moderato;
Adagio…
Through the blossoms, and upwards to live life on the edge:
Some hills were an experience not to be missed, said Rod, the Fibber… The Tilley hats tell the truth:
But the views were richly deserved:
Trig-point and re-orientation:
The down before the next up:
And so, to beer…
Gourmet corner, by popular demand:
Plat du Jour named after the famous Roman general Tittus Gallicus and his lieutenant Chorus Palmus, both well-seasoned characters with a hint of sharpness and yet so tender...
Pour le déssert: Jam sponge-cake servi avec custard chaud, s’il vous plait…
That’s all, folks! Barring the caption competition (John’s choice of picture!): submissions on a postcard (if the technicalities are too much) to the Blogueur, merci!
(May I say now that it has been extremely nice to know you all; when the Present Mrs. Blogueur sees this, my days will be numbered on one hand…)
‘Fortune favours those who dare, but the meek shall inherit the earth they walk on…’ (Anon.)
Caption Competition:
ReplyDeleteYves: "Has anyone got a green shirt for next weekend?"