AWW 13.06.2012: Levada Ladies´ Excuse Me; or Whaur´s the Drambuie?

 

The run-up to this mini-expedition became somewhat complicated for the Leader just after it was publicised, first because the local wire thieves struck yet again removing landline and internet communication from Torre e Cercas for maybe the fifth time in the past two months; and secondly, having said that there would be water in the levada for dogs, he found when doing a mini-recce (yes, there are such possibilities)  three days before start that the levy was dry. (Cue Don Maclean and American Pie). All warnings had to be routed through the long-suffering Janet. However just in time, communications were restored and a message of encouragement was received from Tina:

Dear John,

Would you like us to bring some cable back from B&Q for you? Have a great walk everyone, just to let you know it is p……….. down here in UK, we are losing friends as it started when we got back!!!! Love to all

Tina xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Thank,Tina, either that, or a job lot of optic fibre, please. Weather here is fine!!!!  And someone´s phone call to Aguas Algarve clearly had had an effect because when we walked the levada was full with a brisk current. For a small walk there was a remarkable amount of enthusiasm: Lindsey came expecting a geocaching exercise with a bottle of the golden liqueur Drambuie as a prize: Maria arrived at Restaurante Mira Rio a whole hour before kick-off: and Marian Hall, after holidaying on the Canal du Midi in Bordeaux, found all trains south were on strike and flew up to Paris on Tuesday and then down to Faro just to be with us. The male: female imbalance was always going to be there, but at the last minute, Bob,Alfie and Amos all had to cry off because of mechanical problems, so the men were even more heavily out-numbered than usual, as can be seen in the pic.

The Starters

Ladies: Marion, Célianne, Maria, Lindsey, Janet, Hilke, and Ingrid.

Males:  JohnO, JohnH (Leader), and Harry the dog.

The Track (click to enlarge)

We set off promptly at 9 a.m.and were soon moving along the levada footpath.  Some snakes were spotted in the comparatively strong current - “water snakes” was one opinion. I thought however that they were not waving, but drowning. But our resident herpetologist (Janet) had forgotten to bring her Observer´s Pocket Book of Portuguese Snakes with her, so identification was not possible. The walk in the shade along the levada to Ilha do Rosario provided good views of Rio Odelouca at high tide.

The customary group photo by the Ilha at the confluence of the Rios Odelouca and Arade was taken where we were puzzled by the three-sided marker stone which indicated that Silves was 16 km away. As the crow flies, Ilha to Silves Castle is only 4.46 km, according to Google Earth.

A short stroll further along and we turned left from  the levada into Cottage Road where we examined a strangely-roofed armazém, purpose uncertain.

Then upwards towards Ben Drambuie, Lindsey getting quite excited by now. However, the Leader had a trick up his sleeve and half way up we veered left again and descended through the central valley and moved north before climbing gently up to the view back over Miro Rio, whence we had come. 

It was about this spot that Célianne was overcome with mirth at some risqué remark by Ingrid, who it seemed had just received a call on her mobile from her dress designer in Dublin (as one does), and asked me to record and blog it. Malheureusement, my scrap of paper has disappeared in the wash and my innate discretion precludes me from any attempt to reconstruct the remark. On such mischances, priceless moments in history pass forever from our ken.

Bananas consumed and Harry watered, we made a quarter circle round to the east until the Leader recognised a marker tree and pointed the way down.

Down that way

And so down the group obediently went…….

…. until the Leader called a halt at the precipice just above the Falacho Rehabilitation Centre and said he thought there should an easier way down if we went off piste and traversed to the right through some prickly scrub. This caused Hilke to put on some body armour –protective leggings, or greaves,in armourer terminology (Mike Pease would call them ocreae.)

Hilke before                                                     and after

Marian and Maria between them managed to locate the expected but unrecce-ed path and we soon got down to Clube Road without great difficulty.

Then we admired the flora as we meandered by track and levada pathway to the gates of Clube Nautico where by common consent we spurned the temptations of its bar, and instead immediately began our ascent of the east face of Ben Drambuie.

Pause before the final assault

On the summit at last, good views were obtained of Silves to the east and Portimão to the west.

There is no trig point up there, but there is a pylon with intriguing signage – RSFGC 2008. Could this be evidence of the historic 2008 expedition to these parts sponsored by the Royal Society For Geo-Caching? Who knows?

Here  Hilke stripped off the body armour  but in her haste to get into the group photo…….

…….left one half on the ground. She went back next day, succeeded in recovering it, but still even then failed to unearth the mythical bottle of golden nectar.

It was now 11.30 a.m., the hour by which the Leader had originally reckoned we should have been back at Mira Rio, but it was a fine day with a cooling breeze and we were in truth in no great hurry. We made our way back down to the cottage on the levada where one of Maurice´s signs was spotted.

Then we ambled back diverting ourselves with photography of debris floating along in the  levada current.

Back at Mira Rio just after 12 noon, the male compliment received a welcome boost from the presence of Rod Frew and Ian Scott (with Maddie) who had decided to talk the talk rather than walk.

And that was it; at time or writing, it looks as if this was the last walk of the season. Always good to finish with an easy one.

Historical Footnote

The hill is nicknamed Ben Drambuie in honour of a band of itinerant distillers called  Mackinnon “come down from the Isle of Skye” who settled in that area in the early 20th Century. The Portuguese name for it is Cerro da Rocha Branco (White Rock Hillock), not quite so evocative.

And of course we cannot – must not -  forget

The Statistics (courtesy Ingrid) 

Moving time 2 h 24 m:  Total time 3 h 01 m
Moving avg 4.2 km/h: Overall avg 3.4 km/h
Total ascent 195 m: max elev. 265 m
Distance 10.2 km.

Just as well we made it over the 10 km mark; I believe that under sub-committee rules, anything less than 10 clicks does not count as an AWW.