Six River Crossings:Three Wet Feet (of those with only 2 feet)

This walk was planned as one of two Halves: some might question the planning as how could there be any more or less than 2 halves.. It was supposed to be 18 km with the front 9 being a hill course and the back 9 being on the flat with a number of water hazards.

However the heat caused it to be reduced to only 16 ( and that was sufficient) and the water mainly evaporated.

We had 18 walkers and 2 dogs for the start on 11th October 2017.

John H, Ken, Rose, Bica ( 4 feet), Terry, Juliana, Penny,  John D, Ros, Frank M, Jim H, Jill, Java (4 feet and hiding), Linda, Charles, John, Russ, Roger, Sue and Miriam (who was plastered)

We all met at Fonte Felipe which is the source of the Merces river and is the only stream in the area which has water all year round. This was the cause of the  wet feet later in the day.

There is considerable wildlife in the area, and eagles, otters, etc have been seen on my walks. However it was the vultures which were circling prior to the start and swooping on the cake which surprised everyone. The green vulture had obviously had more than his share of the spoils, but the one in the mauve was not getting a look in.

We had 2 visitors for the walk. Juliana and John were holidaying in the area and had asked to join us for the day to get some exercise.

And we were off. After 300m we hit the first slope and it was asked “ is this the steep –hard section that was mentioned on the plan?” John H replied with a sigh Noooo!

The front walkers were told to follow the trail and stop “ at the shade just to the left of the road signs”. The leader led from the back and half an hour later came upon them huddled next to the road signs, basking in the morning sun. The tail enders and the leader walked passed them and stopped in the cool shade 50m further on.

We pushed on down the path and crossed the dry river and then walked along it for a short distance.

Then we came to the “relatively” hard section as John had said I described it. I set them a challenge. I advised that I had got to the top of the section in 13 mins without stopping, and they would know when they had reached the top when the found the big stone slab on which they could rest and take in the view over Querenca.

They were off.

When I got there, Russ confirmed it was an easy 13 mins.

Then not that much later Rose appeared over the crest: triumphant. She cannot understand my funny accent. She was elated that she had done it in less than the advised 30mins.

There was a pause, drink, long breaths and re-group. You can see how happy Rose was to have done it in less than 30 mins and I did not have the heart to tell her.

So it was another half hour to the top of the Black Hill (Cerro dos Negros). In the Loule website it advises that it is 402m elevation, but John H assures me that it was 408m based on his “device”  and we all felt that it was a lot higher than either figure.

The view was spectacular

We took the required photo to show that we had reached the trig point at the very top.

However, whoever took it either had still not got their breathing under control from the hike to the top or the rarefied altitude affected the lens and it is blurred. Also it is a horrible photo of the walk leader. He does not suit that shade of green

So I have attached a better one at the top of Cerro dos Negros from September 2009. There will be a prize of a cup of coffee and some sort of cake, for the winner who can identify all the participants and adds them to the blog comments: The prize can be collected the next time we pass Casa McEwan on an AWW walk. You obviously have to identify the cameraman as well or provide some sort of proof that it was time lapse, if they had in those days.

They were told that it was downhill all the way back to Fonte Felipe for the lunch stop. So they were off and no matter how fast  I went I could not catch up. So near the next signpost I just had to take a rest.

Then it was the water obstacle

All but two two footed participants made it over dry, even the one who was plastered was fine. But she has support from her Beau. And did Bica care?

Bica was just gazing vacantly into the stream and  thinking about getting home and settling down on the terrace with a glass of his good red wine.

I will leave it to you to guess who just ploughed straight through the stream so that they might get a candid photo:  and who hit the water with their trailing right foot, just as she / he thought that they had cleared the hurdle

Some thought that the few metres from the stream back up to the path were harder than the section up to Cerro dos Negros

However in the shade it was just a short walk to lunch.

Lunch today was a posh affair. Proper tables and seats. None of these sinister tripod “War of the Worlds” affairs that appeared and stalked us in the wilds north east of Silves the previous week.

After lunch we said farewell to those who were only doing the hard bit and did not want to stay on for the gentle wander along the valley.

Replenished and with more water taken on, we departed the cool shade of the fonte to continue our journey

We tried not to disturb those who were still eating as we made our way along the valley

We wandered through the valleys: negotiated another 3 dry river crossings: and visited several other local fontes, There is even a posted walk in Amendoeira of the fontes in the area.

We passed through the village of Amendoeira where “not a creature was stirring” except from the giant slavering dogs who were trying to get through rather than over the gates. We survived and walked on down the path back to our final visit to Fonte Felipe.

Finally we took all the cars except one (who got lost but eventually found us) round the corner to Cafe Mateus in the village for a well earned drink.

Statistics

Temperature: warm

Distance: 15.4 kms.

Total time: 4 hours 45 mins:

Total ascent: 532 metres:

Maximum altitude: 408 metres:

Lunch break: 27 minutes (excellent). According to John H – not sure if his lunch was excellent or the extended time for lunch.

Frank M (11/10/2017)

AWW 4th October 2017: A Shambles Behind Silves

Recent research into the physiological basis of fatigue has defined that condition as physical and/or mental weariness resulting from exertion, that is, an inability to continue excercise at the same intensity with a resultant deterioration in performance. (Acknowledgements to Evans W.J. &  Lambert C.P. of the Nutrition, Metabolism, and Exercise Laboratory, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System, Little Rock , Arkansas 72205, USA.)

I know what they are getting at but, rather than reproduce some dull academic speak dealing with general disorientation and performance-related disintegration, this blogger would prefer to plump for the simple, unvarnished tale of a true cock-up.

It had all started pretty well. 18  had signed up for the  walk from Café Elias, but then 2 dropped out – Hazel with problems with her water works (garden irrigation pump) and Yves succumbing to a severe attack of the lurgi. However, two understudies who had turned up unexpectedly were available  – Frank to play the rôle of Hazel and Janet that of Yves. So that was all good.

Jim Brownlow, who had volunteered his brother Alec for the walk, agreed to take the Starter photograph. He thought at first that the camera was a sophisticated Apple device operated by fingerprint ID……

……but he eventually got the hang of it.

The Starters

From the left:

Russell, Val, Linda, Terry, Jill, Hazel (Frank), Sue, Jim, Jan, JohnD Rose, Alec Brownlow, Maria, Miriam, Ingrid, Yves (Janet), Ken, and JohnH, plus Java and Bica.

The first bit was a straightforward march along the canal heading west towards Encherim/Silves. As we neared Encherim, a group of 5 women wearing long-flowing robes and carrying large stacks of grasses on their shoulders emerged from the orange groves amd onto the path in front of us and then just vanished. Was it a mirage?

This was at the point where the canal plunges undergound at a cliff edge and then emerges some 250 metres further on at the top of another cliff and then runs along through the back streets of Encherim. This map indcates the gap between the two lengths of canal (shown in yellow).

     Mind the gap

and this shows where the canal reappears from underground in Encherim:-

We didn´t go there but swung north. A local resident looked on as we began to tackle the first big hill of the day.

Some found the climb  easier than others.

At the top, the Leader began to have the colley-wobbles. Anyway, we successfully negotiated a previously unreccced downward path in the general direction of the São Marcos road and then paused to take advantage of some relative shade for an early lunch.

JohnD took his ease on a bit of gear which looked suspiciously like some of the Phoenecian tripods (purpose unknown) of the late Bronze Age – early Iron Age (circa 9th/8th Century BC) recently excavated in Iberia which the Algarve Archaeological Association had been told about the previous evening.

JohnD representing the proto-Aluminium Age.

Lunch break over, Terry, Jill and Val left us to go to the Café Pára e Fica for their transport back to base as previously arranged, and with them went Ingrid and Janet as well, very sensibly in view of the increasing heat.

The remaining 13 then headed eastwards along the Aguas Bélas valley. Half way along, we had by then done a total of 12 kms. The easier option at this stage would have been to continue east and then gently home, but the Leader had promised some more hills in the afternoon, so we swung to the right and uphill. That was the first mistake. Thanks to the application of some cold compresses provided by Rose, the Leader managed the ascent, but shortly afterwards he “lost it” totally. He doubled back. Second mistake – he should have gone on.

Sense of direction- gone. Confidence – gone. Ability to think straight – all gone.  All cats are grey at night, they say; similarily, all hill paths can look the same at high noon. The group discipline was exemplary, however, and, working as one, they found a somewhat overgrown tracklet leading downwards to a valley. With Hash House Harrier calls of “On, On “ and “On Down” to guide us, we scrambled down to reach a clearly marked path which the Leader thought he recognised; he opted to turn south. Third mistake – he should have gone east. And now he really was lagging behind the mian group.

Now,obviously, none of this was very good for the purposes of doing a blog because, unless the blogger is in the midst of the group, he can´t catch the off-the–cuff witticisms and snatches of gossip, or take the revealing snapshots, which can add spice to the narrative.  The camera was pretty much forgotten.

I think that what happened next was that 7 fit walkers had the sense to realise that they were near the canal again and so took that route back to Café Elias while the other 5 stayed to escort the by now ex-Leader along to Encherim from where they picked up by car and returned to base – thanks to Ken and Jim for that. Thanks also to Russell and Linda who ensured that I didn´t forget to drink and that I kept putting one foot in front of another. My morale was considerably boosted by Russell´s reassurance that he had been trained not to leave any bodies behind.

Back at the Café, probably an hour behind schedule, a considerable amount of liquid was being downed by all and, given all the extra consumption, the owners kindly laid on some tapas. My thanks to Dr McEwan for prescribing an ice-pack massage and to Auxiliary Nurse Maria for applying same.

Jan did sterling work deputising for Ros in the cash collection and making, reportedly, a record profit. 

Apologies to those who got landed with a longer day than they had expected.

AWW 20. 09.17 Salir

Season 2017 - 18.

20th September. Salir in the Round - Enlarged.

After a very hot summer, the weather had at last turned a little cooler, but an 09.00 start was still considered advisable, so that is what happened. A party of 14 gathered at the Cafe Opcao in Salir, viz:

Miriam, Ken, Ros, Jim H., Gill, Jim L., Pam, Nick, Yves, Rose, Jan, Roger, Sue M., and David. Only Bica from the four-legged brigade was on hand to start the new season.

    You´ll have to grow a bit, Pam!

After much meeting and greeting and waiting - for Yves, inevitably - we left the cafe to walk through Salir up to the Church, whose door was open as we passed - the first time I have ever seen it so. From there it was down the travessa and out of town along the road to the cemetery - Jan could have had an extra half hour in bed had she known we were walking to within a stone´s throw of her house. The cemetery being rather quiet we didn´t linger, but descended to Ponte de Salir, past the Satori HQ with it´s striking mural depicting various singing superstars, and up the steep hill to Covoes. David recounted the sad story of an abandoned dying horse he had encountered on the recce the previous week.

Leaving the village to the right, we followed the farm track that contours above Lagoa da Nave and Nave do Barao. A hunter´s pond at the far end gave Bica much delight, and provided an excuse for a stop.

    Lemmegerrarrem!

    ´And then this huge cloud of killer moths came out of nowhere......´

From there we climbed up to the track that connects Covoes with Portela da Nave.  Here Pam and Nick departed,as Pam is nursing a poorly foot, and did not want to make it any worse. David met his firewood supplier on the way and put in his order for the winter. Again skirting the houses, we next headed downhill, through Funcheira and across the valley to Almarginho. Here we stopped to admire what is regarded as one of the oldest trees in the country, a huge double-trunked alfarrobeira which was first discovered for the group by Paul and Myriam some years ago.

                                     Beats watching paint dry...

Crossing the next low-lying section, we were surprised to find running water, a spring which is clearly surviving the severe drought. This stretch brought us across the stream to the track leading to the N124. Crossing the main road, we walked through Alcaria and along the rough heath track towards the minor road that wanders along the hillside above the Salir valley. Lunch was taken just before reaching said road, in a pleasant grove of trees. Jan was practising her pose for the next photo-shoot:

                                Just one more dear.....that´s lovely

Then it was some more tarmac as we took to the road, the route relieved by the various hamlets we passed through on the way. At Pe da Serra (no, not that one, the other one....the one at the bottom of the hill....) we discovered the last relic of a long-forgotten dispute, in which two of our number appear to be implicated. In the words of an old Yorkshireman (not so much of the old, thank you) ´It wor a reight queer do. Nobdy knew which on ´em rightly oned it. Wether it wor Jim up yonder or Jim ovver theer. So they put that theer marker up an left ´em to soort it aat. It looks as if peace ´as brokken aat onny rooard´.

    Just wait till that camera´s gone......

In the increasing heat, we moved on, eventually reaching the steady climb to the saddle above the home of one T. Ames esq. Descending thereto,we roused said gentleman from his afternoon slumber, engaging in pleasant discourse whilst soliciting fresh supplies of potable water (who writes this trash?)
Then it was forward again, across the shallow valley and onto the road leading back into Salir. At this point, the leader mistakenly offered a choice between a further pleasant stroll across country, to come up to the bar from the south, or a somewhat more direct march along the tarmac back into the town. The second alternative was unanimously chosen, so that´s what we did. Drinks at the Opcao were more than usually welcome, and all were keenly aware that they had a) been on a walk, and b) (the majority) not been on enough walks recently. And it really was rather warm.

Stats:  Distance around 18.5k

           Time:  Around 5.5 hours

           Ascent around 600m

           Average slope around 5.9%

More super stills from Yves..

    Three Roses and a Thistle.

                     Oh lord, upside down again....

ZIP-A-DEE- DOO-DAH.

Zip a dee doo Dah, Zip a dee a. My oh my, What a Wonderful Day.

On the last last walk of the season, 13 turned up to walk, 15 for lunch with 14 intending to do the zipwire. The planned numbers were like a Yo-Yo (the  toy not the biscuit)

At the start

Walkers were Ros, Alex (co-opted neighbour)Frank M, Lorna ( no intention of Zipping), Rose, Jan, Roger, Trish, Barry (John O’s grandson)Richard, Maria and Hazel. David was the photographer.

Also not in photo were Janice and John (my neighbours) who were co-opted to make up the numbers booked for the zipwire. they joined us at the end of the walking section.

The walk, as I had planned was very gentle: only 8km and very little hills. We meandered along beside the river Guadiana and then over a little saddle down to the small barragem to irrigate the fields in the valley.

The leader was a little confused on the route to be followed but Jan had been following the “masking tape” trail sign and brought us back on track.

It was warm, but Jan led us at a good pace: I am told that her pedometer registered twice as many steps as some others. I can understand that.

However at times, she relented and we all crowded in the little shade available

In about 1 1/2 hrs we were back down to the little river that flows from the barragem down to Guadiana. It is dry at this time of the year, but as it is our recent custom  we stopped as one of our walkers needed a short rest and to take on some water, due to the heat.

Then it was round the corner and we reached the “Praia Fluvia de Alcoutim”

We took on some sustenance before our sea voyage across the tidal Guadiana. One of our number could not stop herself jumping into the river fully clothed and with her hat on. I would not say that she thought that it was a trig point that was upside down and full of water.

It was very relaxing at this point. But if Hazel was drinking water, and Rose could hold her beer at this time, despite thinking about the zipwire, then whose was the other beer on the table? Or was Rose just fortifying herself for the trip?

Didn’t they look happy and relaxed. You would not think that some were terrified at the prospect of having lunch twice. Once in Spain and then potentially on the way back to Alcoutim.

Then it was up and away and via the police box and the ferry we travelled back in time for  our Tapas lunch in Sanluca de Guadiana, as arranged by Jan.

Everyone was grateful that we went up the hill to the launchpad, for the zipwire, by car rather than having to walk. However some were not grateful that we went up the hill at all.

Then there were the screams.

There were some who found it exhilarating: There were a few who did not make it back on the zipwire:

However we all enjoyed the day and the last walk of the season.

Technical Details

The walk was 9.2km and we we ascended approx 255m.

The zipwire was 750m

Frank M