Easy, Peasy, Lemon Squeezy - A walk around Fonte Filipe - 27th May 2026

There was a very healthy turnout of 10 AWWalkers. I’m not sure if that was because I said it was short or easy. Seems like most AWWs prefer short and easy to long and hard in the summer. Good job it’s not a hash.

The 10 happy adventurers

From the left: Ros,Tim, Digby, Julie, Steve, Karen, Jan, Kieran and Fiona.  Tony behind the camera.

As we set off Ros pointed out that she had waited for a while in the bus shelter. Well we all know what happens in bus shelters !! I recalled when my lovely and more innocent friend Linda had asked if the ladies sitting on chairs on the N270 were waiting for a bus. Sadly I had to destroy her innocence by explaining what they were really waiting for!!

Thankfully Steve offered to help navigate and we set off down the PR11. 

Jan pointed out the beautiful thistles and explained that in Scotland they’re called pricks. I bet there are lots of pricks in Scotland

A little bit of friendly support.

It was good to be on easy tracks to start off with but then came to steeper, rockier downhill. Tim asked me to get his stick out for him and I obliged.

Across the dry river bed. 

Note the Irish bridge.

Up the road up to Almarjao Karen added some culture to the walk by pointing out the the tarmac design on the road looked like art. Very Jackson Pollock. We did have a chat about who might have added the strips. 

Up and up a bit more to Chapada where the chief navigator and myself had a discussion on shorter or longer. We opted for longer and harder. Of course, we’re the AWW. 

Nice start to the tough down and up on a wide shady track then up again

Is this the new zipwire?

Everyone knows I’m not good at going down but I was proud of myself for not crying on the steep decent. I did hold on to my stick or Tony as I usually call him.  Keiran, getting into the spirit of a hash AWW walk, asked if I’d like to hold something. Down to a small stream then up. 

Yes it was that steep!! Superstar Jan gave me a steadying push up a steep step after I lost a bit of balance and wonderful Fiona offered me a stick for the last leg of the climb.

Back down to the valley and shade. We also noticed that there was water running  We had an idea for later on the walk.  Still first of all a bit more up.

A sneaky little discussion with my co-navigator led to the first wet feet of the walk.

Through the river in the undergrowth. No piranha, crocodiles or anaconda but a short, sharp uphill to the road.

Dry footwear

Wet footwear

Along the fonte filipe road then off piste on a small track to the levada. Jan said she hadn’t been that way. What a shame. I was waiting for her to say she’d never come that way.

A pleasant lunch spot in the shade.  Great to have seating and tables. Very Civilized

Jan demonstrates her new aerobic exercisor

Just when you thought you had dry feet!  Second water crossing.  Just enjoy it. I did!!

We’re the facarwe!!  Off piste before a very piste off guy said we were on private land. And after Jan had asked him for directions in perfect Portuguese!!! He was not very helpful at all.

Back onto the right track.

A welcome and  well deserved drink. Not good enough for some though.....

Jan complained about her small glass of wine and the lovely cafe owner obliged with a bigger one.   Jan's always after a large one.

Thanks to Steve for the navigation, Steve and Tim for photographs and everyone for coming on another hot day.

The stats:

Distance:  9.9 kms

Climb:  244 m

Moving time: 2 h 22 mins

Total time.  3 h 34 mins

Two Rivers or Not two Rivers? That's the question An AWW Re-run 20th May 2026

Or could it be deja vu all over again?  It doesn't seem that long since we were at the cafe in the rain, pondering the merits of walking and avoiding river crossings.

So we had the question and the answer was, well yes and no. There were two rivers but this time we got to cross one river twice and Rafa got to paddle in the other. Also it was a little different to January’s walk as it was much warmer.

As I hadn't told the whole truth at the beginning of the walk (the ascent was actually 525 metres) I was quite relieved when the vote was to take the easier, shorter up. A much better idea really.

Don't all good walks start from bus shelters!

Left to right: Julie, Kieran, Steve, Karen, Jan, Rafa, Fiona and Martin Tony behind the camera.

And what do Burnley girls use for protection during sex? Yes, a bus shelter!! Although the offical version of that joke is girls from Wigan

As on the previous Bengado valley walk, it was all going so well for the first 3 minutes then Tony, who had been with me when we recced the route, led the front walkers astray. I managed to get everyone back on track.

Not so different to January’s walk as with with all good or terrible walks it started with negotiating or navigating down the overgrown single footpath. Very overgrown as I hadn’t had time to get the bush trimmed . The very brave and adventurous group, when they were offered a choice of wide, easy track or more of the same, chose to continue on the overgrown path and cross the puddle which had been a raging torrent in January. Off along the Bengado valley. It wasn’t the uphill out of the valley that had been recced originally but still it was up. Onward and upward.

Uppy and downy but probably more uppy.

Then.... Just what you expect on a walk in the hills, an office chair and a teenager/old ager sitting to take a selfie. Take a letter Mr Spicer. "Dear Sirs, This walk is ……. " (feel free to add your own comments). As on the January walk we missed the boundary stone marker between Sao Bras de Alportel and Santa Catarina Fonte de Bispo, but nobody complained about walking over two municipalities.

We went down to the river to pray. No, come on, not us. We went to paddle in the cool water. A bit of a change from January.

A pleasant spot for lunch.

But after lunch... Everyone knows that if you're at the valley bottom, you're going to be climbing back up.

Yes we did walk over two municipalities and it felt like it!!!

Tony is formulating his garden plans for Chelsea next year so there are lots of photos of flowers. They do look lovely though.

Shade and a welcome drink before the last short climb up my .......... shady but overgrown path.

Back at the cafe for that well deserved drink.

The all important stats:

Distance: 14.42 kms

Climb: 483 m

Moving time: 3 h 27 mins

Total time: 4 h 28 mins