Mesopotamia or Between Two Rivers. 11th February 2026

 At last a day with little or no rain forecast! Yay, we're walking!  Why between 2 rivers? Because we were walking between (or along) the Bengado and the Alportel.

A great start. there were nine of us, old enough to know better but daft enough to not care.  The coffee was not so great.  It was like the coffee had been introduced to the hot milk at a genteel tea dance and they were not yet well aquainted.  AWW members should ask Martin about the gloved hand!!  I, of course, didn't understand any of the other meanings behind the actions and explanations as my mind is as pure as the driven snow.

The happy walkers at the cafe.

L .R Steve, Peter, Linda, Toby, Karen, Julie, Sue, Geoff, Martin  Tony behind the camera

It was all going so well for the first 3 minutes then Tony, who had recced the route, led the front walkers astray. Good job I have a reasonably loud voice, when needed.  Off down a very slippery back passage.  Nobody likes a slippery back passage but there were no accidents.  

On to a very good flat, if wet, track.

Toby made a new friend, a very handsome hound.  We should have got him to join the AWW.

Mud, mud, glorious mud.  Nothing quite like it for making your roof and floor tiles.

Well, everyone knew that there had to be an uphill out of the Bengado valley. Onward and upward.

A bit of a break on the ridge which led to a disscussion on liking or not liking it rigid. I, of course, didn't understand the other meanings behind the actions and explanations as my mind is as pure as the driven snow.

Along the ridge with the Alportel to our left behind the hills and the Bengado down in the valley to our right.   Sadly no extensive views but great company made up for that. Uppy and downy as we say on the Hash. 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.

Yes it is a f**ing caravan.  Hash joke especially for Jan who's enjoying tne sunshine in distant climes.

A very steep downhill which couldn't be avoided without crossing full streams. Everyone knows I'm not good at going down. If in doubt, ask Tony.

  Geoff and Sue took the cautious approach.     

A paws for thought Toby?

Peter looked at the very muddy up and said we had dirty minds. I replied, we'll have dirty feet.  I, of course, didn't understand as my mind is as pure as the driven snow.  Still no extensive views but interesting close-ups.

Off on a short loop down into the valley and the riverside, avoiding the hamlet with free range  chickens.  Poor Toby, spoiling his fun.   There were lots of questions about a lunch stop but we did have a place in mind.

A very convenient concrete post and a welcome break for lunch.

When shall we three meet again? In thunder, lightening or next week's walk?  We're really practising our balance.

Back along the Bengado valley and an uphill towards the N270.  The water was turning the path into a new river.

Never argue with the walk leader.

Linda demonstrates how to cross on stepping stones for when the rivers have become less swollen. Toby demonstrates the big tough boy way to cross a river.

Sue had come prepared for the weather.

You know you've been waiting for it-yes, we were going up the back passage.  I, of course, don't understand the other meanings as my mind is as pure as the driven snow. The reward, a welcome drink in the cafe.   This time the coffees were much better. More like the coffee and milk had carnal knowledge of each other.

The stats

About 13 kms
About 280 metres of climb

Walking Time about 3.5 hours

AWW Walk REPORT – 28 JANUARY 2026 – PINE TREES AND BARAGEMS

AWW Walk REPORT – 28 JANUARY 2026 – PINE TREES AND BARAGEMS

 

As we had some very heavy rain, gale force winds and reports on the news of flooding and uprooted trees from the previous night’s extreme storm I knew my original planned walk would be impassable.  Geoff contacted me and asked if we could do a different walk.  Therefore, I repeated the walk we did in November as it is at the other side of the road to the rivers, and had no official rivers, plus we could still meet at the café in Rasmalho.

Just 5 brave/crazy souls turned up at the café in Rasmalho, the rest had decided to stay safely at home. (There were some original excuses....trees down...chairs in swimming pool...even glass topped table in the pool...Ed)  We enjoyed a nice warm coffee before we headed up towards the start of the new walk.  We had all seen the gushing river flowing down from Monchique whilst driving to the café.   Julie and Tony had a slower journey than normal due to branches in the roads above Loule.

The 5 walkers: Tony, Linda, Sue, Julie, Geoff (the photographer) and Toby the dog.  Or as Julie suggested: the Enid Blyton famous five and Timmy the dog.

All was looking good as we set off in dry, mild weather with just small streams running down the side of the path.  A bit further along we started to zig zag down the valley, through the pine trees whilst admiring how full the baragems were and how the water level was almost up to the path. 

There were so many new rivers everywhere and even a small waterfall.  Of course these were all filling the small baragems.

Further along we came across our first challenge of the day.  What was a large puddle in November was now a deep flowing river as water tried to escape from the overflowing baragem.

Three of the group just waded through but Linda and Sue decided to paddle barefoot.  Luckily no one fell.

 

Just beyond the orange trees we could see in the distance a fast-flowing river coming down from Alferce.  We didn’t know there was a river there before. 

The sun was starting to come out and we were all in good spirits as we were pleased to be out in the fresh air.  So Geoff decided to take a photo and send it to Ros to show her what she was missing.

Tony took some very nice photos of the flowers.  It looked like Spring was arriving.

We headed down the valley and crossed a bridge over what is usually a trickle of a stream.  It was now a wide raging river. 

We had lunch in the derelict “Happy House”.....

 .........and sat on the dirty seats inside.  Whilst having lunch the leader decided to change the walk as she realised there would now be a river to cross further up the valley and it would be dangerous. 

 

So, after lunch we crossed back over the bridge, past the dodgy campsite and back up the hill, past all the lovely daisies again.  

Then took an alternative route back which was on higher ground with no rivers.  This worked out really well as the paths were all good.

 

Just near the end of the walk Toby the dog decided to go off into the scrubland and we spent around 10 minutes calling him and hoping he hadn’t gone down to the river below.  Luckily, he came bounding back with a happy grin on his face.

The walk was around 14kms and we completed it, including lunch, in 4 hours.

Back to the café for refreshments.

Thank you for joining me today on what turned out to be a great day for a walk.  Also thank you to Geoff and Tony for taking the photos.

Linda