A short walk to start the season....around Messines to Funcho

 A short walk to start the season and that means a short blog !

From east and west they met at O Momento in Messines on a cloudy, close morning. Lots of chatter but the13 walkers and 2 dogs lined up dutifully for the photo. Names not necessary , we all know who's who.

 Although the walk would be west of Messines the first loop took us due east on a flat track past some lush greenery .

A teeny little slope having safely negotiated 2 roundabouts. Single file, very well behaved at this point.

 Back in Messines the leader forced a stop to look at the sandstone carving and tools used in the past. Some poetry from João de Deus  was studied and attempts made to translate it.

 Then it was uphill towards Penedo Grande and the wiggely little back streets and alleyways of the town.

We stopped to look at the poet's birthplace and 3 walkers stopped altogether and made their way back through town to their cars - or perhaps they fancied lunch at O Momento ?

 Now heading west we followed the railway until we could go through the tunnel and up the hill to .....

...to the Santa Ana chapel ( murmerings in Messines that it may be restored and reroofed one of these days ) and the lovely tiled picture of the Battle of Santa Ana in 1834.

Lunch in the shade  - Toby had already had his on the way up.

Uphill from the chapel and then down towards the top end of Barragem Funcho. 

At a fork the rights on the right had it and we walked a longer loop to join the road back to  Intermarché in Messines. 

Some were so revived by their drinks that they went off to play the Volta machine, others found their drinks rather smaller than usual and Martin went AWOL looking for books in a charity shop . That was the last we saw of him.

Walk was about 14kms, elevation 165m....Plus 1.6k through Messines to the cars.

Thanks to all who came and great to have our photographer with us again.

ps. Martin sent apologies - accepted and he's still allowed to walk with us.

Ros

 

AWW End of 2026 winter season and lunch
June 10th 2026
Exploring the Paderne Countryside

On a beautiful June morning a hardy crew of walkers met in Paderne to celebrate the end of our Winter season of walks with a short 8km hike around Paderne before a group lunch in Moiras Encantadas.

After a early coffee and catch up chat we assembled in the usual place for a group photo:

From left: Steve C, Ken, Steve S, Tim, Sue, Karen, Jan, Christine, Richard, Margaret, Statue, Miriam, Julie, Linda, Russ, Tony and Martin with our doggie friends Bica and Toby.

We then setoff along the approach road to the Algibre river valley and the first of our river crossings:

Some uppy downy countryside and a nice spot of shade under the A22 motorway we arrived at our second water crossing but with a low gate to navigate first. This weir crossing forced a wet feet or no wet feet decision and the well planned walkers changed into their water shoes!

After a quick water stop we then turned left to walk along the narrow riverbank trail till we reached the scenic Roman Bridge for another rest stop and photo opportunity...

One of our walkers opted for a very Islamic looking head scarf!

We then continued to circle around Paderne castle before dropping down under the A22 again and make our way to the car park for a rapid change of costume and a lovely lunch.

Martin

My thanks to Martin for leading the walk and the blog so far, I'll add my tuppence! He was too kind to mention that both Ken & I were nursing injuries : I did tag along for about a kilometer, but decided that a gossip with Ken and another cup of coffee was a better option. We then  rashly decided to drive to   the fort, open on wednesdays, only to get there and find it closed!

BTW, no one has yet explained what the holes in the outside of the walls were for....ideas anyone please?

We passed the walkers on our way back, getting a quick flash from Jan that was too quick to get the camera out for. Back for a Sagres and catch up with Eileen before  everyone returned.

Our resident photograper Alan apologises for the rosy hue of the lunch photos : due to bright sun shining through the parasols he reckons, anyway, yertis:

Lunch was the usual very good quality.....with soup as well!......it was good that they could take us: it was a National Holiday ( explains why castle was shut!).

Some earnest chats....

And then I tried to send all to sleep with a few brief words:

I remembered to thank ( or hope I did)   Jan for organising, Martin for the walk, the various mesdames kitty. The prizes for the most walks went to Ros and for most Leading to Linda &  Toby. Having let it be known that I neither wanted nor expected anything, Julie then presented me with some lovely wine. Thanks!

In conclusion,  2026 is the 30th anniversary of the AWW . It looks to be going strong, still.

Geoff

Praia da Luz to Praia das Cabanas ..... What there and back !!!

 The Walk commenced on the promenade of Praia da Luz at 8:30 in the morning and everybody arrived at cafe Lazuli on time for the walk to start as advertised.

It was an early start but the heat of the previous few days had convinced us that we needed to start early in order to avoid the later heat. It was however never too hot as it was very breezy and on the top of the cliffs quite windy so we were very lucky with the weather. A perfect day for walking in fact.

A group picture was taken of 11 of us who commenced with Roz going to join us later by driving to Burgau to meet us there. Geoff stood in fofr alan to take the startr photo and triued to walk with us, but a gammy knee meant he had to go back for a coffee with a promise to meet up in Luz.

The walk commenced along the promenade at Luz  :

and turned right with the Fortaleza (now a restaurant ) on our left and the church on our right before we turned left again and continued along and out of Luz onto the cliffs.

It really is a very beautiful walk as it continues along the cliffs with the shimmering sea on our left .

We walked to the fishing village of Burgau some  5 1/2 km away from Luz where we met up with Roz  and Geoff who had also gone there to meet us.

Burgau is another beautiful tourist village with its sandy  beach. We passed through its narrow streets which still retains very much of the old Algarvian character not withstanding its growing popularity.

It was originally a fishing village and still has its boats although not so much fishing now takes place. Geoff decided another cup of coffee was in order....before driving on to Cabanas.

We continued up the paved road  for a few hundred metres before rejoining the cliffs above Burgau....

Have we got to climb that?

Well, we did it...

.... and walked on to  Praia das Cabanas....the Rambos first...

Follwed by the wimps...

 The small and very pretty sandy beach there has a café/restaurant and also a few trees where we sheltered and had our lunch 

Some of us took advantage of having a drink and went to the café.

I had  a coffee but as the café only functions during the summer and in order to make a profit the charge of €4 a coffee was considerable, and shocked some of the the walkers who thought it was disproportionate.

We sang Happy Birthday to Tim, a mere 75 today...

Whilst the group had been quite dispersed on its walk to Praia das Cabanas due to the differing speeds and terrain on our return the walk splintered.

The walk was advertised as not hilly but there were clearly one or two hills to contend with which separated the slower and faster walkers.

 Due to some people wishing to get back earlier 5 left  earlier than the main group of 7.

 I was part of the seven. Whilst I have been a member of the AWW group I have never known a situation where we ended up with 2 groups but I do believe it worked for everybody.

                                                                       The Leader, Bruce

No doubt it’s a sign of the times where people take different views and rigidly hold to them so we are very much à la mode. Anyway I hope so.

Whilst we returned by the same way we came it was of course very different returning going east rather than west and seeing the views from the opposite direction.

On returning to Burgau Steve and Margaret took us down some  steps which took us into the village which meant that we did not go onto the road into Burgau

Sue decided she had enough and went back with Geoff to meet us at Luz. and we now 6 of merry women and men continued.

My Wikilocs showed that we’re done less than 16 km but I’m not sure if that is correct.

Either way we arrived back at Lazuli happy and well.

I had wanted to go on to Boca do Rio but Tim had assured me that none of us were getting any younger and this was quite enough.

I think he was right and we all had had enough by the end.

I think the photographs show the beauty of this western coastline and I thank  all those who came very much and I hope you enjoyed it.

Bruce...thanks to Tim & Geoff for photos