AWW 14 June 2017 : Funcho and Lunch

AWW: end of Term Walk & Lunch, 14 June 2017

(or, really, End of Season 2016/2017).

Sue and I aren’t usually out here in June, so took up the challenge of organising this event. The 33C+ temperatures of last week’s walk were rather daunting, but fortunately the clouds arrived, the temperature dropped ( to only low 20s ) and I advanced the start  time by another half hour to 0900.

Sue actually remembered her boots and stick this week, though had to pop back to the house for her socks, so the omens were looking good.

10 brave Walkers arrived at the Casa de Vinho in Fuzeiros  for an early coffee ( much cheaper than last week’s!), though the prompt start was deferred by looking at the mesmeric news on the TV about the London Tower block fire.

L to R : Pat, Sue M, Frank, Hazel, Jan, Rose, John, Sue H, Geoff

Kneeling : Ros

No 4 legged friends.

We started off with a half hour or so of undulating hills : enough to get the heart pumping  a bit, but flat as a pancake compared to last week’s trials. En route, we passed a few of John & Jan’s native flowers:

 

We soon arrived at the Barragem de Funcho , one that Frank knew well from his Via Algarviana marathon, but getting the ladies to stop gossiping and look at the camera proved difficult:

The Barrage seemed quite full, and there was no sign of the submerged ruins, sometimes visible in a drought:
 

Our walk back was largely uneventful, apart from spotting some unsightly ordure:

Why, oh why, do people drive into the delightful countryside to do this?

Geologists amongst us might ponder the ancient upheaval that caused this rock to shift almost 90 degrees in a couple of yards:

We also passed evidence of a recent cork harvest:

and some local fauna ( a relative of  an AWW blogeur from the not-too-distant past ?):

We passed the  snail farm and revamped O Gralha restaurant, now closed on a Wednesday, but looking promising for a future luncheon base.

The ladies then shamed the gents, as they often do, by changing into more suitable lunch attire ( they do practice at Ladies who Lunch, of course) : here is Jan, rarely seen in a dress :

and a particularly elegant Hazel, fresh from a month of celebrating a milestone birthday:

         

We were joined by David, Antje and Chris for lunch...but shared our drinks with the local art class, practising their watercolour skills.

Lunch followed in the downstairs restaurant, to general acclaim at good value for 8.5€, even if there was quite a bit of furniture moving to swap benches for seats :

Cheers!

I was a bit concerned about how many places would be laid....Ros had initially booked 20-30 , but no one seemed to make a note of day etc.....I booked for 10 a couple of days earlier and gave them a note with date/time on it ; that morning, Ros had upped it to 13 in her best Portuguese......so, would there be 10, 23, 33 or ?.....anyway the answer was 11 for some strange reason , so we  just added 2 more. 

No one had bothered with walk-tracking devices, but I reckon 2.5 hours at a goodish pace meant 10km.

Great walking weather ( 10C less than last week is almost 20 degrees in old money), great company, good lunch.

Thanks to all who came.....look forward to 2017/2018, what a thought!

Geoff

PS It's a tradition to end an AWW blog with an erudite quotation....so here's two contradictory ones, take your pick as to which is most appropriate:

“The object of walking is to relax the mind. You should therefore not permit yourself even to think while you walk. But divert your attention by the objects surrounding you.” Thomas Jefferson.

“All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking."  Nietzsche

PS
This is my first attempt at the AWW blog : many thanks to John & David for help and patience...I seem to have arrived at the destination without really knowing how, so apologies in advance for strange layout in places/any errors and ommissions....and, sorry Yves, couldn't resist it!
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