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)