I think that some of the Spirits abroad on Halloween were rather late abed, and thought the AWW walk would be a cause of a certain mischief. 17 unsuspecting souls, plus Jasper ( who presumably doesn't have one ) managed to assemble at the more civilised time of 10.00 at the O Ze, otherwise known as "The Cafe with no name & sometimes no milk" , but at 80c for a coffee, whose quibbling?...and yes, they did have milk.
Linda and Russell were AWOL back in the UK and had christened it the Cocktail Lounge , on account of the symbol outside : nothing could be further from the truth!
The owners had painted the outside a few years ago and took down the sign but never replaced it : I don't think the inside has ever been touched! Ros warned me last week, when she passed by on a scouting trip, that the place may be closed, but she was fortunately wrong.
Anyway, as our treasurer might say, I digress, which is surely part and parcel of an AWW blog? Where was I....ah yes, the mischievous spirits!
Even before the walk,, they had interfered with my email, preventing notice from Gill & Jim that they were coming : Yves also magically appeared without warning, which you might say is a change from his disappearing without warning ( woops, sorry Yves!). We had 4 newcomers who didn't quite know what to expect :Steve and Margaret who knew J & J (aka Jim and John) and Karen & Dad (aka Winston) , recommended by Terry A.
My trusty Lumix had passed away in South Africa, and I hadn't road tested the new model, so fellow walkers took great delight when the afore-mentioned spirits decided to sabotage the group photo.
but perseverance won through, and the traditional starter photo is, L to R:
Terry M, David, Dad, Karen, Frank, Jan, (Scottish) Jim, Gill, Rose, Jim the cyclist, Geoff, Yves, Sue M, Margaret, Steve, Sue H, John (the cyclist).....and a well trained Jasper who actually faces the right way in photos......makes a change from photos of dogs' bottoms!...but only 1 poppy!
Special attention was made of Cycling Jim's polished boots ( & bronzed legs?) :
We set off at a good pace :
but let out a collective sigh of surprise when seeing how low the water was in the barragem :
fortunately, it was soon time to descend, and surprisingly we found a puddle that need circum-navigating...but decisions, decisions, go left or go right?:
We passed the copper-wire smelting plant:
At the dropout point, Karen and Winston thought they would make their own way back (woops again, sorry treasurer, should have asked them for a fund contribution!).
And thus to the dam, where our mischievous spirit friends were lying in wait.....
A gust of wind sprang from nowhere ( from the gates of Hades opening for late entrants perhaps?) and whisked my beloved Tilley down into the depths of the dried -up river bed.
with only slightly damp boots :
there only remained a climb back up with a soggy hat and some Scottish assistance;
and thence up the tarmac road to a picnic spot with a view, and where Jan exchanged motorhome gossip with a Danish couple :
Onwards and upwards after lunch ( & on tarmac) gave us more depressing views of the low water levels.....with the remains of old treetrunks quite prominent ( one walker, who shall remain anonomous, thought they were people ; needs to go to Specsavers):
and thus to Stalag-Luft 1, otherwise known as the Lynx farm, where Cycling John repeated his previous trick of photographing the inmates and not realising he had done so until he magnified the image....in this case, 2 inmates!
Well done John.
A welcome downward trail, by-passing a number of hives without incident, though witnessing evidence of a Great Escape...through the fence and...
back via some ruins , visble due to the receeding waters:
and finally back to the O Ze for some welcome refreshments:
We then had a visitation from 3 WAGS and turn-coat Maria, with John H trying to pretend that he was 4.5 hours late because the clocks went back on sunday ; in truth, he , Paul, Miriam and Maria had been drinking and dining at De Silva in Fuzeiros ....with an alleged stroll.
Terry M reckoned it was 17.7kms, so at 4.5 hours ( including retrieving Tilleys and having lunch) we kept up a very respectable pace ; no wonder my back and toes were killing me!
Back in Jan 2016, Alan recorded : 18.6 k, 4h 49m including lunch, 237m climbed ......though John H said :
"16.9 km, no less! 600 metres of climb and Average moving speed of 3.8kph over 4hrs 43m"
The stats for 2015 were: Total Distance: 17km. Total time:: 4hrs 35min . Moving time: 3hrs 44 min. Av. moving speed: 4.6kph. Av. speed: 3.7kph Total ascent: 728metres ,Lunch stop: 20 mins.
Which is broadly compatable, though I wonder if the
height should have been 228m rather than 728m?
John H the Archivist had also added :
“The blog for 22.09.2010 which can be found at:
The
Leader was Rod, Ingrid was among the walkers, as was I.
Today´s
stats bear pretty reasonable comparison with those of today, bearing in mind
that some of us were 4 and a bit years younger then. Much the same route as
yours but not with that plunge into the lower depths by the copper smelting
site. And it was in the other direction, and we went over the Funcho dam
walkway.”
Anyway, as our Treasurer ( AWOL also, but in Tulipland) would say, thanks for your company : an interesting first AWW walk for Sue and I this season.
Thanks to Cycling John and Gill for the extra photos.
Geoff
Cycling John has correctly pointed out that there are 3 lynx ( lynxes?) in the picture : I stand corrected, must go to Specsavers myself.
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