Up the River with bare feet, flip-flops. sandals, pool slippers.........
Summoned into action at short notice as a result of Roger´s over-enthusiastic gardening, I was quite pleased to be able to show off my brand new route from Paderne. The following people seemed to like the sound of it - even with four substantial water crossings, and duly turned up by the little bandsman at the appointed time:
Miriam, Ken, Yves, Ros, Rose, Sandra, Alan, Frank, Sue M, Nick, Terry M, Catarina, Gill, Jim, Isabel - and me! Jim H had a puncture on the way to the start, and Pam was held at home waitin
g for ´a man´ (!). The observant among you will see that poor old Yves has been chopped in half on the start photo. I tried to insert him, but couldn´t find a way to paste the result into the blog, so you will have to find him later on! Sorry mon ami!
Like the power stance Miriam!
This was billed as the last day of iffy weather, and it was certainly still quite cool as we began. Some rain later on didn´t really make much difference, and indeed it was pretty well perfact walking weather.
So, off we went, and during the first couple of hours, I thought I should have stayed in bed. The walk out of Paderne and up the hill towards Corte Real was going splendidly, when someone - Yves I think - noticed that I seemed to be missing a lens in my sunspecs. True enough. Nick and Jim gallantly went back over the previous half k to see if they could see it, while the rest of us went on steadily. Alas, the article was not found (nor on the following day). Fortunate that these lenses are reaching the end of their usefulness!
On we trotted, up and over the hill close to Corte Real, and down towards the A22. Then the cry went up that Jasper had decided to call it a day and had run off back the way we had come. Followed almost a half-hour of searching and calling, before the miscreant came running back down the track. I think he had missed me and decided to go back and find me. He´s getting to be as good as Rosie at this game!
From here on in things improved from my point of view, as we reached the motorway and walked under it to the turn up to Paderne Castle. On from there to the very attractive and ancient caminho up the hill to yet another settlement named Malhao - where several enormous villas have recently sprung up. Down into a green and pleasant valley and up the other side, where lunch was taken with a wonderful view all the way to the coast.
There he is!
Peculiar colour, I know - don´t ask, can´t explain.
Yoo.hoo!
Refreshed, we followed the tarmac for a short distance before heading down the steep descent to the Quarteira River and the gorge footpath. The trek along the gorge, with its three crossings of the river, was sadly uneventful, but the various methods adopted by the group to effect the crossings were as ever a source of some amusement. Photo gallery of crossings 1 and 2:
Now that is just showing off!
I suppose you think it´s funny!
Yve´s big one on the top.
By this time it had started to drizzle quite persistently, which was a pity, as it literally put a damper on this most interesting section of the walk. The Roman Bridge was reached without problems, although at one point Ros resorted to the whistle but went unheeded - do we need bigger peas, or bigger lungs? We carried on towards the weir below the castle, when I made my final mistake of the day, turning uphill on a track I had not actually walked before, and found our way blocked by an old fence. Where there´s a blockage, however, the AWW will either find a way round or knock it down and push on through - the latter course was followed in this case, and the fence dutifully restored afterwards.
Hurry along - this will catapult me over the castle wall in a minute.
After re-crossing the motorway (over it this time), we started across the fields and footpaths back to Paderne. There remained the fourth water crossing, a rather extensive road ford, which had us all doffing and donning again. All that remained was to walk the 2k plus back to our start-point and welcome drinks. Thanks to all once again for good company and patience.
Any sharks?
This bit is harder than the walk (acc. S. Minnis).
Two more images for your delight. The only splash of the day, and the Imp of the Gorge, caught on camera for the very first time.
Guess who?
Come back! We come as friends!
The Track.
Don´t have any stats, but the walk measured 21.4 on Google, and this seemed to be reasonably accurate. Thanks to Yves for some of the pics.
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