AWA (formerly AWW) FATBURN IN BENSAFRIM, WEDNESDAY 19 JANUARY, 2019

AWA (formerly AWW) FATBURN IN BENSAFRIM, WEDNESDAY 19 JANUARY, 2019

I had tried to get Jim to blog this directly, but had never heard such a litany of excuses along the lines of ( "sorry sir, the dog eat my homework") ; first it was Gill's photos being too big, then her cloud being too full,  then his ipad  not charging properly, you name it! Anyway , in the spirit of helpful co-operation, here are his words and Gill's photos for your edification....Geoff/editor/co-ordinator/etc)

ROLL CALL

Geoff & Sue, Russell & Linda, Sue M, Ros, Isobel, Martin, Kim, Terry M, Steve & Margaret, Terry & Pat, John, Tony, David, Jim & Gill, ...whose missing... Ah hem...Nicholas!

SANS ST NICHOLAS 

QUESTION: IS THE ABOVE PHOTO A METAPHOR FOR -

    a) the condition of Mother Theresa's Brexit Plan

                                    OR

    b) the fat left on the bodies of the renamed AWA (Algarve Wednesday Athletes)

THE EVENT - HOW DID WE DO?

Remarkably, 20 participants were not put off by the leaders invitation.
19 off, turned up on, or well ahead of the start time of 10.00hrs

One off, Nicholas, dropped in at 10.05hrs!!!

Throughout the day he offered as an excuse to anyone who would listen, that it was a sat navy problem..., but rumour has it that on arrival, he might have been overheard saying, "...shi*, I thought they would have been gone by now!"

Disciplinary process has begun and Nicholas awaits the judgement to be handed down by our Great Coordinator, sometime also referred to as the Grand Inquisitor! (Think he was punished enough, left sitting by the pharmacy looking forlorn as we all left , waiting for Dolores to arrive and hoping that the sat navy would work the second time...ed).

As we set off, the weather was in tune with a Scottish noir, cool, dank, damp and threatening.

It sort of dried out as we went along but throughout the day, we were blessed with what most had not seen in 2019 - clouds!

DISTANCE: a good 20kms

TIME:
A new world record for this route at just under 5 hours including lunch and banana stops. We set off at a season's best, a truly blistering pace of 5.2kms per hour and overall achieved a walking rate of 4.5kms per hour, putting all athletes (no longer just walkers) in line for international selection, except unfortunately Nicholas, whose time cannot count due to his late arrival!

DROP OUT: None

ELEVATION: Under 600 metres, so perhaps the invitation bark was worse than the bite?

LARD LOSS: A total of 31kgs, equivalent to 1.55kgs per participant! Wow! (This matter is the subject of investigation by our fatcheck team following fake news accusations).(Personally , think Jim needs to be prosceuted under the Trades Description Act....I put on  1.4lbs that day and, before Sue M says so, it can't have all been that Pingo Doce baguette...ed.)

ACHIEVEMENTS VERSUS INVITATION CRITERIA 
YES: purple heather
        white heather club
        Andy Stewart & Moira Anderson in your ear?
        Quinta da Escosia!
        coos
        goats

NO: January sunshine 
        twa border collie dugs
        dancing in the streets *(see note below)

ATHLETIC ACHIEVEMENT AWARD: Linda

At the end of the walk, Linda completed the Bensafrim public park trim track exercise circuit!
While her activities were witnessed, unfortunately there is no photographic or video record as the Grandstand film crew had already retired to the bar!

*note from above
Linda's athletic performance is being considered by the Scottish and English negotiating teams based on equivalence arguments in terms of "dancing in the streets"

FINALLY THE TOWER 

Less than one hour in, our leader pointed out a distant tower which he indicated would be a reference point throughout the day. At lunch he claimed it was again within site? Many agreed - although it seems likely that most were just pretending to see it, as evidenced by the multi directional pointing at distant horizons! 

Questions were asked if there was any prospect of us getting up close and personal with the tower. Much later, after any number of stiff ascents, the tower indeed beckoned much closer. It seemed just a hop,step and jump away, but each time we closed, another false summit awaited.

Eventually we made it but in doing so and for the first time, front to back of the group stretched to maybe half a kilometre - everything was working as planned, smoke was rising and you could almost smell bbq fat burn!

( I was bringing up the rear on the tower approach and commenting on a particularly stony patch that almost seem to be bruising my feet : Isabel disagreed, saying it was an excellent free reflexology treatment!...ed)

After a tower touching ceremony, we merrily skipped off down to Bensafrim where we were invited to enter the "members only" Bensafrim Sports and Social Club, of which it appears our leader is a member?

A final Scottish twist - probably the cheapest round of drinks in the history of the AWW, certainly of the AWA!

SLIPPY WATER JUMP PERFECTLY EXECUTED BY ALL

FARM WORKERS OUTING TO SCOTLAND - SOME HIDING IN THE BUSH!

THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE GREAT COORDINATOR WEIGH HEAVILY!

QUESTION: IS THE ABOVE PHOTOGRAPH -

    a) a clear as a bell picture of a tower in the distance

                        OR

    b) a Specsaver calling card

DO YOU RECOGNISE YOUR MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT?

MY NAME IS NICHOLAS - I PROMISE NEVER TO BE LATE AGAIN!

THANKS TO ALL
Jim &Gill

AWW 9 January 2019 : a meander along the Funcho

AWW 9 January 2019 : a meander along the Funcho

The second walk of the New Year saw 18 walkers prepared for a liesurely stroll, as a gentle introduction to the more rigourous AWW walks planned for later. We welcomed 6 newbie's, Caroline, Karen, Jon, Dawn, Pat & Terry. Isabel had an adventure getting there, thinking it was a monday CVO Rambler walk at Rasmalho and started driving to Monchique! Sue M barely made the starting grid in time, busying herself with phone calls about  her thursday walk.

As an aside ( for newcomers, the best AWW blogs seem to have more asides than they do walk commentary) it seems that if you know the right contacts, you can walk almost everyday in the Algarve : Monday is CVO Ramblers, ditto often for Tuesday (as more cafes shut these days on a Monday). Wednesday is of course AWW, Thursday is Striders/Strollers in the East. Friday is the Furtive Friday Walkers and Sunday is the Hash...so who walks on a Saturday?

Anyway,  getting walkers onto the starting grid was a bit of a no-no, people seemingly more interested in drinking coffees and chatting, but here's the best I could do in the absence of Resident Chief Photographer John, AWOL.

From L to R : Ken, Sue, Karen, Gill, Dawn,Steve, Jon, Terry, Pat ( hidden) , Terry M, John,Linda, Russell, Geoff, Ros....not sure where Jim,  Caroline and Isabel were....

Keen observers will note that Ken has only a stick rather than his  usual two lady companions : Miriam is still awaiting her ankle being unscrewed ( aaaggh!!) and Bica has developed a limp in sympathy...or perhaps she only likes strenuous walks?.....Sue looks as if she has gained a leg, but that's because she moved and was anxious to be off!

As a consequence, we didn't leave till ten minutes after the stated time ( black point!) and set off at a brisquish pace, with some nattering about the importance of recces. I concurred saying how this walk was 100% recce'ed , only to find, to my chagrin, that a bulldozer had destroyed a perfectly decent path within 5 minutes of the start of the walk!

Having learnt from our mistake in November when the AWW Remainers ( or Stay-at-homes as the TV Watchers called us ) , we arrived at the Lynx Farm Observation point without any False Trails, only to find it was still a pile of burnt rubble.....or was it vandalism? :

Without the use of the Observation Point's telescopes, we couldn't see if the Lynx were back, but John's photos reveals they were...can you spot the two in each?

After a bit of tarmac, we crossed the divide from the Arade to the Funcho , but this hearty group eschewed the lunch spot we used in November, preferring to walk another half hour and eat on the side of a precipice.....Ken had an almost sheer 60 foot drop, don't think  Miriam would have approved!

John & Steve , brought their own seats , a fashion since copied by Lord & Lady  de Lobo  , albeit not today, bit too precarious!

       

while Jim decided to show off his Rambo chest ( again) ;

Gorgeous luncheon views:

Back along the end of the Funcho,  we passed an area that was being developed, but for what we could but guess ...but at least it was well fenced;

and thus back to the de Silva for a well earned drink....but the bulldozers had been ahead of us again, and another path had gone ! I don't think the guy talking to Isabel, whom we has seen earlier that day, could quite believe we had been out walking all day!

     

The German chapter of the Harley Davidson's were before us:

Isabel & Ros chose to gossip away on their own....perhaps Ros was practicing her Portuguese?...anyway, Isabel's outfit matched the tablecloth and her drink, whereas Ros'.....

Anyway, thanks to all for coming.....some stats courtesy of Terry M :

Distance :19.1k
Time : 4h 31m...including lunch
Av speed : 4.2k.....very creditable...doubt we'll do that with Jim's next week!
Ascending : 910 m
Max elevation : 187m

Geoff
PS
Some extra photos from John & Gill: