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: