AWW 2019 04 17: A Wee Bit Rain and No Petrol

It´s not often that there is a blog about a walk that did not happen, but your blogger thought this one is merited. Merited not, he hastens to add, by any passing suspicions that the AWWs are getting soft. Not a bit of it. He would not dream of even suggesting that a wee bit of rain and some overly pessimistic prognostications of possible bad weather are enough to put the modern generation of AWWs  off.
No, it is just that, on this occasion, the pre-walk blurb by Jim and Gill is so colourful in itself that it simply has to be preserved for posterity and not lost in the deleted email files, with a few archive pics added just for fun.
Now read on:-

“Hi all
Please see Jim's description of next week's walk & let Gill know if you are intending to go.Geoff----
- Forwarded message -----From: Gillian Lamont <gilldelsud61@icloud.com
>To: "geoffrey.j.hill@btopenworld.com" <geoffrey.j.hill@btopenworld.com>Cc: "geoffrey.j.hill@btinternet.com" geoffrey.j.hill@btinternet.com(Geoff , btw, is our “Great Coordinator – see below)

Sent: Friday, 12 April 2019, 15:41:20 BST

Subject: AWW: EASTER - TRIG OUT WEST TO BORDEIRA, WEDNESDAY, 17 APRIL, 2019

Whatever the outcome, this walk will be remembered! Firstly, it is our 2019 Easter walk.Secondly, it might not happen, our great coordinator has advised that attendance has been a bit thin recently so in Easter week a quorum might be an achievement! Thirdly it might not happen, latest forecast is for rain, maybe the only wet day in the next two weeks.OK, any who are available and who have not yet been put off, what do we have in store for you? I seek guidance from the great coordinator as I believe that the walk could be a first for the AWW - a world record opportunity - let me keep you in suspense a little longer.The Recce experiences have been wonderful - prepare your senses for overload. 

The walk combines village, rural, lakeland and coastal panoramas. The colour range is extraordinary - on land, the newest freshest Spring greens, mellow yellows abound and purples,blues,reds and whites, and at sea, oceans of blue,green and white. Springtime Lusitania maritima - an inspiration for Monet, Matisse, Versace et al.The ears and noses will also have a day to remember. Birds,bees and butterflies all seem to want to join, follow or lead the walk. Gill has remarked on the number of crickets jumping around her feet, which I put down to net practice for the upcoming summer ashes series! Around every corner, into each new valley or ocean headland, smell sensations await your capture.Now this walk will not be everyone's cup of cha - it's long, 22kms but it is not a difficult walk. We might struggle to find a practice hill for your Easter egg. It's not at all like the central Algarve ascents, the hills here are gentle damsels, only agreeing a first date with mother consent. So the goats might feel short changed, you know, those with that sort of Salir look!

 

 We are also going to jolly well John Hope to constrain the gazelles. There is a 4kms section of the walk on a recognised track but which is frequently just soft sand. This section reaches new muscle groups and is most likely to appeal to those who have tirelessly campaigned for porridge yomping to become an Olympic sport, currently it is a single venue event at the annual Ochyerhavnmeon Highland Games. (See editorial note below**)

Enough of the scene setting, let's get down to the Nitty Triggy!Despite the walk being at relatively low altitude and a total altitude gain of less than 500 metres, we have an opportunity to attempt to incorporate 3 that is THREE trig points!For the trigonometry fans, let's have a fest, bring your old school journals or if you did not attend such a school your jotters will do fine!

**(Note:your Blogger was a wee bit doubtful about the spelling of Ochyerhavnmeon; he would have expected it to be Auchyerhavnmeon.So he consulted the eminent Professor James “Jimmy” McGonigal, holder of the Chair of Linguistic Obscurities  at the University of Ecclefechan. Jimmy says “Although the Och  formation is sometimes seen, e.g. as in Ochtertyre in Perthshire,  the Ach or Auch  formation is much more widespread, as in Auchenblae.  Ach- (or Auch-) is from the Gaelic word meaning “field”. Ach is generally a prefix used in the lowlands, whereas Auch is the highland variety. Auchterarder for example is ‘the upland field of the high stream”, Auchinleck a flat stone field. A GPS reference for Ochyerhavnmeon would be useful so that I can study this further.”Thank you, Jimmy, for that.)

Enough of all this nonsense  - walk details are as follows:TIME: 10am, Wednesday 17 April, 2019MEETING POINT: BORDEIRA, Cafe in the village centre. It is best to park on the road as you approach the small old church just before the village centre.TERRAIN: As previously describedOFF PISTE: NoneDISTANCE: 22kmsTIME: 5 hoursDROP OUT: Not without a second referendum. Short or long extensions available.    Flextension not available  - a Johnny (Donald) Foreigner concept. (For the benefit of future generations, these remarks are contemporaneous references to minor political non-events.)RECCE: 100% completed March/April 2019.REFRESHMENTS EN ROUTE: None.WATER HAZARD: None envisaged.RISKS: As always all walkers participate at their own risk.DOGGY: A few aggressors in the first and last Kilometre, mainly tethered. Walkers may bring their own dogs at the owners discretion. Puddle and stream water available.DIRECTIONS: Follow A22 west to the roundabout at the end of the motorway and take the second exit right onto N120 signpost ALJEZUR. Continue for approx 8kms and at top of hill, turn left signpost ALFAMBRAS and MTE RUIVO and continue for approx 5kms to a T junction and turn left on to N268 signpost SAGRES and continue for approx 5kms and on crossing a bridge at the bottom of the valley turn left into BORDEIRA. It is better to park on the road as you approach the old church just before the village centre. Abide by the "no parking" signs although we have no recollection of having seen GNR presence.MAP REF: 37.1962587N.  - 8.8621310W.CONTACT: Please let Gill know if you are coming, email - gilldelsud61@icloud.comNUMBERS: No limit!TRIG POINTS: THREE!!!CANCELLATION: If there is heavy rain, by 08.00hrs on Wednesday morning. Please check before setting off.

In the event, the walk was called off the evening before because of the bad weather,  very much, one would guess, to Jim and Gill´s regret, because their enthusiasm for the recces, the walk and the countryside can certainly be sensed in their blurb. But, with the benefit of hindsight, given the current petrol tanker men´s strike over pay and the fact that most petrol stations in the Algarve have now run out of gas , perhaps that was just as well . It would not have done for the AWWs to have run out of fuel.on their way home and to have had to walk, would it ? 

In the old days, veteran AWWs used to come prepared for a drop or two of rain.

 

Postscript

The Blog having been published, Clan Lamont then emailed the following full disclosure of  what went on behind the scenes.


Sore ribs this morning - loved the blog!

For information and completeness  (FOR YOUR EYES ONLY!)

On Tuesday at 18.40hrs we emailed Geoff to notify cancellation because of the weather forecast, which he circulated at 18.55hrs. At 18.30hrs it looked as if we would have a maximum of 14 walkers but by 18.55 all bar two (who were unaware of the threatening environment) had cancelled because of the fuel shortages, apparently before they had read our weather related cancellation. Jim emailed Geoff about amazing walk cancellation story, fuel shortages and civil unrest. The invitation for the walk had hinted at the possibility of cancellation from lack of numbers or weather but even the creativity of the author could never have envisaged that ultimately cancellation would be as the result of a break down in civil society - a first for the AWW! Conspiracy theorists will be consumed by this for years - proximity to 25 April!

On Wednesday morning Jim decided that perhaps the circumstances of the cancellation  should be put on record and he emailed Geoffrey  " Do you want me to do a blog for today's walk - AWW: THE WALK THAT NEVER HAPPENED?  or I could aim for another AWW first - EASTER 2019 - A VIRTUAL BORDEIRA WALK?"

and the email ended "I am now going out to see if I can find some fuel so I might be out for some time..."

A reply was received from the great coordinator indicating that as a walk had not taken place, a blog would not be necessary ( perhaps you should forward this as further evidence to be considered by the AWW Philosopher in Residence)

What amazes us of your walk blog is that it not only mirrors much of what Jim would have hoped to capture but also that it is also a virtual walk - the flower photo we hoped would be in everyone's album of the walk - you know where our walk would have taken us!

Thank you for such amusement and as reward we insist that you participate when the walk is rescheduled! On the co-ordinates for "Och.. or Auch..." Jim may have mispelled (Kilwinning scooled!) and Jim will look out his jotters before we meet again but we have to advise that Jim did not major in tryginometry.

Ciao!
Gill & Jim

PPS

Currently, there is a vacancy for the post of AWW Philosopher in Residence: nominations, please, to the Great Coordinator.