Funcho and More

 Funcho and More : AWW walk Wednesday 8 May 2019

Getting a quorum of walkers these days, even for the GC, is getting harder than press-ganging leaders. Excuses run from " The dog eat the email " to  I'm climbing the Atlas Mountains...I'm in a Spa...I'm Mothering  &  & if I wasn't , I have sciatica...I'm in Scotland or Italy or UK or Jersey or Timbuctoo or anywhere it seems  but in the Algarve....I'm having new tyres fitted....we're going back on Thursday...we've only just got here...how far!?....my calf is still playing up...we're teeing off at 0722....I'm WAGing...I'll be having breakfast ( & recovering from the night before)....

Anyway, 8 intrepid walkers gathered at the unseemly early hour of 0930 at the cafe de Silva , with a big welcome to Tor for his virgin AWW walk.  The starters, left to right : Sue, Sarah, Isabel ( who came especially back from The Land of the Rising sun to be there) , Martin, Tor, Alan, Scott and Geoff/leader/GC/etc etc.

We set off only 5 minutes late, up the ploughed field which has ruined the access to the ancient graves. We detoured there, and one of the more observant walkers wondered what the 12 symmetrical holes drilled in the stone were for?  Having sought   clarification from AWW Resident archaeologist, John H ( who was awol with the WAGS apparently ) we aren't much the wiser.... "Hmm! Pre-Roman, I would say. Apart from that, no idea "...said the sage!

   

(Archaeolgical note from https://www.toursandtracksalgarve.pt/news/silves-pr-vale-fuzeiros-7-6-km/ says inter alia, .....the graves are from 6/7 century AD, Visigoth era....the menhirs on the horizon are from the neolithic era, the New Stone Age, 6,000 to 5,000 years BC.....so pretty ancient.....no mention of the pre-Roman Chequers board though...)

Anyway, hiking up the hill warmed us all up, so some took an early opportunity to strip off...most just a sweatshirt, but we weren't quite sure how far Sarah was going to go...common decency, and being a bit slow with the camera, leaves an absence of photographic proof, but here is the "before " and " after" :

                                                                                                   

We skirted round the back of the village until we got to the snail farm, but no-one fancied buying any....

            

And so on to the Funcho Barragem, which I have never seen so low.....but it did mean we could walk along the side rather than having to detour inland on the road :

No AWW walk would be complete without a hill or two, and there were already mutterings about lunch : this was promised at the second farmhouse, though we had to stop at a trig point en route, for Sarah and Tor to climb.....

So full speed off to a late-ish lunch...with some debate between Sue & myself as to whether this was the one Rod took us too many moons ago...perhaps he can recall?

and then the final ascent....up a beautifully spring-flower strewn path...

And so, back to the Funcho , and again we were able to bypass some road and walk by the waterside...

      

Something had gone wrong with my calculations about time & distance...this walk was supposed to be two of my CVO Rambler walks, about 2.5 h and 2 h respectively, so about 18-20km by the time they were joined up and we had done the extra bit by the old farmhouse for lunch....but we  were all thinking " enough is enough" and the temptation of a cold Sagres proved too much, so we omitted the last part of the loop by the Funcho and headed back to Silva :

...just in time for the bread/cake van to come and Scott ( & his new four-legged friend) to enjoy a sample....

Stats & map courtesy of Tor;

21.87 kms
452 m elevation gain  (same as  elevation loss, which makes a change for such gizmos)
Moving time : 4h 54m
Total time : 5 h 45m.....only about 15mins for lunch ; rest was for admiring the views...
which I make 4.5 kmh...Russell would be proud of us!

More info at :  https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/vale-fuzeiros-36214598

Thanks to all who came.....my last walk of the season...have a great summer, Sue & I hope to meet up again in October.

Geoff

PS...and here's a late picture from Scott of Sarah's mountaineering...