AWW 30 October 2019.....Funcho & More

AWW 30 October 2019.....Funcho & More...or walking by Numbers

In the beginning, as all good yarns used to begin, there were 18 walkers due to start, but keen observers of the start photo will notice that unfortunately 2 didn't make it as Linda was taken ill ( so 16) but Ros decided she needed  some coffee rather than await us at the barragem, (so 17). Do please note that everyone is looking at the birdie,  for once, but the official photographer John H stands a little aloof from the group, as if to emphasise his technical competence by taking remote controlled photos. Note also, only 1 poppy....but it is still October.

Ros then drove off to the barragem with a good book to await our arrival, about 1 h 30 mins hence ( so 16 again). We went up the first hill, sorry slope, where some had yet to see the graves and most hadn't seen the mystifying holes, perhaps of pre-Roman chequers?

                      

(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...)

We cut through the houses of the village of Fuzeiros, and away from the snail farm towards the baragem, but saw some rather sad and emaciated looking horses, displaying rather a lot of bones :

We met up with Ros at the appointed hour ( so 17). We expected the barragem to be low, but were surprised at how low....lots of verdant growth appearing on mud flats that ought to have been under meters of water:

  

And then, the first proper hill, to reach the first ruined farmhouse : unfortunately, lunch was only promised at the second!

     les girls                                  

     les boys

It was at this stage that   John H was beginning to think that joining Hazel with the WAGS might not have been  such a bad idea, but he manfully soldiered on to the trigpoint, where Alan  must have momentarily thought he was the youngest lady there, and promptly climbed it:

The track undulated a bit, before precipitously descending to the road :

Whereupon John H took one look at the next hill, declaring it a Hill Too Far ( he remembered it of old) , and decided to take the road back ( so 16). He was able to take this photo of The Hill though:

From the top, we could espy John taking a breather, so nobly Frank said " adieu" to accompany him back safely ( so 15):

         

The promised lunch stop at the second ruined farmhouse materialised, bang on the 1pm time....whether it was the one we lunched on Rod's walk , back in The Day, none could recall:

It was downhill all the  way back to the Funcho ( well, apart from a small incline after lunch), where we found that  some Frogs had bulldozed a path and built a wooden hut :

No, not a good photo, but they didn't look friendly Frogs...no doubt still annoyed that Les Bleus weren't playing South Africa on Saturday, but that Les Rosbifs were. If Yves had been with us, we could have asked him to parlez un petit peu.

So, back to the barragem, where the low water level at least meant we could by-pass some road:

And hence Ros departed en auto back to the Silva cafe ( so 14), but accompanied by Julie ( so 13), passing a goatherd .....is a dog with  goats a goatdog?...(.as a sheepdog looks after sheep).

An almost uneventful trip back, though Jim decided to do a Captain Oates ( I may be gone for a little while, don't wait)...(so 12).....but your leader told him to just follow the track and turn left at the crossroads...forgetting there was an interim crossroads where you turned right,  so Jim & David honourably decided to wait for him ( so 10). 

At this stage  I was beginning to wonder if anyone would get back, having lost far more than the norm of 10% , so we left some markings on the trail:

 

But we needn't have worried, the trio cam round the corner ( so 13).

So back for a very well deserved beer.....we had wondered if John & Frank would still be there, but they had loitered and arrived at the same time ( so 15), just beaten by Ros  &  Julie ( so back to 17):

Some made it 22kms, some 23kms...last time an identical route was 22km, with about 516m ascent. this is what Tor did last time ;

As usual, thanks for the company and for stoically sticking it out....5 h 30 mins with 20 mins for lunch....so  a tad over 4kph....and best wishes to Linda for a speedy recovery...and thanks to John H for extra photos.

Geoff

AWW 23rd October 2019

23rd October 2019. The Broad Highway to Benafim.

The usual flurry of late entrants brought the total number on this expedition to 12. List as follows:

Sue M, Ken, Miriam, Tony, Frank M, Jan, John D, Jim H, Isabel, Linda, Russell, David.
Bica and Jasper comprised the four - footer brigade.
A warm welcome back to Jan, fresh from her most recent encounter with terra firma, and John D, fit at last to rejoin us. Isabel and Tony were also taking part for the first time this season.

The starter photo shows the group surrounded by the ever growing vegetation outside Casa Benjamin, the designated meeting point for the walk. Coffee and biscuits were on offer before the start, and all arrived well in time to partake. Thanks to Dinah for laying on the refreshments.
I had asked some to park outside the village, but as it turned out, our car park was only half full, still not sure how that worked out, with nine cars expected. Never mind, eh?

The first leg (not quite half) of the trek, under grey skies and a little chilly, was across the hills to Benafim, following first of all half of my morning dog walk, and then heading up onto the side of the hill beyond Portela da Nave.

 I was interested to see how Jasper reacted. He normally takes off like a greyhound, and I don't see much of him until we get back to Covoes. With the group, as usual, he never strayed more than 50 metres or so ahead. Riddle me that, all you dog psychologists!

From just above Nave dos Sobreiros, we turned up and over the hill to join the track previously followed on my Penina walk. This time we simply continued westwards and descended to Benafim past the enormous citrus plantation, now some dozen years old, that lines the hillside above the village.

A short detour took us into Benafim and a fairly brief coffee stop at the one cafe out of three that stood open. Lunch was postponed, as it was only 11.30 when we arrived at the cafe.

From there we retraced our steps briefly before carrying on down the Loule road to reach the path signed  to the village Etar. Spurning the opportunity to observe the residuos of Benefim at close quarters, we turned left into the valley, where, on reaching level ground, we were accosted by a pair of rather noisy little dogs. Undeterred, we crossed the valley floor and walked under the hill before climbing the short distance to the edge of Nave dos Cordeiros.

The weather was brightening by this time, but it was also quite windy, so we took a little time to find a lunch spot along the track leading back to Alto Fica. The latter was reached with no further ado, to find that one of the two bars in this settlement straddling the Loule road has now closed. Never did understand why such a small place could sustain two watering holes...

No time for a stop today, as we embarked on the section of the walk I had only surveyed on Google Earth. On this occasion it was sufficient, as the tracks were all very obvious, passing a tiny settlement on the way which nevertheless showed signs of refurbishment. We finally joined the well worn track leading down into Nave do Barao and settled down for a pleasant  half hour in the sun at Cafe Barao.

Dinah and I ferried the drivers back to Covoes. End of another very pleasant and energetic day, and as Linda tactfully remarked, I didn't get us lost. Gee, thanks....

Basic Stats:  18k, mais ou menos, 5 hours including stops. Ascent, 315m

FIGUERAS AND THE VALLEY OF POI – WEDNESDAY 16 OCTOBER 2019

FIGUERAS AND THE VALLEY OF POI – WEDNESDAY 16 OCTOBER 2019

Fourteen walkers and 1 x dog.  John H, John, Liam, Alan, Susan, David, Jim, Frank, Sara,

Russell, Sue, Linda, Val and Gill, plus Jasper the dog.  

  

After a quick coffee for some in the village we headed into the woods where strange creatures

had attached themselves to the trees.  Could this be a turtle!

Out into open countryside and more strange creatures. 

 We headed inland, past deserted farmhouses and then had a surprise at one farmhouse
as someone let the cat out and Jasper decided to make chase.  The English owner threatened
to sue if the dog ate the cat but fortunately no-one was harmed.

John decided to get a head start on the first hill and was doing a fantastic job of it.

 

As pre-arranged Val left us before the hill climb and headed back to Figueras the short way.

The boys were having to pace it out to catch up to John.

Lunch stop at another deserted farm house, Russell checked for any resident squatters
beforehand.  No cats lurking about either.

A leisurely stroll in the park in the afternoon, albeit still a fast pace.

We had a scramble around the pig farm and then some of the boys freed a blue jay which
was trapped in a snare.  Unfortunately, it had a broken leg and Russell gave it a swift and
peaceful departure. We finally found the first water of the day and we all would have liked
to paddle our feet in it too.

The cheapest drinks in the Algarve at the local social club where the locals were playing
dominoes.  A young girl asked to take the photo as she said she liked our happy smiling faces.

The whole walk, including lunch and banana stop, took 4 hours 50 minutes. 

Distance 19.21kms, average walking speed 4.7kms per hour. Maximum elevation
approximately 300metres!!

Thank you for making this a very enjoyable day out.  Also thank you to John H for the
extra photos and stats. Linda and Russell

AWW 9th October 2019 Barrosas Malhao

The walk leader is good at finding walking routes (he says) but as a cameraman he is USELESS.

This was the first attempt to take the starting photo.

NO. I did not attempt to take a photo of a piece of cork on the ground

Next, I pointed the camera in right direction, but the earthquake caused them to "shake"

Frank M, Sue M, Jim, and Jasper. Finally, David took a photo of an old pile of cork

It was a select few who wanted to walk up to Malhao in the October heat. The leader brought his electronic map as he had not recced the route this season and was intending taking a never to be trodden path "by him" to ensure that we got our full 16km in.

Café Paraiso da Serra in the village of Barrosas was buzzing at the start and Jim had trouble getting himself an "abatando" never mind a little bit of milk in it. But suitably refreshed we were off at 09:30. 

We started climbing, but it was a relatively gently gradient, just continuous. 

After about an hour, we stopped to have a look at the views and to ensure that Jasper was fine.

Sue offering Jasper some food

Jasper eating Sue's hand

Sue didn't appear to be bothered being mauled, as the views were great.

The view up to Malhao

The view to the south with Rocha da Pena to the right of centre

We passed the Buddhist retreat centre and just before Malhao village we heard the tinkle of THE BELLS and turned the corner to find the goats in the vineyard

Fifty metres on, we came upon the aged goatherd, sitting in the shade, with his trusty dog by his side. As we past, we waved and grunted. But then I thought I saw him pulling his iPhone 12GTX out of his pocket and his fingers flying over the keypad. I assumed that he was sending advance notice to all the dogs in the village so that they could be forewarned and ready to bark as we turned each corner. They did.

We journeyed on and arrived at the café in Malhao at 11:25.

Sue and David had been setting the pace and Jim and I ambled behind.

We sat at the café and had a leisurely lunch.

I blame it on Smart Phones: the art of conversation is dead

At midday we departed and set off downhill. We successfully took the unknown path and arrived back at Barrosas at 13:55. As is common, less photos get taken on the second half of the walk as the photographer gets tired and all he wants to do is get to the beer.

My beer was the empty one on the back right

Details of walk

Route

Sometime I wonder if we should be like the Grand Old Duke of York and only march up the hill (main road) and down again. I would be much faster and shorter.

Hills

Distance   16.11km
Speed         4.2km/hr
Temp         27Deg C - warm at the end
Time          4hrs 20mins (includes lunch)

Frank M
10/10/2019