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