AWW Wednesday 20th November 2019 – Around the Querenca countryside and hills

After a very wet and misty rainstorm and just before 8AM I was 5 minutes away from cancelling the walk entirely. Fortunately at that very moment I received an email from our hardy leader Geoff telling me the rain had cleared at his location so all ahead full steam and a very creditable bunch of 19 intrepid hikers (and one doggie friend) made their way to Cafe Rosa in Querenca. Many thanks to John H for this photo below and several other nice photos throughout the walk.

Walkers were: Bica, John H, Ken, Linda, Russell, Sue M, John, Bob, Martin, Geoff, Maggie, Miriam, Sarah, Jan, Julie, Scott, Don, Tony and Isabel. Hiding behind was Sue H! A special welcome for our wet weather specialists and dear friends from the U.K. Maggie and Bob and our new friend from Newfoundland, Canada Don.

After coffee and a good natter we set off down the hill and heading into the farmland and countryside to start our first long slow ascent of the hills to the north of Querenca. The rain held off and the sun made an appearance which brought smiles to everyone’s faces.

The route then followed a series of ups and downs with little space in between. We did get to see some lovely views south towards the sea and west towards the water tower in Salir.

Few complaints so far until we reached an almost missed steep ascent which we endeavored to climb to the consternation of many. Only good things about this particular hill was it was short and we were going up. Strange how it looks easy in the photo:

After a bit more meandering we reached a nice spot for lunch with a very decent sized wall ideal for sitting.

Seats were available for all but of course if you had carried your own seat all the way then you simply had to use it!

“How lucky are we”

After lunch we headed on a long descent into the valley leading to Fonte Benemola and started making our way homewards towards Querenca.

We finally made our way up the hill passing some good “fixer-uppers” to our destination Querenca,

We had covered about 16.8km with 740m of ascent so well done to everyone. Some relieved and happy faces enjoying a beer.

A final vista: