The Craggy hill-walk of Tôr

On a coolish, 6 degree morning we met at the Cafe Mai 1^st  located in the small hamlet of Funchais (Tor Freguesia). I am not sure if the Cafe's name is derived from when the Cafe opened or from being the "people's" cafe representing International Workers' Day.  It was a 10.00 start.

From left to right:  Me (Jan), Roger, Julie, Sue and our photographer, Tony. No furry friends this week. Think Baxter is in retirement?

Due to one of our regular walkers having Christmas festivities in other parts, meant that we had a space in our bubble, so we were delighted that Roger could join us. So, the Five Go Adventuring around the craggy hills of Tor.

We began our walk traipsing through the hamlet of Funchais following the lane of Beco das Nespereiras. Where we came upon a delightful ‘village’. These pilgrims made their way to the manger to pay homage to the devine child. These included  a Moroccan ‘caravan’ and lots of individuals making their way to  the manager. 

After being amazed by the handiwork, we made our way through Travessa do Alecrim where we started the first climb out of the hamlet, passing some individual dwellings. We then left civilisation and continued our craggy, rocky hill climb toward the summit (whence the name Tôr is derived), whilst keeping parallel with the Ribeira de Algibre-Tôr road. In the distance, on the opposite hill, the small hamlets of Boa Hora and Parragil were clearly visible. 

We eventually came to the top of our climb and, after a breather; we traversed for a couple of kilometres before beginning our descent to the top end of the village of Tôr. Hitting the Loulé-Salir road, we made our way on    tarmac for about 500 metres then turned into Rua Andrezes and followed a beautiful, shady path which led us 

  onto a country tarmac road where we turned onto Rua Cementerio.                                                                                   

                                                                                                    

This took us down onto a main road which we crossed and headed to the "Roman Bridge" here we crossed the    Ribeira de Algibre. From the bridge you can see below a stone ford which is most probably the Roman crossing, according to Loulé Museum. The bridge itself is hardly Roman (despite its epithet!) as it was not completed until the Moorish occupancy of Lusitania; although it does form a part of the Roman road which was later to be used    as one of the Caminhos de Santiago.                                                                                                                          

 

Were they on their way to Santiago de Compostela?

The Ribeira was quite full as we settled for a water break. My first worry of not being able to cross on our return journey but I did give a warning of this before we set out. But, I had a back-up plan.  

As we noticed, yet again another property in the Barrocal having been newly painted. A lockdown job, perhaps?

We admired our own Banksy of Satori's artwork on the gable end of a cottage (Satori is a Salir-based arts and entertainment society). It clearly shows a basket of Barrocal country foods of grapes, medronho, nuts, olives, grains, etc. clutched in a hand.

We were now about halfway through our outing and crossed over to the other side of the valley. The tarmac road led us up to our turning at the Quinta da Tôr vineyards.

Quinta da Tôr has 47 hectares and produces 100,000 bottles a year from seven different grape varieties, such as, Touriga and Syrah. The adega offers several types of tastings along with tapas. Be AWARE their wines’ alcohol content reaches 17% - just one percent less than Sherry! I was thinking of suggesting a wine tasting but, on        second thoughts, managing six other walkers after a tipple of 17% was best  avoided!!!                                       

We were now following the river, passing by more vineyards and some horse stables, which led us to a crossroads. This would have been the lunch stop but there was a bit of shade and a light breeze so we decided to march on up the hill to chase the sun. This was the beginning of our second climb heading in the direction of Soalheira.

 On our last walk here, Patrick showed us his house perched on a hill some distance away. We wondered if we      should change our route and head over there for a drink. But, this fell on deaf ears!!                                              

We soon found a sunny spot out of the wind and a few stones which afforded seats to stop for lunch.

We then turned westward and up another incline which turned into a hill. At the top, we followed a  a downward path. This led to the riverside path where we now turned east.

As we tramped along we came about some interesting natural stone sculptures.....

 

 Any suggestions from our readers of what they could be? We had plenty of skewed ideas!

 Eventually, we came to our turning point which led us down to a river crossing.         

Shall we ????

When we saw the depth of the river, we discussed the possibility of crossing. Throwing out ideas of how to cross;  the use of flip-flops, stripping off to wade across, finding pebbles in the shallower areas would give us a better footing but we all decided to wimp out and go back to the riverside path after the ‘children’ had a dambusting moment!! We didn’t fancy wading up to our thighs!!

As we turned back we saw some more artwork....

This was obviously going to add several more kilometres to the 17 planned and, as you see below, it certainly  did!! Having retraced the path we headed to the Loule/Tor road where we made a turn onto tarmac towards       Funchais.                                                                                                                                                                 

The pace increased as the front walkers realised they were on the last leg and and closing in on a well-deserved beer! So, with a last push, around the corner the Café came into sight. We all settled down for our post-walk refreshments.

Thank you to all of you in making it such a lovely walk. We take this opportunity from our "bubble" to wish you all a very, Happy New Year and hope we can get our bubbles together in 2021.

We did have post refreshments but forgot to take the evidence!!!!

Time taken.         5 hours including (15 minute lunch).

Length of walk.  22.33 kms.

Thank you to Tony for the images and Julie for the Wikiloc.

Wikiloc image provided by Julie.

 

 

 

A foggy wander...

 The Central and Western branches of the AWW joined forces last Wednesday to venture out together.  In our neck of the woods the numbers of walkers have depleted over the last few weeks due to brave (or crazy) members venturing back to the UK or Ireland.

We met at Cafe Perreirinha near Odelouca at 10.00am.  We headed out into the fog hoping it would clear.  

Foggy morning in the Algarve

The fog did clear and the temperature rose a notch or two. 

Fog on the hill

 We only walked 12kms but there were more than enough ups and downs to give us an appetite for lunch.  

                                                                   The fog has cleared!

What, more hills!

We all stayed for lunch al fresco at Cafe Perreiriha after the walk.  

Lunch al fresco

Linda and Russell

A Pig of a walk

This is the blog of the central AWWs pre-Christmas walk on 23rd December 2020. Starting from the January first cafe in Clareanes, just north of Loule on the N396.

Taking part we have Tony, Jan, Sue and Julie (behind the camera).

S'ows it called A Pig of a walk? Well, to start with, it was recced as 18km, but it turned out to be 23km! But as you'll quickly see it wasn't such a bad walk and it got its name for more obvious reasons.

It was a misty start to the day, but as we headed off down our first trail towards Alcaria do Gato and Fonte Filipe, the day was already clearing.

A little bit of road walking took us past some well cared for gardens, and in one of them, some of the largest piri piri peppers we had ever seen.

And other garden with a plastic duck washed up after the recent heavy rains? Or was it thrown out with the bath water?

Arriving in the valley of Almarginho and Corte we came to a familiar ruin with orange peel strewn across the ground. This could only mean one thing,

Pigs! And what a selection. They were littered all about the place. Brown ones, white ones, muddy ones, black and piglet ones.

But then, turning to continue on our way.......

Two big cheeky ones, keeping so quiet we nearly trod on them!

I think they must have been in love, the way they steadfastly refused to take any notice of us.

On down the valley we strode, heading east. And just to help you with our coordinates, here's a sign to help.

But what did we spy grazing in the meadow? One of the plumpest pigs you might wish meet, trotting around oblivious to our attention.

Leaving the pigs behind, we concentrated on the walk logistics and the question of crossing swollen streams and how to keep our feet dry.

But our intrepid ladies were up to the job and needed no help from man or beast.

But what did we find across the stream, more swine! Hogging limelight.

After a steep climb over a rocky path, followed by a lengthy flat footpath, we found ourselves in Sao Romau, where there was a cafe! So since it was nearly christmas we treated ourselves to a drink, non-alcoholic of course, while we ate our sarnies.

After leaving the built up area of the village we had a photoshot of two old windmills.

Here we can see the Cerro dos Negros, Rocha da Pena and if we look hard enough, the water tower in Salir.

A new build in the Moorish style. 

We traversed the Apra ridge after some tricky way finding and finally began dropping down towards Carvalhal and on to the finish at the cafe where we had started over 5 hours earlier.

 

Staistics:

Distance:22.75 km

Elevation gain: 404m

Trail time: 4h 59m

Cafe stop: 30m

Total time out: 5h 29m

Terrible Threes go Hiking: Malao 23 Dec 2020

 It was a bright sunny morning when we met at the cafe at Malhao. Ros had backed out as she could not see the top of Malhao from home due to the low cloud. So there was only 3. 

You can see some low cloud sitting right in the bottom of the valley

However we had a cup of coffee, took the starting photo and set off.

Roger and Sergio, plus photographer Frank M

It has been a momentous year. Everything has changed.

At Malhao they have recognized this and have adapted. They realized that there is a now a pent up demand to travel. They have installed a new bench so that the hordes of tourists in summer 2021 can look at the view.

Specially positioned for summer shade and the fantastic view. See below

It is a fantastic view and location for walking

But we could not sit and gape all day. We had lots of kilometres to explore.

The pace was high as daylight is rationed at this time of year

Frank and Roger set a cracking pace so that even Sergio had trouble keeping up, or was this when he had been hiding behind a bush?

As we scaled the first hill, the sun came out and more and more layers were discarded. With insufficient space in their bags they were improvising about how to carry and keep cool

Showing a little too much knee in his improvised kilt

But the leaders plan came into operation. Deep water.

It was just about up to my knees, but some have knees that are elevated. And Sergio, he just floated across the water like a water skipper.

And it was cold, but not as cold as the Sagres that I eventually had at the end of the walk. Both were very pleasant on a warm walk

And as the days are lengthening, and we move into spring, we can see that new life is all around us. The flowers are out The bees are collecting honey and the lambs are frolicking in the fields.

I am convinced that my phone has a cataract like its owner

As we approached the halfway point, we crossed the Malhao Almadover road. There was further evidence of the momentous changes occurring in Portugal this year. We were now in the Alentajo. A new town has been built just off the road. When we passed this point last year, it had been planned but not started. They did not even have a name for it. 

Road to Nowhere

And now

I understand that Corte Fidalgo is twinned with Livingston new town in Scotland

We stopped for lunch after clearing all the water hazards.

As we sat munching our Melton Mowbray pork pie, there was a rustle in the undergrowth and a dog jumped the fence and snarled at us. Frank gulped down the last of his pie, just in case it made a lunge for it. Roger is a dog man and stood his ground.

Obviously it was the sheep dog. The sheep had been ignoring it, so it decided that we posed a threat to the flock and had to be sent packing. No idea what this little thing was doing in the middle of nowhere. 

Anyway, we took the hint and off we went.

It was through the forest, back into the Algarve and the hamlet of Moita Redonda which is reduced to a single inhabited house, and return to Malhao

And the beer was enjoyed.

Statistics

Distance 19.01km

Elevation change 547m

Time Start to return 5hrs 20 min

Moving pace 4.03km/hr

Frank McEwan

24th December 2020