Holy Talurdo, Batman!23 brave souls joined me, on a perfect day, at the Cantinho dos Cacadores on the IC1 for a journey into the unknown wilderness north of the Arade.
Frank, Scott, Russell, Tim, Kate, Sue M, David L, O.P., Sarah, Richard, Stephanie, Don, Roger, Julie, Nancy, Geoff, Sue H, John D, Yves, David, Peter, Sue III, Tony (mais o menos)
Leaving a few cars there, we drove in a Convoy down to ... well.. er... nowhere in particular, really... near Talurdo... and parked decoratively either side of the road.
I explained that I had kindly reduced this walk from its usual 25km (including a Right Bastard of a Hill) down to a nice gentle 17km. (TBH, I lied about the 'gentle')
Anyway, we started off. After a deeply-regrettable 1km of tarmac (still, better to get it over with), we turned off on a nice wide, level track for another 1km, and then I had my first funny turn, leaving the aforesaid perfectly good track and heading up a path apparently to nowhere.
This took us round in a loop with nice views to the north (where the mighty Odelouca River lies) and then to the world-famous Tourist Attraction the Fonte da Ceiceira.
Well, Google Maps knows it's there ...
We then headed, mostly downhill, towards the mighty River Arade.
The way down was uneventful. Oh, we lost about 8 people. Temporarily. Easily done.
before catching our first glimpse of the mighty Arade
After a quick squint at the abandoned village (and wondering where on earth they ever did their shopping), we moved up to a peninsula overlooking the mighty Arade and lunched and gawped.
The way back was uneventful. Oh, I took a wrong turning and we had to backtrack.
Other than that, we got back to the cars after pretty-much exactly 4.5 hrs. Which is what I predicted in the first place!
I didn't record the track (for once) but I reckon about 17.5km, 700m of climb.
Here's a map to be going on with:
With Thanks to Yves for the photos.
A great walk to the Mighty Arade indeed...many thanks Terry. Perhaps Paul might venture an opinion on the rather odd title....
ReplyDeleteTalurdo is getting rather over exposed in Algarve Blogdom, as it figured in another blog ghostwritten by John (Top Hats to Talurdo) in early January, when the WAGS took to the scenery. The WAGS did accomplish the walk in a far more concise 10.89km and speedier 2 hrs 50 minutes, thus allowing more time for Fletcherism and pablum.
ReplyDeleteI too have no idea why the 3 worthies were included in the blog url.
As to 'Talurdo', I suspect it is a simple case of phonaesthetics, and John takes a simple pleasure in rolling out the word at every available opportunity.
Thanks to Geoff and Sue for kindly inviting us AND ferrying us to and from Messines station. I played a couple of hours of walking football this morning - knees throbbing a bit now. Great day, we enjoyed your company and look forward to next week if OK to join you again. Muito bom, Peter & Sue.
ReplyDelete