AWW 30th September 2020: South to Praia da Muracao 

Carrapateira is quiet and most of the cafes are closed. And if the owner at cafe Fernanda was not the happiest of  hosts, then Clube Cultural hosts were positively downbeat.

Only 8 walkers attended.

The cafe was busy but all who wished got their coffee fix: even Jim and Gill, who had arrived first despite Jim not setting their alarm correctly and so they had to eat their breakfast on route

They were still caffeine rich so it was not possible to get them lined up
Also as usual the leader makes the effort to get a least one photo out of focus
The better photos in the blog were taken by Alan

So we were off at a fine pace. We saw some fine steep hills, but the leader advised that he would not be that cruel.

However the first hill did see a difference in approach from some of the walkers

But it was quite steep but not as bad as the one recced and recommended by Ros.

But as always we got to the top.

"I'm on Top of the World Looking Down" by who?

And the only thing we could find was a nearly deserted beach below.

Praia da Muracao from Top of the World

We sat on top of the headland and ate our lunch. The sun was shining and we were out of the wind. What a glorious way to spend a Wednesday. We did not have a care in the world. We are a fortunate group: AH

And then someone mentioned Covid, The spell was broken and it was time to pack our rubbish into our bags and head off down to the beach.

Ken wanted to just go straight down over the edge. Miriam and Gill were either trying to stop him or alternatively thinking of giving him a push.

Unlike Bournemouth recently, they were practicing Social Distancing on Praia da Muracao. The eight of us made very little difference.

Praia da Muracao - taken by Leonardo DiCaprio in "The Beach"
Can you see the naked lady at the water's edge practicing Yoga.

But we could not just stand and stare, we had to clamber up the small rockface and make our way north to Prainha beach.

I had deliberately not told anyone that the route required clambering up over the rocks. Bica looked at it apprehensively. Others looked at it even more so. And I could feel the glare stabbing "into my back". 

However as I had suspected, all was fine and we made our way up to the headland to get views of the beaches looking north

This is the little beach just south of Amado. On most days it is easy to walk around the headland from Praihna to Amado, except at exceptional high tides, to which Jim and Gill can testify. In the past Gill got washed away at this location

And as we had a great view from above the beach we needed to descend the steep path down.

Praihna had even less people than Muracao

And I am pleased to say, there were no naked people on this beach

So it was a stroll along the beach past the surfers and over the top and down to Carrapateira.

Although not a strenuous walk, it was sufficient to calm the group down and we eventually managed to get an orderly photo of the finishers.

Alan, Jim, Sue M, Ken, Miriam, Gill and Ros: Bica in the background

And we had a cup of tea in a socially responsible manner with good separation. It helped that the cloud had come in from over the sea and there was no need to crowd under the two umbrellas.

The walk

Distance                 14.95km

Elevation change   482m

Walking time         4:05hrs

Total time              4:40hrs

Frank M

1st October 2020