And Then there Were Three - At Messines de Baixo

 With Miriam and Ken in furrin parts, and Ros unable to walk on a Tuesday, it was just three AWWs who met at Cafe Paragem in this break from tradition. The weather forecast for the following day was awful, hence the change. The aim was to walk a new route devised by the Updulator, half of which had been reconnoitred, the other half virgin territory. Frank and Sergio were the plucky two who agreed to this adventure, mad crazy fools. Jasper, with an inconclusive diagnosis, but plenty of energy, was back in the fold.

The morning was cool and sunny, and the forecast held no hint of rain. Cafe Paragem proved to be a basic but very acceptable place for a pre-walk coffee, and then we were off.   ( The planned route starts a little way down to the east, at the Lagar (olive press) on the left) First target was to climb to the plateau north of the village which was achieved in good order, and then we were able to enjoy the walk along the length of this broad ridge. Reaching the high point, the view changed from one looking west to the sea, and became a northward vista, with the turbines at Pico Alto and Chez Smith both in the near distance.

Views from the ridge.

The descent from the ridge was fun. The leader had been up a couple of weeks earlier to clear a path down through steeply sloping woodland, and for the most part it worked smoothly. The Updulator ended with mud in lots of places, and a missed turn near the bottom meant a last scrabble through brambles to reach level ground in a pine tree glade.

Then it was on down a winding and very overgrown path to the valley floor, getting thoroughly wet legs in the process. Up to the gravel road from Vale, which we had walked with Ros a few weeks earlier, and on past the new holiday homes with their vast array of solar panels, we climbed to the saddle and soon afterwards turned off southwards to make our way by field path and road to Fonte Santa. From there, clear long established stony tracks led us back to the N124, a little way east of Monte de Charneca.

This ended the known section of the walk. Crossing the road, we headed south into fruit-growing territory on the way to Monte Brito. Shortly after this we stopped for a short lunch break, taking a perhaps exaggerated interpretation of the social distancing commandment. In spite of the weather forecast having no rain for the day, by this time there were at least two heavy showers visible, and we were lucky to avoid a soaking. The skies cleared later.

A little light reading at lunchtime. I should never have lent him Das Capital....

The land we wandered into after this was rather more ´lumpy´  than I had imagined, with a steepish climb through one orange grove. The stream bed in the valley before this was completely dry, even after the recent rain, just as was a later one. The proliferation of these thirsty monocultures simply cannot go on. From the top of this climb, we found a clear track through orchard trees and onto another donkey road taking us straight down to Monte Brito.

It must have been a day for views, even though we were not really high up for most of it. This is on the return leg.

Eschewing the chance of refreshment, we turned round and began the return leg, running roughly east for quite a while before turning back northwards. Tracking between orange and avocado plantations, at one point we were faced with a stern notice , telling us that we were not allowed to enter and were being watched, so we found an alternative route which turned out to be quicker. 

Descending into a valley to reach the second stream crossing of the day, we were faced with a problem. The stream was in a mini gorge, and we had to climb down into it and out again, with some difficulty. That obstacle overcome, we found the donkey track leading steeply up to the hamlet of Arieiro, and after that it was simply a matter of following road and track back to the cafe. (This entailed a short detour from the planned route back to the lagar).

Altogether a successful walk. The usual half-hour of relaxation was very welcome. Thanks to Frank for ferrying one tired bloke and one equally knackered dog back to Covoes. ´Fraid the photos were forgotten on the last part of the walk!

Two warnings will be posted on my account of this one on my website, but it is eminently doable. 

Stats:

Distance: 21k

Time: Almost exactly 6 hours, including stops and starts for navigation, and lunch.

Ascent:  500m