Nag, Nag on the Craggy hill of Tor 

Due to our proposed leader having a knee injury, I stepped in to lead one of my regular routes on the Craggy hills of Funchais and Tor. Having messaged several others, to join us in the new bubble of 6,  I had no takers. One was down with food poisoning, another, puppy sitting, and three out at work. So, poor, Alan had to put up with a clacker of females; chit chats for 18 kms crossing.  May well be 23kms. Do you want to leave now Alan???

We met at the Cafe Mai 1^st  located in the small hamlet of Funchais (Tor Freguesia) at 10.00. We were promised a mixture of cloud, sun and rain.

 

 From left to right:   Sue, Alan, the leader, Jan and Brenda with Mamas, our four-legged furry friend from Cyprus. (His name derived from a Christian Saint from Anatolia ) 

We began our walk traipsing through the hamlet of Funchais following the lane of Beco das Nespereiras. Where we found a most delightful ‘village’, without the manager and pilgrims as we saw on an earlier walk around Easter time.  Still an interesting piece of handy work. 

         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. 

However, this was an adventure (not sure if there was much belief in the leader at this stage) as we didn’t go to the summit, as originally planned instead we followed this path heading West which led us onto the Benafim/Ribeira de Algibre road. Heading towards the dark heavens!!!

Which Direction?  

Raised heads of Poppies in their glory swaying gently in the breeze.

Heading towards the Bridge at Ribeira de Algibre we took in the local art work and handicraft.

 Oops, a couple of Otter’s frolicking on a wall???

 As we crossed the river we took a view of the depth and the possibility of crossing a little further on. 

Ribeira de Algibre

We were now following the river, passing by more vineyards which then led us uphill in the direction of Soalheira. A little further up we found a small wall in the sun which afforded seats to stop for lunch.

Shortly after sunny lunch stop, we continued up and then eastward and finally heading down towards the river. The rain started and we kitted up for the wet weather, yet again!!

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 and Sue decided to have a look at the depth and whether it was navigable?

Not this section, too deep!! Alan, suggested he could swim across but he had forgotten his trunks. We promised to avert our eyes!!! 

My original plan was to go further up the river, as there was an opportunity of a diagonal crossing where we thought that the water would be shallower. So, off we went to the other crossing point and on arrival we put our thinking caps on, whilst reviewing the varied depths at entry points and where we could cross. We decided, in the end, to go straight up the middle keeping to the small pebbles. No change of footwear for these adventures, straight in and Alan has now christened his new walking boots!!! However, as we got nearer the middle the water got deeper and deeper followed by more female screeching! Alan, at this point decide to take some amusing photographs!!! 

We crossed safely and finally we squelched our way to the cafe in Funchais for some refreshments.

Drying out.

Time:        A tad over 5 hours. Including the lunch stop of 15 minutes.

Length:    17.5 kms

Route:      A slight change to the original one.

Thank you to the adventurers and the photographers. Having 50% of our walkers from Yorkshire today, reminded me of Wallace and Gromit - A Grand Day Out! Could it be the Chicken Run, next time???