9 June 2021 : Amigos da Carrapateira cafe, Carrapapteira

 

 

9 June 2021 : Amigos da Carrapateira cafe, Carrapapteira

 

(Left to right) Jim, Marian, Ros, Miriam, Ken, Frank, Russell, Linda, Jan, Gill, David, Sergio & Alan hidden away as usual.

13 walkers started the adventure almost promptly at 9:15, with an initial chilly temperature of 16°C, through the scenic town of Carrapateira, then walking through the hilly countryside in an Easterly direction.

Behind us a view of the nearby Bordeira beach.

 As we approached Vilarinha, lo and behold, a Swiss cow stood on the side of our path, equipped with a large bell and standing in front of a warning sign for passing cows, as if to remind us to beware. Having lived in Switzerland I heed such warnings as on average Swiss cows trample on tens of walkers every year, especially those wearing bright red backpacks like mine.

And, just in case someone owns a Porsche and is thinking of travelling downtown Vilarinha City, there is a charging station there.

 

In this very spot after a short pause, Ken forgot to pick up his walking stick. But he was adamant, this was the first time it ever happened. Russell kindly volunteered to walk back up the hill, to fetch Ken’s stick.

 

 

In order to avoid losing Ken’s stick for a second time, here is a possible solution. It’s a tiny tracking device available on Amazon, the size of a box of matches. It’s called NEVER FORGET ME and it’s guaranteed to be effective after the first use. It works this way: Glue the GPS transmitter (photo below) to the desired item (i.e. Ken’s stick). Then put a tiny receiver into the FRONT pocket of your trousers. When the person wanders more than 5 meters away from the item, a powerful electric shock is delivered. Then, Bob’s is your uncle, you’ll never forget again.

 

Well-deserved lunch under a creative statue of a Bordeiran elderly resident playing golf, held up by hiking sticks.

And then we ventured into the hardest part of the hike, walking on a long and sandy path.

Some of us were so fed-up walking on the long and arduous sandy path that we decided to chain ourselves to a tree rather than to continue. But nobody happened to have a chain long enough to go around the largest pine tree in the world.

 

Photo of the pine tree taken during a scouting hike.

But we persevered undeterred, some grumpier than others.

Finally we saw the light at the end of the tunnel, literally.

 

And exhausted but relieved to have made it thus far, we took a little break before approaching the beach.

 

But some of us were so tired searching for the beach that we lost sight of things altogether and we nearly headed in the wrong direction, again.

….and some of us begun a long discussion on whether to use a rope and carabiners to climb down a very dangerous half a meter of the cliff.

 

And while Marian and Sergio were about to enter the light at the end of the tunnel, David had had enough and walked away from the chaotic scenes.

The best beach in the Algarve.

Everybody was so awe struck walking along such beautiful scenery that we kept a good 20m away from each other and said absolutely nothing. Or maybe we had had enough of each other by then.

You guessed it, Ken lost his stick again and we asked a surfer to retrieve it from the sea.

 

A British tourist decided to follow us at some point to try figure out why there were so many people on the beach that day that had so many clothes on.

Gill, Marian and David happy to have crossed the beach and survived.

 

AFTER the walk on the beach, Marian and Ros had a brilliant idea and decided to take their shoes off and walk bare feet on the boardwalk instead.

Fortunately, there were no protruding nails.

 The last stretch before Carrapateira.

 

A well-deserved drink after a beautiful hike.

 Actually the hike was a total of about 19km. I registered more because while looking for a place to go to the toilet I was chased by a cow.

 

Thanks to everybody for participating and sharing the pleasure of such a beautiful hike and thanks to Alan for the many inspiring photos.