June 16th 2021. End of Season Walk and Lunch.

Toddle and Tapas. End of Another Year

AWW 16th June 2021.

It´s quite interesting to note how the centre of gravity of the AWW has moved steadily eastwards over the years. The bulk of our regulars now come from east of Silves, hence our jollies tend to happen in that area too. So it was that we again celebrated the end of the extraordinary 20/21 season by returning to the Janela da Serra in Salir. But again in true AWW fashion, we were not allowed to eat until we had used our feet, so walk we had to do. Alan was excused, as he was escorting his lady to lunch, and Dinah came to lunch to make sure that yours truly could find his way home.

Thus it was that the following assembled at Café Porto Doce (should´ve been next door, but someone didn´t understand what ´opposite the Farmacia´ meant), ready for a 10.a.m. start.

Ros, Ken, Miriam, Frank, Martin, Sue M, Geoff, Sue H, Jan, Sergio, Brenda, Karen, Linda, Russell and David. Bica came along to keep the four-legs end up

A warm welcome back to Russell and Linda, recently released from their prolonged lockdown in Portimao, and to Geoff and Sue, who finally managed to navigate the intricacies of the PCR/traffic light system to join us for a short time.

The weather was cool and partly cloudy, which was ideal for the task, although the projected distance was only 11k. The start photo was taken across the road from the café, outside the village dental surgery, and suddenly everyone seemed to want to remain anonymous. Dare I say it didn´t do the camera any harm? Sergio arrived in the nick of time to be included, and Russell tried to pretend that he had been growing during lockdown.

           Sorry, guys, there´s no bank in the village these days. But we do have a posse!

The preliminaries concluded, we set off by climbing to the church square, which Ken and Miriam had already visited (!), and then dropping to the N124 to start the walk by following part of the Barranco do Velho/Salir trail in reverse. We had scarcely started across the valley when we found that the track had been blocked at one point by the fencing off of a short section. Circumventing this involved a scramble up a broken wall, after which things went rather more smoothly.

                Early water stop.

Past ´Casa Ames´ we toddled, soon admiring ( ritually!) the remains of the Algarve Way symbol on a lump of sandstone by the side of the track. Off the tarmac, we passed the two houses that make up Pedras Ruivas, and crossed the dry stream bed to make our way down to the N124 crossing at Casa Branca. Here we turned off to cross the valley towards Palmeiros, and all was going well – too well.

My original recce had identified a stream bed via which to climb the first part of the hill ahead, but sadly tree cover had allowed a large pond to remain, blocking the way. I had considered asking folk to bring bathing attire, but thought better of it. So, a short off-piste was required, which necessitated a trudge up a ploughed field followed by a battle with a sharp ascent complicated by clumps of gorse. Once we reached the track at the top of this climb, running repairs were the order of the day.

                Centro de Saude esta aberto

The trek resumed, we made our way to the tarmac leading up to Palmeiros, and walked through the village, always a pleasant experience. Passing Casa Otter, Jan stopped to talk briefly to a painter person wearing a vaguely arab style head covering, whom one of the party mistook for Otter himself. Jan had to gently point out that the aforesaid gentleman would not be seen dead with a paintbrush in hand.

            Colourful Palmeiros

The remainder of the walk led us across country from Fonte d ´Ouro, via Renda and Pedreira, back to Salir. This is a most attractive section of pathways which takes you all the way into the village with only brief acquaintance with tarmac.

Folk then retrieved their transport and headed up to the tapas bar, where we sat outside with drinks for around half an hour before sitting down to eat. Alan and Carol joined at this point, as did Dinah with my change of clothes, into which I changed in the minuscule toilet below stairs.

                    Love the frills, Jan!

The meal itself was just a little chaotic. Waitress Jouele was working with the cook to provide our meal and deal with people outside the restaurant, with no other help. The dishes came rather more sporadically  than usual and without seeming logic, but in the end everyone seemed to have enough to eat. Indeed, when squid appeared at the tail end, some people seemed well and truly stuffed!

Geoff summed up our very different year, and looked forward, hopefully, to a rather more normal coming season. Reference was made to the celebration of 25 years of the AWW in the early autumn, date etc to be announced when the covid situation is more clear. Coffee was taken outside before all went their separate ways.

Thanks to all for your company, for giving a very well-deserved gratuity to the staff, and for your forbearance, as ever, regarding my navigational error. It seems that quite a few folk are intending to continue walking through the summer, so our paths may well cross.

Até a proxima!

See the route of the walk below. Red lines indicate departure from my original route.