Five Go A-Roching. 29th September 2021

 

                Five Go A-Roching. 29th September 2021.

It was as if we were still in ´bubble´ mode. Only five souls took part in this third outing of the new season. There was quite a roll-call of the ill and injured, but beyond that, there was pre-walk confusion, as the Hon Sec had been walking in southwest England without his lists, so information got to some people late and others maybe not at all. To Frank, Sue M, Ken and any others suffering, ´melhoras´, and hope to see you soon.

The walk was advertised as either 14 or 17/18 k. In the event, it turned out to be a mixture of the two planned routes. With predicted high of 28 degrees, heat had to be a consideration, but in the event it didn´t affect us until maybe the end stage. We had clear blue skies all day, with a pleasant breeze most of the way.

It was a nice surprise to find the cafe at Penina open as we gathered, so pre-walk coffees were taken by most. A huge welcome back to the group for Terry Ames and 13 year old hound Becky. Ros, Jan, Alan and myself made up the numbers, along with Jasper, who was booked to do half the distance.

                                                                Here we go again!

The climb to the plateau of Rocha da Pena is never quite as hard as imagined  - the steep section doesn´t last long - so we were soon traversing the more or less level ground, and admiring the views to the south, though we eschewed a visit to trig point Trafele. Less amusing was the rocky descent to the windmill path, but all accomplished it without mishap

                            Jan Takes an early rest - but the chair was a little unsafe!

                                                Group Halt atop the Roc

 

                        View from Rocha da Pena.

                                                                Going down!

Reaching the ruined windmills, with a coolness still in the air, it was decided to start out on the longer route, so we descended by a beautiful wooded path to the tarmac by the Brazeira  junction on the road north of Alcaria. Leaving the road after a few metres, we took an undulating track south towards Salir. Turning to go over a hill near Alcaria, I made the only mistake of the day (!) which led us through a bit of rough ground before we hit tarmac again. A little blood was shed, but then, we are the AWW.

At the Windmills

                                        The Winding Road to Alcaria.

From here we crossed the valley floor from Alcaria to Bairrada on field paths, and waited for a couple of minutes under a large tree near the Bar that Never Opens, until Dinah came to take Jasper home, his exertions over for the day. Then we  walked up to the low ridge of Cerro de Baixo, where we stopped for lunch. Jan went off briefly to visit a friend with a poorly dog, and joined us again as we walked past a house with a large colony of feral cats.

Crossing the valley to Bairrada

Lunch.

                                                                Potted Pussy

The walk along the ridge was pleasant, but the temperature was climbing. We reached the last point of choice, and quickly decided that to complete the whole of the planned route was no longer a comfortable thought. A short cut therefore led us to a point where we had to climb in two stages to the ridge overlooking the Penina valley. This was the most arduous section, both because of the heat and the stony pathways involved.

Along the Cerro de Baixo.

Overlooking the Penina Valley

Happily, we reached the ridge at the very point required to descend to the valley, after which it was a straightforward walk - though across some ploughed land and along an overgrown path - back to Penina and the bar. We supped indoors, as the heat was by now uncomfortable. In order for Jan and I to have our white wine, we had to buy a whole bottle, the reminder of which Jan took away.

                                                            Just a little overgrown!

                                                        Oooh me poor feet!

An interesting and varied walk, but one which reminded some of us that we haven´t been walking this kind of distance for some time. And for poor Jasper, that was his last longish walk, as he has a bad reaction afterwards. 

We walked 14.5k in 4.75 hours and surprisingly climbed 600 metres.

Many thanks to Alan for all but the first photo.

OK, what´s next?

West Coast Brings out the Poet in Terry and Alan: 22nd September 2021

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers (according to Will), met at Cafe Andre just south of Aljezur. The cafe was closed, but the sky was blue, despite the threat of thunder storms billowing up later, and there was a song in our hearts.

Alan, Terry (with the knee brace), Frank (with the bad back) and photographer (with his new walking stick)

We strode off with the sun behind us, towards the west, and up the first hill of the day.

Based on the shadows we were heading north, but it is just a bit of poetic license

We passed the Eco Resort: Praia do Canal Nature Resort whose website is beautifull but we thought that from the outside it looked more like a Gulag: fences and grey concrete with few windows. Our path from Alltrails apparently went throught the resort, but we were told that it was no longer passable as they had dug a deep ditch at the far end. We thought it best to ask no more questions but passed on.

After an hour we came down a hill through a valley and there in front of us was the ocean at Praia do Canal

We stood in awe.

The west coast is glorious. Frank's eyes misted over and he became emotional.

Or like stout Cortez when with eagle eyes

He star'd at the Pacific—and all his men

Look'd at each other with a wild surmise—

Silent, upon a peak in Darien.

However Frank denies that he favours stout, he prefers standard Super Bock and that was what he was thinking about when his eyes misted.

We set out south along the beach towards the mist. Suddenly Alan was overcome and he waxed lyrical. 

I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,

To the gull's way and the whale's way, where the wind's like a whetted knife;

And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,

And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over

John would have been proud of him.

Terry, he had been talking about his imminent car  journey back to the UK and the joys of the ferry to Dover. He was not thinking of stately Spanish galleons.

Dirty British coaster with a salt-caked smoke stack,

Butting through the Channel in the mad March days,

With a cargo of Tyne coal,

Road-rails, pig-lead,

Firewood, iron-ware, and cheap tin trays.

The beach was flat and we made good time. 

It was about 3 1/2 kms to Praia de Vale Figeura. It was easy walking and so the conversation turned to education and it was decided that the AWW blog should be used to advance the reader's knowledge. 

The Keat's poem is a Petrarchan sonnet, also known as an Italian sonnet, divided into an octave and a sestet, with a rhyme scheme of a-b-b-a-a-b-b-a-c-d-c-d-c-d. After the main idea has been introduced and the image played upon in the octave, the poem undergoes a volta, a change in the persona's train of thought. The volta, typical of Italian sonnets, is put very effectively to use by Keats as he refines his previous idea. While the octave offers the poet as a literary explorer, the volta brings in the discovery of Chapman's Homer, the subject of which is further expanded through the use of imagery and comparisons which convey the poet's sense of awe at the discovery.

As is typical of sonnets in English, the metre is iambic pentameter, though not all of the lines scan perfectly

I apologise to those, whose time we have wasted by this explanation, as they would obviously know this from the Tuesday quiz.

We turned off the beach  and started on our journey home.

Home, home on the range

Where the deer and the antelope play

Where seldom is heard a discouraging word

And the skies are not cloudy all day

All that sea air had made us hungry and as we moved inland the temperature started to increase, so when we found some shade and the breeze picked up, we stopped for lunch.

And it was another hour to the finish, prior to the rain.

Clouds billowing up before the storm

Walk information.

Distance         16.4km

Speed              4.11km//hr

Elev. change    356m

Cafe                Closed

Views              Glorious

Temperature    Just right untill the last 3/4 hour

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Will and Henry, John K, John M, Kansas for allowing me to quote their State Song and Alan for the photographs

Frank M

23rd September 2021

Famous Five at Quarenca

 I will let your imagination decide who might be Julian, Dick, Georgina and Anne but obviously we have only one candidate for Timmy the dog. Answers on a postcard however here are four of the now infamous five, Sue, Karen, Martin and Rafa the dog with, of course, Alan behind the camera.

We started promptly at 09:30am and headed down towards the medieval pathway out of the village.

At this point I started experimenting with a function on my camera called HDR (High Dynamic Range), it takes several images at once and merges them to optimise a range of potential camera settings. This was the first attempt.

As you can see it does produce quite a dramatic effect. There are other HDR images produced during the course of the walk and you should be able to spot them.

As we walked the subject of British history came up, particularly the absence of English nationals sitting on the throne of England. I must admit that it is difficult to justify describing any of monarchs of England as truly English since the battle of Hastings and the unfortunate King Harold Godwinson (Harold II).

I have been accused of being able to ‘bore for Britain’ when I get onto the subject of history and that kept us going until we reached a drink stop at the Fonte Filipe.

When the Famous Five arrived at Fonte Filipe we found that the Germans had got there first. There were half a dozen cars parked at the Fonte, some with German plates which suggested a German walking group has started there although we didn’t come across them during our hike.

As we turned back towards Quarenca we hit a few climbs on the basis that what goes down must invariably go up. As we did the rains on the previous day had left quite a few muddy puddles and these appeared to be populated by some jumpy little frogs.  

On the approach to Quarenca we picked up a small dog as an escort and three of the Famous Five helped themselves to freshly picked figs from many of the trees along the route.

At the finish, what better way to wash down the figs than a cold beer, wine or cider, well it wasn’t going to be lashings and lashings of lemonade!

My iphone calculated that we had walked around 12kms and climbed the equivalent of 52 floors or climbing the stairs of Canary Wharfe Tower.