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.
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
View from Rocha da Pena.
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.
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.
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.
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?
Good to see numbers up from 3 to 5....and to see Terry back....looks a lot hotter than the South West Coast Path where Sue & I were !
ReplyDeleteThank you, David for an interesting walk. Great to have our natural leader back in the fold. Lovely to see you, Terry. Hope it will be a regular outing. We have missed you. Yes, I enjoyed the rest of the wine that evening having paid for the difference in cost. Just saying....
ReplyDelete