VA Day 5 : Alte to Messines

 VA Day 5 : Alte to Messines

This is sector 8 of the VA , but our Day 5 following 4 days at Alcoutim to  Cachopo : we are doing a series of one day walks in the central Algarve to avoid hotel stays....and to take it more gently!  9 of the original VAers  ( plus Bica) were joined by Susan & John , who had  done the Alcoutim recce with Jim & Gill, and David, who , of course, did the pathfinding for the original Algarve Way.

Carsharing from Messines to Alte worked well....perhaps too well....we arrived at the cafe, had a good coffee, waited for David...and waited....then had a starter photo...and at last David ( who lived nearest) arrived and we were off....

  L to R : I'm sure you all know now who everyone is....

Ros had done some recce work on this section : parts of it were along busy roads, parts on a lot of tarmac, and one section along a precipitous ledge where her companion slipped and injured herself.  With discretion ruling, we set off under Ros' tutelage , having opted for the safer , and more scenic, tracks.

Ken was rather taken by one of the murals...

It was all uphill through Alte, until we saw the first of the VA markers, then onward and upward alongside a utilities trench, which had been there for some time before we arrived at Santa Margatrida : well known in AWW lore as Yves had acted the gentleman and jumped over the wall to retrieve Manuela's backpack....only to discover he couldn't climb back.(any ideas when that was?)

The path then flattened out for a good distance ( wonderful relief after Alcoutim....) whence we came across some inquisitive black pigs who unfortunately probably didn't have much longer left on this porcine coil...

Talk of porco secreto began to make us feel hungry. Ros had found a great lunch stop, but it was too early...

We came across a marker from the Algarve Way team, done by Terry Ames back in the day...

We passed some  pretty calves:

Are we there yet?

Lunch was taken in the gutter:

At length, Messines came into site  through the tunnel....

But a bit more uppy....

and a scramble....

 ...but our route veered south to Portela before looping back to Messines. Time to get into cars and drive to Alte for a well earned drink and retrieve the other cars. Most drove back along the N124, though Ros  took us on a very scenic, albeit longer, "shortcut"....

Anyway, lovely weather and good company for a good day's walk....photos courtesy of Alan, stats from Susan.....thought the  moving speed was fast.... 4.9kmh

18.26 km

Distance

4:28:06

Time

335 m

Total Ascent

3:44:57

Moving Time

4:41:57

Elapsed Time

4.1 kph

Avg Speed

4.9 kph

Avg Moving Speed