AWW Paderne Circuit October 12th 2022

 AWW Paderne Circuit October 12th 2022

On a beautiful autumnal morning we met at the main car park in Paderne and found at least two coffee shops open to encourage our start. Impressively all 9 attendees and two dogs arrived in plenty of time to allow an earlier than planned start of 9:25am!

Ready to go were (from left): Miriam, Jill, John, Martin, Jim, Ros, Susan, Ken and Alan. Showing off his bum was Rafa and hiding behind was Bica.

We set of directly up the hill beside the cemetery on a loop towards Paderne castle.

This loop continued winding its way south west until we crossed under the A22 bridge and stopped for a water break.

We then turned right along the Quarteira River riverbed and crossed the dry bed passing an old quinta which many of the hashers will remember used to be a holiday centre. 

We then started a long narrow trail down the riverbed to an old bridge and a good stop for a group photo.

Retracing our trail but now on the other side of the riverbed we slowly started the climb up to Paderne Castle.

After another deserved water break we started a slow dusty climb back towards the east side of Paderne crossing over the A22 this time.

Skirting the east side of Paderne we finally turned north off the tarmac to find some nice views over the surrounding hills and valleys.

Time now to find a shaded spot for some lunch:

Ros used the opportunity for a bit of social media catch-up:

Following lunch we climbed to the highest point of the overall walk along some dusty trails.

With a temperature of 27C our two smart dogs used all available shade opportunities:

Now turning south and downhill we walked through some lovely farmland.

Along the way we came across an interesting local known scientifically as Sphodromantis viridis or more generally as the European Mantis.

Now turning back towards Paderne we passed a Goji Berry farm well fenced and protected by cameras. For the record (courtesy of Wikipedia): 

Goji, goji berry, or wolfberry (Chinese: 枸杞; pinyin: gǒuqǐ) is the fruit of either Lycium barbarum or Lycium chinense, two closely related species of boxthorn in the nightshade family, Solanaceae.[1] L. barbarum and L. chinense fruits are similar but can be distinguished by differences in taste and sugar content.

Both of these species are native to Asia and have been long used in traditional Asian cuisine.

The fruit has also been an ingredient in traditional Chinese, Korean, and Japanese medicine since at least the 3rd century AD. In pharmacopeias, the fruit of the plant is called by the Latin name lycii fructus and the leaves are called herba lycii.

Since about 2000, goji berry and derived products have become common in developed countries as health foods or alternative medicine remedies, extending from exaggerated and unproven claims about their health benefits.

We finally reached Paderne and a very welcome cold beer:

Walk summary:

Total distance 15.9KM

Net ascent: 219m (Ros are you seeing this!)

Youtube link to 3D Visualisation of walk: Paderne aww 16km Oct2022 • Hiking Route » outdooractive.com

Thanks to Alan for the photos, Ros for the sweets and everyone else for the company and chat.

Martin