1 March 2023....Fuzeiros, Lynx Farm and Funcho

 1 March 2023....Fuzeiros, Lynx Farm and Funcho

Trying to follow Jim's wee tale  last week of a fatburner around Bensafrim is a hard task, but here goes.....with only 3 days before the walk,  it was a bit disconcerting that there were only 3 coming . We had heard of the EAGIS ( The Eastern Algarve Geriatric and Infirm Strollers...the Eastern mirror of the WAGS, The Western Algarve Geriatric Saunterers....all ex AWW ) and wondered if they would be a larger group? Nothing to fear, a flood of late acceptancies and a bakers' dozen met at the Silva ( 80c still for a meia de leite!) :

L to R : Miriam, Ken, Sue, Darren, Linda, Julia, Trish, Bruce, Jerry, Della, Geoff, Vyv...Alan kneeling...and Bica and Toby

We welcomed our Canadian friends Jerry and Della for their virgin AWW walk.

Our previous route was " over the top" but now deemed a bit treachourous, so we set off along 800m of tarmac, in glorious sunshine and spring flowers.

With an interestingly shaped tree on the horizon:

The brief made no mention of water crossings, but this was merely a puddle..

Where have all the girls gone?

We skirted the outer barrier of the lynx farm...

....to get our first view of the Arade:

Fortunately, the bee hives had gone, and the information panels ( and the look out point) still hadn't been replaced after the fires :

Though Vyv wondered if he could fit in the frame :

This is what they should have shown..

We looked at the farm....now two enclosures.... but unfortunately couldn't spot any lynx...

Crossing the road, we came upon the Funcho and tums were beginning to rumble : we made for the ruins where we lunched on the VA, Miriam finding a chair still there...

though gallantly (?) surrendered it to Ken :

...while other made do...

But we all enjoyed a glorious view :

All good things come to an end, so off we hiked, with Bica loyally waiting for the stragglers....

An uneventful walk back, but with a stop at the rock tombs for those who hadn't previously seen them :

The tombs are early middle ages....the menhirs on the ridge opposite are older, about 5,000 BC....more details at :

Circuito Arqueológico da Vilarinha – Vale Fuzeiros (visitalgarve.pt)

And so back to the Silva, for a well earned drink :

Vyv had an interesting 3d version of the walk, have a look at

 :  https://www.relive.cc/view/v4OG9nN3n5q

He also made a very generous donation to our kitty, many thanks Vyv. Look forward to meeting you out here again.

The stats  show a creditable 4.6kph, but our 20km took an overall 5 hours as we were back at 3pm...Jim's wee walk was only 1km longer , yet we didn't finish till 4pm...must have walked slower/admired more views/had too many hills!

And finally.....here is the wee leader on our VA odyssey ( Day 6 )  sitting where Miriam/Ken did back on 8 December 2021....though the chair has been updated!

For lovers of nostalgia, the blog of that day is at :

AWW 2015-23: VA Day 6 : Messines to Arade dam (hopejandh.blogspot.com)

Otherwise memorable for the day I was attacked by a Panda and Miriam treated us all to mince pies!

Thanks to Alan  & Jerry for most of photos.

Geoff