The Malháo Mountaineers  15th March 2023

On probably the warmest , sunniest Weds so far this year 8 climbers met at the dizzy heights of Malháo

Alan,Martin,Sue and Rafa, Linda and Toby, Ness, Frank, Geoff and Ros.

It was already warm and someone actually suggested staying at the café and waiting there for lunch with a view instead of slogging up hills. Common sense prevailed and the hills were calling so off we set northwards past the large  'never-to-be-opened restaurant' , the 2 look-out towers and the very tall trig .

 

From there it was mostly downhill - easy-peasy 

The first of  the 7  promised water crossings. All feet dry except Rafa's.

A little further along the valley Frank diverted taking his recovering back on a route less steep than ours and we started climb no.1 up to the pylon and beyond.

 

A one-off . Alan is now in front of Martin !!??

The only bit of shade we could find for lunch was not very comfortable but we were all warming up.

We continued down the hill towards Zambujal where Frank had perhaps caught the bus and Sue had no chance of one turning up

 

Up to Corte Bucho and down to the Rio Arade for the big, wide, deep river crossing - NOT

From here we joined the Pé de Coelho PR route , crossing the Arade 5 times on our way

with Ness performing a very neat balancing act 

and Linda paddling with Toby

A few more sloshy bits before we reached .....

and climb no.2 Pretty steep, pretty warm and pretty exhausting !

where's the top ?

it's up there !

just round the next bend - well, UP round the next bend.

 yesssss!

😅😅😅 Phew !

Many thanks for joining me and I  promise I'll lead a flattish walk one of these days . Thanks as always to Alan for the photos.

My wikilocs and my lap top aren't talking to each other any more so the route below is Alan's - how he managed to walk 2 kms more than the rest of us is a mystery !