AWW 11th October 2023

A walk in the valleys around Tor ... followed by the long climb back up

A small group assembled at the Bela Vista café, Soalheira, where the coffee took so long to make, we didn't bother.  L to R: Martin, David, Frank, Miriam, Claire, Jan, Susan and John.  In the front Rafa, and Ziggy - John and Susan's dog.  Bica was still in the car! We waited a while for Peter, but had to leave without him; Jan promised to leave markers for him to catch up once he arrived. (Read the start time Peter!)

The first part of the walk was a steepish downhill along the roads until we reached the track. Markers having been left for Peter, we headed down along the valley. 

        

Although it wasn't quite as hot as previous walks, it was still very warm, and we had to have frequent water breaks.

Although we had had several messages from Peter, we decided to stop for a drink at the Aligbre river and Claire went off for a comfort break.  What an inopportune moment for Peter to appear round the bend!!

There was absolutely no sign of any water in the river, so we headed uphill towards Tor through a lovely shady area.

We skirted round the south of Tor, and headed back down to the river bed, still no water, and came across Martins lunch spot from last week.

        

There was some dissension in the ranks about staying there for lunch, but as Miriam pointed out, there was a long hill to climb and best done before lunch!  So on we went.

Passing by a fonte, we headed down to the riverbed, where it was apparent to all that there hadn't been any water in the river for quite a while.

      

After a good hours climb, we finally found some shady rocks and enjoyed some rest and sustenance.

   

Further up we went after lunch, still climbing until we came across the "Limestone pavement".  David gave me a quick Geography lesson on what it was, and apparently typically, it is a natural landform consisting of a flat incised surface of exposed limestone that resembles a pavement.  In fact this version didn't resemble a pavement, but apparently there is a famous one in Malham Cove, Yorkshire.

Bica got bored listening to the lesson, so found a hole to sit in and wait.

By now we were high enough to see the views over the valley.

One final water stop and " are we nearly there yet"

Finally we arrived back at the café in Soalheira, and fortunately the lunchtime staff were on duty so we got served quickly.

In case the writing is too small to read, 

Length 16.46 km

Elevation gain 350m

Moving time 3 hrs 37 minutes

Average pace 4.58 (pretty good i think!)