AWW 29.11.23. Covoes - Benafim

 A Review of the Perambulation Undertaken by Certain Adherents of the Society Known as the Algarve Wednesday Walkers, in the Vicinity of the Hamlet of Covoes, on the 29th Day of November 2023. With Illustrations.

At the appointed time, ten members of the said Society, plus the designated Leader for the day, presented themselves at the residence of the said Leader, and were royally greeted first by the offering of sweetmeats and liquid refreshments, prepared by the spouse of said Leader, and second by the hound of said leader, which in typical fashion fawned over the members of the gathering, and went on to try to rip the throat out of another hound, property of one of the members.

AWW Walk report – 22 November 2023 – Val Do Boi  (Madrona walk)

 

16 walkers and 4 x dogs. Ken, Nora, Tony, Susan, Jill, Julie, David, Jan, Martin, Ros, Peter, Frank, Geoff, John, Vince, Linda the photographer, plus Toby the dog, the other 3 x dogs (Bicca, Raffa and Ziggy) were playing in the river.

 

We met in Rasmalho and then drove 4kms further up the road to the start of the walk which reduced the number of hills we had to climb.

It was a long gradual climb up the valley during the morning but we enjoyed the mountain view and clear blue skies.  What a fantastic day for walking!

There was a short downhill stretch to add a bit of variety to the uphill climb.

We could see Picotta getting closer, Geoff zoomed in to get a better look.  I promised we were not going that far up the mountain.

Now we could start to head back down the valley and take a rest and early lunch at the hunting club.  We had only done 7kms at this point.

The guys had a team meeting at the table provided by the hunters.

Some relaxed on the sofa, taking time to have a good stretch.

Others sat and enjoyed the amazing countryside and the fishing lake.

Whilst we ate, we watched some workers digging the land nearby and laying down straw.  We asked what they were doing and they showed us all the ripe Madronas waiting to be planted to grow more trees.

We left our rest stop behind and headed down the valley again. 

The dogs lead the way, especially Toby as he had been on the recci two weeks before.

 

The landscape looked very nice with all the newly dug terraces waiting for more Madrona to be planted.

David wondered how far we were from the Via Algarviana route.  Jill and I agreed it was over the hills and far away.  There are no marked walking trails in this area.

Our group of walkers were starting to spread out now so we dropped the pace to help keep the pack together.

As we got lower down the valley it became lusher and greener and Raffa but on a display to show his appreciation. ( I think he had just found a choice piece of fox poo to roll in!...Ed)

We all enjoyed watching the dogs cool off in the river just before we got back to the cars for the drive back to the café.

We were all very jovial at the café.   My tracker battery had packed up but it was agreed the walk was just short of 16kms as promised.

Thank you for joining me in this lovely part of the Algarve and for the extra photos from Geoff and Tony.  See you all soon. Linda

 Linear walk from Parizes to Sao Bras 9^th November 2023

 

After early morning rain the sun came out and I was lucky enough to ‘volunteer’ to write the blog for the most glorious of three days of walking – as it turned out!

I had blue skies, sunshine and 10 happy walkers with a spring in their step and a smile on their faces - but sadly excluding a rather lame Jim, and Frank and Jan. We met in Sao Bras in a lovely sunny café and had a “very decent coffee” to quote Geoff, before heading off to our meeting point in Parizes. 

Gill rightly suggested that we all needed to stretch and limber up before our day of walking … so energetic early morning gymnastics were called for -

 

We were so enthusiastic we were caught doing a good hamstring stretch in the group photo. 

According to the bosses we had a lot to look forward to - plenty of downhill paths with little uphill slogs, so optimism reigned.

Shortly after setting off Ros found a wash house which she couldn’t ignore. Obviously being an extremely conscientious housewife, Sue joined her too. 

The countryside was beautiful. Rolling hills and woodland…perfect for our downhill stroll 

We clambered past a tree which had obviously only just fallen over our path. 

After 30 minutes of walking, it dawned on us that the walk description wasn’t quite as accurate as we’d hoped. This downhill walk was proving to be rather uphill.  

Yesterday we helpfully moved the fallen signpost into the correct position. Today we realised that we weren’t as smart as we thought and put it up again.

Finally after 9.8 kms we found our river lunch picnic spot chosen by Gill. Perfect for a relaxed lunch in the sunshine and approved of by our doggie companions and a colourful dragonfly. 

Gill (the Boss) assured us that it really was downhill from then onwards. 

Had we heard this before?  On we marched into what felt like the middle of nowhere when from the side of the path a smart wooden construction appeared. Obviously a public convenience we joked.  But yes, that’s exactly what it was. Absolutely incredible. Here’s evidence of Ken trying it out …well almost! 

Here I am shocked at the goings on around the public loo….or was it just the Portuguese heat getting to me?  

We took streams and rivers in our stride.

Gill swore it was all downhill - it just didn’t look like it ….

Finally the tarmac we’d been longing for appeared, signalling the end of the walk and we arrived in Sao Bras around 4.30pm - we’re obviously not getting any faster. 18 beautiful kms in fabulous countryside, but what more could you wish for? Thanks to all those - Gill, Jim, Susan and John - who reccied todays walk. A triumph indeed. Thanks also to Alan for taking most of the photographs.
Then on to the never disappointing ‘last supper’ in Tia Bia.  

Alan and Carol joined us and Ros thanked Geoff on our behalf for all his hard work organising us difficult OAPs. 

 

As the evening continued the effect of the wine became more obvious.

Big thanks to everyone for making it such fun.

Love to all, Marian

 Barranco do Velho walking festival - Day 3

Circular walk from Parizes

10.11.23

We were joined by Alan and Jan for the final day of the walking festival.  L to R: John, Ros, Marian, Susan, Gill, Alan, Sue, Geoff, Jan, Miriam and Ken with Ziggy and Bica in the front.

  Jim had sat on this chair in the bus shelter the day before .... and broken it!  But overnight the chair repair shop had been there and mended it with staples! Jim decided not to risk sitting on it again. Miriam spotted what she thought may have been some glasses on the floor; turned out Sue had lost hers so was happy to find them.  Maybe she'd taken a lesson from Ros, who searched high and low at breakfast for the glasses she left down on the dinner table the night before.  Rather sheepishly she admitted that she'd actually found them tucked in her jumper that she'd taken down to dinner and forgotten about !! (too much wine Ros?!!)

And so although we didn't have the wonderful blue skies and sun of the day before , we set off for to quote Jim " a wind down muscle relaxant of about 15 kms."  Who was he kidding!!

The first section was a quite tricky downhill overlarge rough stones and as it had rained overnight were quite slippery.  Once in the valley we climbed back  up the same sort of terrain until we came to the level path on the ridge.

Down we walked to the first of the water crossings.  No need for the plastic bags at this stage

It was at this stage that Gill and John, the walk leaders, started to have some doubts as to which way we should proceed.  They could see where we needed to go - the wind turbines at the top of the hill, but the issue was - which was the best way to get there? So although it looked a sunny day from the photo, it was in fact turning increasingly foggy and damp.  So a route was chosen and the only way was up!!  ( and up and up!! )

Somewhere in the distance we could hear a whistle blowing, and shouting.  It turned out to be Jim who had come to meet us and couldn't see us on the prearranged path. But our walk leaders had kindly found us a less steep path to climb up!  Well you wouldn't have thought so by the weary looks on all our faces, especially Geoff.

Once up at the top we walked along the road to the wind turbines, the tops of which couldn't be seen in the mist and fog.  We decided the day had become " a dreich day" although to be fair it wasn't as cold as Aberdeen might have been!! Rain gear was donned and after meeting Jim, and some discussion as to the way ahead, we set off again.

There was some discussion at this point about lunch.  We found a super place with chairs and a shelter at Cachopo, but it was agreed to carry on as we still had a way to go.  We came into a beautiful acorn forest.  Not from oak trees of course, but from the cork trees.  We came across a fallen tree and most of us went over it.  Sue however decided to go under, and got stuck.  With her bad knee it became a bit tricky, until Miriam came to the rescue and helped her out.

   

The forest continued to surprise us.  An old wall beautifully built that seemed to lead to nowhere, with fabulous mushrooms that we decided not to eat even though by then we were starving.

Finally we found a place to sit for lunch.  By then it had stopped raining. So we stopped for a short break.

Heading off after lunch we saw the  welcome sign for Parises and came across this: no one had any idea what is was - answers on a postcard please.

John and Gill promised us some water crossings, but none had been difficult and we hadn't needed any plastic bags .. until we came across a big crossing.  There were many different ways to cross, but John had to win first prize for his bin liner bags with handles.   The dogs ran in and out and everyone made their way across in their own fashion.

  

And so it was upwards towards Parises 

The bus shelter was a welcome sight.                        Last man standing!

  

Thanks to Gill Jim John and Susan for recceing all the walks and organising another successful "away walk" for the AWW.  Thanks also to Geoff for his unstinting work keeping us all in order and having things run so smoothly.

Stats:

Distance:  15.65 km

Time:         5 hours 23 minutes

Elevation:  642m

Average pace:  3.3km/hr