Mertola Awaydays, 21 and 22 February 2024 : Walks to Minas Sao Domingo and Pomarao Old Railway Track

 Walks to Minas Sao Domingo and Pomarao Old Railway Track

Day -1 : ThePrologue

New boy Peter had suggested a couple of days up in the Alentejo to explore and appreciate  some of Portugal's industrial past, something novel for most of us. Sue & I formed the vanguard, with a brief to find a good eatery, so we stopped at Almodovar to appreciate the Alentajan flowers, ancient bridge and artistic fire engine :

Off to Mertola, with it's lovely castle which some may not have been around :

Mission  to find a good eatery accomplished, despite lots of places closed, we awaited the main party on the 'morrow.

Day 1 : Problems come in 3s they say....

The first was minor....a couple of the cars were stopped by the GNR and asked for their papers, all happily in order. 

The second wasn't. Peter had given Tony & Julie a lift and Tony made the mistake of complementing Peter on how well his ( 24 year) old car was going when....bang , crash, wallop. Consensus was the alternator belt broke, hitting the water hose and smashing a plastic coupling, draining the coolant. This was the site that met us en route to the start, a couple of other cars having stopped to help...or gawp :

Despite lots of helpful suggestions involving duct tape and tights, Peter decided to leave it to the professionals and arranged for the car to be collected and repaired : his passengers scrambled into the others' cars and off we went.

The third perhaps pailed a little in comparison ; the coffee shop was shut ! There was another nearby, but service was so slow, most gave up.

The regular  AWW contingent of 12 walkers and 2 dogs were augmented by 5 hashers that Peter had press ganged to make up numbers .....Pam & David, Yvette & David and Paul. Due to the realtively short notice, others were in Ireland, Uk or nursing replaced hips. The starting 17 :

L to R : David, Martin,Tony,Ros,Karen,Yvette,Julie, David, Pam,Linda, Paul, Geoff, Sue, Russell, Steve

Kneeling : Alan, Peter...plus Rafa & Toby.

Off we set for the ruined mines, this tells all:

We had a fascinating  time walking through the area, which apparently employed 3,000 workers at one stage : a mix of slag heaps, ruined power stations, old ore crushing plants and goodness knows what else.....Alan's and my  photos explain better :

 

There was a quarry/opencast mine, but lots of warnings about contaminated water....it looked inky black, but multi-coloured at edge...someone said it was over 400m deep...

We walked on...

The structures got weirder, and some wished we had a guide to explain the different functional roles of the ruins...

We had lunch in some shade....

and then a bit of a scramble....

Before wending our way back....

At least the poisoned earth made for some lovely colours:

 and hence back to where we started .

The coffee shops all seemed shut when we got back : Alan had to leave as he was only here for the day and Martin fancied the cafe by the lake. The others took local advice and headed for the Primary School, now a social  centre for the retired with cheap drinks!

   

Martin eventually returned, with some tale about swimming in the lake...anyway, back to Mertola, change and shower and a couple of sundowners, before off to the  Cegonha Branca. There, for  those that can recall it, we all seemed to have enjoyed a good meal and wine...and yet more wine. As our token of appreciation to Peter, the group treated him to dinner....but only telling him after he had ordered.....didn't want him to get carried away with fillet steak and champagne!

Before staggering back , with a final glance at the castle :

Day 1 map and stats :

Day 2 : Pomarao Old Railway Track

Some of us ( well, your scribe) were feeling a tad delicate after the previous night, but 15 of us managed to find Pomarao on the Guadiana, right on the border.

  

Our photographer Alan had archery practice today and Ros decided to nurse her injured knee rather than risk it in the tunnels, so we were 15 to start......your's truly behind the lens....

but Peter's machete perhaps gave a clue as to what was in store:

First, we inspected the derelict ship  loading ramp :

With great views of the Guadiana:

We set off and entered our first tunnel...

...mercifully short...

But then  down a ravine with use of the machete and perhaps up some hill?

   

At this stage, discretion overtook your scribe's enthusiasm, couple with the after-effects of last night, so Sue & Geoff reluctantly decided to abandon the walk , wishing the others good luck. We did walk on for a little bit , to see most emerge from a tunnel:

We retraced our steps, past a ruined bridge and a pretty stream:

to the border bridge with a view of the Embalse del Chanza :

Many thanks  to Peter for leading and Alan for most of photos ( If anyone wants high resolution copies of any....there are over 100 between Alan & myself...please just ask.

Geoff

I had asked for a walk description and photos of the Day 2 expedition after we abandoned them : Tony has kindly sent these, fairly self explanatory .

Another abandoned walker?