AWW 25th September 2024

Aguas Frias - in the rain

A small group of us posing for the camera before we set off - a bit late as Jan went to the wrong café and there was no signal to contact her, or her us!

Ros, Terry, David, Ken, Jan and Peter, and in the front row Linda with Toby and Bica.  Yours truly behind the camera.

 

So off we set, along the river Arade which had absolutely no water at all in it.  It was extremely humid and we were already sweating.

         

Are we going up that hill?                        Phew, no continue straight on

After a while we turned off the main path to continue through the bamboos along the river and stopped for yet more water.

           

We stopped at Zambujal on the bridge but there was no water to be seen.  Linda and I remembered a previous time we walked here when all the dogs were swimming in the water and there were ladies doing the washing. (I'm sure Geoff will be able to find the original photo!)

             

And then we headed off into the hills on the first of the 2 long hills up that Miriam had promised.  The clouds were beginning to look a little threatening by then.

At the top we stopped for a break and David decided to take the quicker way back down from a comfort break! He was dissuaded from the precipitous route down!

                               

The rain that had threatened duly arrived. Downhill we went and some donned their wet weather gear. Others hadn't brought any so were just going to get wet!

At the top of the second hill it was shades of the Sycamore Gap except it was a Eucalyptus tree that had been partly felled.  By now the mist came in and the rain was fairly heavy and the views fast disappeared.

              

By the time we reached the bottom of the hill having decided it was too wet to stop for lunch, we walked out of the clouds and into the sun. Bica and Toby found a puddle.

So now we headed back to the café for our lunch.  Unfortunately Miriam took a turn too soon and we ended up in a river bed with a very strange deposit.

 Then things went a bit pear-shaped. Linda, Ros and Peter decided to find a short cut back to the café.  Ken found a steep exit out of the river bed to the correct path and took Jan and Terry with him.  David was nowhere to be seen and Miriam went back to find the correct path.

So David emerged safe and sound waving from the bridge.  Ken Terry and Jan climbed up the bank and were also safe.  Miriam strode along the correct path. Linda and Toby found a short cut , but there were no signs of Ros and Peter.  Terry went to see if he could see a way through for them but couldn't.  Eventually after much whistling and shouting, the pair were located heading back up the correct path having also found a path up the river bank.

So then it was a stroll back to the café but passing some very fertile land.  Linda and Miriam found some excellent figs, Jan a bunch of grapes; we couldn't pick the pumpkins or the olives and the sheep looked on.

And so it was back to the café for drinks and biscuits.  As it was Kens birthday the next day, Miriam brought biscuits to share after lunch.

      

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