Around Arimbo -My Way

 Around Arimbo - My Way

Ok it didn't start too well as the street to the cafe was blocked off by roadworks.  They weren't there on Saturday when I recce'd the cafe  Typical.

Here we are behind a barrier as some people think we should be.

Peter, Tony, Julie, Jim, Linda, Toby (hiding behind the sign, Jackie (hiding behind Linda), Gill, David, Martin, Bica, Audrey, James, Rafa, and Tom.  Jan arrived just after the photo was taken.

Welcome to our new recruits, Jackie and Tom  

Having driven to the start we set off on an easy downhill.  Well I thought it was easy. Unfortunatly Jan slipped and hurt her wrist.  

Tony leading from behind as he knew what was coming!!

Crossing the river into Arimbo. The dogs were enjoying it while some of us were engaged in jungle warfare.

Sadly for Toby there were no chickens or the big black cock that was there when we reece'd the route.  

A stop to check directions on Mapy then off up the hill. 

And up...

And up....  Crampons and rope anyone?

Yes it really was that steep but then it's my way! This was not the last climb!!  

There was a short climb up to the trig at Corte and Alan volunteered to climb it.  I thought he'd been in the army where you're taught never, ever volunteer.

Alan googled this creature and he thought it was an African Ground Cricket.  We tried to recruit it to the AWW but it was having none of that. It knew what was coming!

 The deserted village of Pero de Amigos.  Needs a bit of work but you can do it if you B & Q it.

How many AWW can you get in that bucket?  Here we were off-piste as I failed to shout stop to Tony and the front walkers.  I thought I could find a new route on Mappy. Err no.

So I marched them down to the bottom of the hill and  marched them back again!!

Great views on the ridge and mercifully no photos of the downhill as it was too steep to stop and look through a lens.  Regrets I've had a few and this decent was one of them. It was the easier of several we could have used and everyone knows I'm not fond/good at going down.  That's why it was my way!!!  At the road Jim and Gill very sensibly took the short cut up the tarmac to the cars.

A moment of quiet reflection.

Last river crossing then on to the sting in the tail. Well it was my way.

Oh yes....it really was that steep but short. My way!!

Easy track along pallet alley and then a couple of minutes back to the cars.
  

A well earned drink and some folk were still smiling.  We had a very interesting discussion about chicks with sticks and blokes with small balls.  Tony goes to blokes with big balls.

And a reminder of what might happen if you criticise the walk leader.

The stats courtesy of Martin:- 

15 kms

554 metres of climb

Just over 5 hours

Many thanks to Alan for the super photos and Carol for sorting our laptop out. 

Tony Sinatra and Julie Vicious 

Alportel...and then North

                                                  Alportel...and then North

Finally, the postponed walk of the previous week, ( due to torrential rain ) took place .Whilst I had notified all those that were coming of the postponement, unfortunately Zacharias Schwartz a new walker,

was unable to be informed at the short notice that morning.

So I had to go to the meeting point and he was there ready to walk in the rain !

I had no courage to deny to accompany him. Soaking wet we did the walk and returned

taller and heavier of

rainwater and clay. Today’s Walk started with mixed feelings from the heavy rain hours before. Audrey and James Lenehan with Bica, Fiona and Kieran O'Brien, David Littlewood and

myself left the local

Cafe in good mood ignoring the few drizzles.

Walking along the narrow streets of Alportel we slowly climbed up to the northern

ridge above the

village and eastwards down into the Vale Estacas.

Bica ,back and leading the way

With an occasional glimpse of sun we passed the

lowlands with already a lot of water in the rivers. Up north direction Lavajo.

The weather improved more

a more and with ease we arrived Muda where we crossed the M1202 heading west.

Beautiful landscape and flowers :

and too many confusing tracks and trails.

Which way did they go?

After short break, enjoying our snacks, we continued direction Fonte Ferreira .

With the smell of urbanisation

in our noses we reached the Cafe in Alportel after around 5 hours and a total of 16,2 km.

Peter

 AWW 2nd October 2024.

To The Rocha and Beyond! (Only a bit)

The fact that this walk as originally outlined bore no relation to what actually happened will probably surprise no one, but it was (largely) enjoyable nevertheless.

It was good to find the cafe at Penina open when we all arrived in good time for the start at 09.30. The weather on the previous day had been summer hot, but thankfully it cooled down for us, and we were never distressed by the heat. Those taking part were:

Ros, Jan, Martin, Peter, Fiona, Kieran, Alan, Linda and Yours Truly. Rafa and Toby kept us in order

             Always this pre-walk optimism. Oh dear.

A warm welcome back from the Emerald Isle to Fiona and Kieran, and to Alan from wherever he and Carol have been making holes in targets.

I explained that some people had expressed concern about the steep descent from Rocha da Pena, so I had modified the route to take this into account. I also pointed out that there were possible short cuts should we so desire, information that proved totally useless as it turned out.

                Reaching the plateau

              A View from a Trig.

We left Penina on time and climbed up to the plateau of Rocha da Pena, an ascent that always seems longer than I remember. Reaching level ground I invited all newbies to make the pilgrimage to the trig point (a 240m detour.) In the end all but one of us made the trip, to see the wonderful view once more.

           And another from a bit further on.

Pressing on, we walked the edge of the plateau, again recalling how stony and windy this bit can be, and stopping for a discussion (again) about the origin of the Great Wall, which is now adorned with an explanatory board.

                                On the way to Bar das Grutas

           And on to the windmills

Next, instead of taking the narrow path to the end of the plateau and dropping off, we made the hairpin turn to walk down the wider path to Bar das Grutas, meeting a large party of German walkers on the way down (They had arrived in a bus, so we ignored them). Reaching the Bar and fountain, we averted our eyes and turned again, to make the gentle climb up the windmills, eyeing a rock climber hanging off the cliff.

              Guten Morgen

               And the best of British to you!

 It was a surprise to find that renovation work has been done on both stumps, presumably for letting or residential purposes.

            Des(ish) Res.

              Getting too comfortable

A short break here at the picnic stop was followed by the descent to the Alcaria- Tameira road. I took the direct route rather than the winding track, and got one or two black looks at the bottom. Ros sustained a strain to her `good` knee, which slowed her pace for the rest of the walk. 

            Going Down!

Crossing the road, we headed up to a track like a roller-coaster that runs parallel to the tarmac for a couple of ks, and ends up at tarmac not far from Alcaria. Lunch was taken here under a mix of sun and cloud, before we moved off again, up the road a little way, then branching off over a rise to come down in a rather haphazard fashion to the outskirts of Alcaria. 

           Resting again? The Plod (!) will get you!

            On the roller coaster

            Lunch

Next was a trek along tarmac as if returning to Rocha, meeting a couple of noisy dogs on the way. After maybe a k, we turned off left to cross the valley towards the N124, passing through the scruffy hamlet of Casas Martin Anes, with lots more dogs. 

Reaching the 124 beyond this, I called a halt to discuss the continuation of the walk, as we had taken quite a long time already. The decision was taken to abandon the planned route and take the quicker way back to Penina via Pena and the Bar das Grutas. We descended into the valley below Pena and up the steep climb to the bar, and then followed the wide dirt road back to Peninia below the Rocha. Close to the end we rediscovered the narrow footpath running into Penina to avoid walking the tarmac.

            Nearly there.

The group rather straggled into the village, but all enjoyed the usual refreshments and chat, though some requested beverages were unavailable.

          Lots more seating than we used to have!

There was the usual debate about distance covered. I have settled for something over 15k, with 660m of climb, but frankly, stats mean less and less these days.

Thanks once more to Alan for the photos.

Thanks to all for a good if taxing day, good wishes to Ros for the knees. We could have quite small groups for the next couple of weeks!

            Quite the ugliest figure of eight I´ve ever seen.