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.