A wander around Silvesian Hills....with Memories

 A wander around Silvesian Hills....with Memories

I thought we might get a record turnout this week,  but a couple of cancellations left a respctable 15 with 3 dogs, all finding the Retiring Fisherman's cafe at Pedreiras. Sue & I hadn't been there for 5 years, some never, but the cyclists knew it as a coffee & cake stop....names as usual:

Admiring the Birds of Paradise....

We set off on a bit of tarmac, finding the local rubbish lorry dealing with a couple of errant sofas...

Before scrambling up to the lavada:

Not the most exciting of trails, but a beautiful sunny morning :

Some thought the cafe was the one frequented by a certain John Hope ( once a leading AWW walker, now a WAG) , but they had mistaken the Retiring Fishermen for  Cafe Elias , once run ( & perhaps still is?) by a quite elderly couple who produced biscuits to go with apres-walk drinks....the aforementioned John's 80th birthday bash recalling fond memories. We passed the turning to  Elias but continued along the levada....David spotted something:

None other than a marker left by Maurice Clyde, a good 25 years ago...Maurice was a founder member of the AWW...

Talk of John H and the Elias reminded me of his (in)famously multi-darned walking shirt : Hazel, wisely, would have nothing to do with it, leaving John to do his best in sewing up holes with mis-matching fabric. David recalled John's Ode to the shirt when he finally ditched it!....again at Elias.

At last, the end of the levada ( phase 1 ) and thence up into the hills.....

With a backward glance at the Castle...

...and some " artwork"?....thoughts?

This is the cross-tracks where a left would take us to Aguas Bellas , with memories of an early walk of mine!

I had lost more than my allowance of 10%....mainly due to owners hunting for errant dogs ( yes, one was Rosie).....I recall  Ros finding an improptu lead in her knapsack ( a dress belt  I think ) and John H ( that man again ) regaling us with tales of a madronha still in the woods.

We passed a couple of steepish inclines that we ascended with my CVO Monday Walkers back in the day , but we opted out of that this time!

The rains of a few weeks ago had carved out a handy trench for lunch:

Before some welcome downhill...

And  a look at the barragem....or what was left of it...

Past some local wildlife....fortunately with dogs on leads...and some colourful flowers...

Before scrambling up to the levada ( again).....

David recalled an early AWW walk of his along the levada....to reduce the boredom, he held a quiz! Wish I had thought of that, but there was a lot of chatter, so perhaps people didn't mind tooooo much.

Fortunately, no dogs got into the levada, though Rafa did look very interested at one stage....anyway, back to the cafe for a well earned drink....with 20€ profit for Mrs Kitty...

The pink glow isn't entirely artistic.....the red awning bathed us all in ruby! Susan had changed for the occassion...

Thanks to all....and for Alan for  most of photos....and perhaps John H can add his shirt ode?

Map and Stats:

Geoff

Post-script

Since Geoff has revived old memories, for which many thanks, I´ve taken the liberty of adding my bit to his blog. 

I cannot remember the shirt ode; in fact I have little idea what he is talking about - but I still have the shirt.. Was it one  of Sue´s odes?

The walk he refers to from Café Elias was on 16 01 2020; my 80th birthday was the day before. We did 18.6 kms in the hills, although it felt much, much further to me. This was the Starter photograph:

and I think that you will see Susan in it, next to Sue M. The blog for that day is at :-

https://hopejandh.blogspot.com/2020/01/aww-15th-january-2020-extraordinary.html

and  No, Geoff, I will not offer to lead it again on 15th January 2025,