Sparrow Fart 25th June 2025

Sparrow Fart

Sparrow: spar· row ˈsper-(ˌ)ō  ˈspa-(ˌ)rō

: any of a genus (Passer of the family Passeridae) of small chiefly brownish or grayish Old World oscine songbirds.

Fart: fart

1 of 2 verb ˈfärt 

farted; farting; farts

intransitive verb

often vulgar

: to expel intestinal gas from the anus

fart

2 of 2noun

often vulgar : a foolish or contemptible person

Well, take your pick !!  

From the left: Ken, Miriam, Bica, Martin, Karen, Julie Jan, David L, Pamela, David M and Steve. Tony was hiding behind the lens.

Ah the joyous sounds of the Algarve; dogs barking, owner shouting at them.

The early moring weather was kind to us.  Just as well as we had a steep(ish) climb coming....

but it did give us glorious views.

Be careful when stopping for water. You never know who is lurking in the bushes!!

Oh okay, it's only Martin.  The sun is clearly shining on the righteous.

Onwards and upwards. More great views.

There was some discussion on what could be seen.....far horizons or far canal???

The top of the hill.

Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair.  Oh sorry, you don't need to. There's handy scaffolding.

Oh no!  Where did Rapunzel go?

An AWW treat. A windmill and a trig.  What could be better?.......

A downhill followed by tarmac.  A cement mixer went through the wall apparently.

The glorious Algarve countryside.  Thistle do nicely.

There has to be some off-piste, bramble-filled, narrow path before you get back,

Look what happened to the last person to complain.

Last slight incline before breakfast.

The reward!

Many thanks to Sue who provided the venue and the breakfast which was a fabulous spread including; sausage, bacon, garlic mushrooms, home-made baked beans and the Laird's breakfast of scambled eggs with smoked salmon.

Thank you to everyone who walked and donated water and bars for the bombeiros.  Sue took these round to the old school at Gorgoes where they are stationed.  They were very happy and took Sue's number.  The Comandante phoned to thank her personally for our donations.

The Stats:

Distance:-        7.6 kms

Climb:-             184 m

Moving time:-    1.40

Total time:-         2:01

Have a super summer.  Get out and enjoy the walking.  See you in October. Julie and Tony.

Walk and Lunch, June 2025

 Walk and Lunch, June 2025

It's worrying that the frequency of end-of-term walks and lunches comes round more often as one ages, but I have often said that Einstein's Theory of Relativity doesn't seem to account for the fact that time in Portugal goes faster than anywhere else. Anyway there was a mutiny back in April on a Martin walk when the quorum decided that Paderne would be a good place to celebrate this for a change. As volunteers for organising walk and lunch were forthcoming, my job as co-ordinator was simply to concur.

On the appointed day , no less than 18 walkers and 3 dogs arrived in Paderne and we welcomed Carol for her first walk.....think you can recognise them all.....though only six too caffeine...:

As Alan took the photos, you will recognise his trademark  backside views...here they all are setting off down a hill:

Our first contact with some noisy & dusty quadbikes , but Ros thumbed in vain...

Our first water hazard, backsides all safely dry...

Some frontsides for a change, and a delightful smile from Miriam:

Onward we marched....

Before circumventing a perilous looking gate...

But then the local quinta owner took pity and opened the gate...if this was a hash, think the wimps would have had to endure a down-down.

Onward over a  dried-up stream:

Before the backsides climbed a steep hill....

Albeit with lovely views across the valley to the quinta....lovely place, but in the middle of nowhere!

At last the castle...no one knew what the holes were for though...(perhaps an erudite  hostorically oriented WAGS member might know...if,perchance, they have read this far?? )...

More noisy quad bikes...

This photo proves our excellent photographer exists!

No-one can recall the description on  the tin saying that what goes up has to come down a near vertiginous drop, but somehow we made it...

Back for a well earned beer and joined by Dinah and Peter for a lovely lunch at Pastelaria Moiras Encantadas, lovely shady courtyard.....very tasty couverts including grilled prawns and chorizo and then either freshly cooked fish or pork in orange sauce.....with all the usual bebidas!

Geoff remembered to thank Martin for leading another walk, for the trio of Mrs' Kitty ( Ros, Julie and  Jan) and regaled a few facts:

Lead most walks....Mr/Mrs Cancelled....5 due to rain or absence of walkers...a record?

No. of walks : 17

No. of different walkers : 53

Most walkers on a walk : 22 ( Geoff's)

Walkers who did most walks :  Toby & Linda (14)

Geoff presented a bottle to Linda and dog biscuits to Toby ( Bica had already discovered them under the table!)

Much to my surprise, Miriam kindly presented me with a wonderful box of wine and port for my efforts at co-ordinating...extremely welcome and appreciated, but unwarranted, but thanks very much!

Some stats from Martin....7.3km 161m of ascent ( he doesn't say how much descent!)

Thanks to Martin  for walk, Alan for photos , Jan for organising lunch, Julie, Ros & Miriam for kitty....words are mine.

Geoff

 

AWW Walk report – 4 June 2025 – Ribeiro Da Amieira (Cistus Valley)

Water, water everywhere!

 

10 walkers and 2 x dogs. Ken, Max, Sue, Gill, Miriam, Fiona, Kieran, Linda, Jim and Geoff the photographer, plus Bica and Toby the dogs.

 

We met at Café Trigo Bom in Figueira.  Then we drove 4kms further up the road and started the walk well away from any tarmac.

 

 

We took a short cut through a field to join a nice wide track and then came our first of many water crossings.

Then we cut into the hidden valley and joined the narrow paths between the cistus bushes.

We even had water on one of the paths.

We headed up the one main hill of the day, enjoying the views of all the water in the valley.

 The weather was slightly cooler today with a light breeze so very pleasant, the only thing to spoil it was the buzzing noise coming from the Portimao race track.  A formula 4 race was taking place.

We passed the hover craft track but no action there, just one lonely looking hover craft.

The dogs loved all the water today.

The only people we saw were a couple of men harvesting cork.  Our guys stopped to chat and were surprised to hear they only get 20 euros for 15 kilos of cork.

We found a nice shady area to relax and enjoy our picnic lunches and listen to the gushing stream nearby.  Ken modelled his new head wear for us.

On and one through more water crossings.

We had a close call at the last water crossing.  Kieran was helping Ken but they both nearly fell backwards into the water.  Geoff as usual had his camera at the ready. That was a close call.

We drove back down to Figueira and enjoyed nice cool drinks at the café.

 

The walk was 14.5kms and took 4 ½ hours, including lunch stop.  Well done everyone for completing the full walk and for joining us today.  Thanks, Geoff, for all the photos.

Linda