Monte de Charneca Circular. 05.02.25.
The Taberna Monte de Charneca was a new starting venue for the AWW, but all 12 participants turned up well before time, probably because the cafe is right by the side of the N124, hard to lose your way.
Those signing up for this Very Easy Walk were:
John D, Audrey, Linda, Alan, Fiona, Kieran, Steve S., Holger, Peter, Martin, Jan and your humble servant. Bica, Raffa and Toby were also with us, whether they wanted to be or not.
A welcome back to John D, who came expecting the walk description to match the reality, to Jan, fresh from the ski slopes of Austria, To Steve S on one of his regular visits, to Audrey, taking charge of Bica while Ken and Miriam live it up somewhere exotic, and to Holgar, an escapee from the delights of winter in Stockholm
After coffee etc from a fairly taciturn bar owner, we set off along the 124 to the far end of Charneca village, and I made the first mistake in record time, turning up the wrong track as I looked for the way to Fonte Santa. Returning to the main road, we advanced up the correct track in the bright sunshine that stayed with us all day.
Spurning the delights of Fonte Santa, we cut across the fields to the south and, reaching the track coming back from there, turned south to return to the 124. When we arrived at the main road, Alan decided to call it a day and went home to nurse his throat/chest infection. Which left us down to 11 two legs and minus our paparazzo - hence the lack of photos after a certain point.
Crossing the 124, we made our way on clear tracks gently downhill, crossing a shallow stream before climbing through the first of many orchards to reach a fire tower, followed by the long trek through lovely countryside down to Monte Brito.
Here I had anticipated having a break and a drink at the one remaining cafe in the village but despite the door standing open, we were told `fechado`, so we resumed the walk, and had lunch sitting on a low wall beside the track leading towards Areerio.
The next stage was somewhat complicated, as we wandered around orchards, over walls and rough ground, before reaching the edge of a precipice overlooking a quite deep stream gorge. I remembered this from my last experience, but it seemed that a lot more stones had been piled up, making the rocky descent more precipitous. Peter went exploring for an alternative route while the rest descended gingerly to the stream, and then hauled ourselves out the other side courtesy of Linda´s pole and a tough tree root.
Gathering ourselves after that minor ordeal, we crossed a meadow and climbed the hill up to Areerio. Having walked through the slightly confusing streets, we ended on the tarmac at the other end. Martin and I were in the lead, and we took what turned out to be the wrong road to follow for my intended route, but the chosen way ended at a main road which was only a few metres from the continuation of my track in any case.
At this point time and distance were beginning to be a factor, so instead of pursuing my original route, we decided to return by a shorter and more direct way, linking up with our outward track in the process. Finally, to avoid some of the 124, we took a minor path to the left, which ended up facing the main road - behind a gate. Fortunately, as Peter demonstrated, this was held closed only by some coated wire, so we were able to escape, and walk the final half k back to the bar. We supplemented the outdoor chairs and sat in very pleasant conditions with our drinks.
It turned out that we had covered 15.8k (almost the distance I had offered) at a very respectable 4.4k moving. I suppose that having only climbed a total of 282m, a good speed was to be expected.
Thanks to Alan for the early photos, and to all for the patience and good humour shown throughout.
Good to see John D back.....looks a lot drier than last week, with blue sky!
ReplyDeleteThanks David for taking over the lead for me . Sounds an interesting ! route
ReplyDeleteWhat fun. Water and rocks.... sounds like a game. So enjoyable. Thank you, David.
ReplyDeleteThanks David. The rivers and walls to clamber made it all good fun.
ReplyDeleteLooks a varied and fun route. But at least it was sunny.
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