AWA (formerly AWW) FATBURN IN BENSAFRIM, WEDNESDAY 19 JANUARY, 2019

AWA (formerly AWW) FATBURN IN BENSAFRIM, WEDNESDAY 19 JANUARY, 2019

I had tried to get Jim to blog this directly, but had never heard such a litany of excuses along the lines of ( "sorry sir, the dog eat my homework") ; first it was Gill's photos being too big, then her cloud being too full,  then his ipad  not charging properly, you name it! Anyway , in the spirit of helpful co-operation, here are his words and Gill's photos for your edification....Geoff/editor/co-ordinator/etc)

ROLL CALL

Geoff & Sue, Russell & Linda, Sue M, Ros, Isobel, Martin, Kim, Terry M, Steve & Margaret, Terry & Pat, John, Tony, David, Jim & Gill, ...whose missing... Ah hem...Nicholas!

SANS ST NICHOLAS 

QUESTION: IS THE ABOVE PHOTO A METAPHOR FOR -

    a) the condition of Mother Theresa's Brexit Plan

                                    OR

    b) the fat left on the bodies of the renamed AWA (Algarve Wednesday Athletes)

THE EVENT - HOW DID WE DO?

Remarkably, 20 participants were not put off by the leaders invitation.
19 off, turned up on, or well ahead of the start time of 10.00hrs

One off, Nicholas, dropped in at 10.05hrs!!!

Throughout the day he offered as an excuse to anyone who would listen, that it was a sat navy problem..., but rumour has it that on arrival, he might have been overheard saying, "...shi*, I thought they would have been gone by now!"

Disciplinary process has begun and Nicholas awaits the judgement to be handed down by our Great Coordinator, sometime also referred to as the Grand Inquisitor! (Think he was punished enough, left sitting by the pharmacy looking forlorn as we all left , waiting for Dolores to arrive and hoping that the sat navy would work the second time...ed).

As we set off, the weather was in tune with a Scottish noir, cool, dank, damp and threatening.

It sort of dried out as we went along but throughout the day, we were blessed with what most had not seen in 2019 - clouds!

DISTANCE: a good 20kms

TIME:
A new world record for this route at just under 5 hours including lunch and banana stops. We set off at a season's best, a truly blistering pace of 5.2kms per hour and overall achieved a walking rate of 4.5kms per hour, putting all athletes (no longer just walkers) in line for international selection, except unfortunately Nicholas, whose time cannot count due to his late arrival!

DROP OUT: None

ELEVATION: Under 600 metres, so perhaps the invitation bark was worse than the bite?

LARD LOSS: A total of 31kgs, equivalent to 1.55kgs per participant! Wow! (This matter is the subject of investigation by our fatcheck team following fake news accusations).(Personally , think Jim needs to be prosceuted under the Trades Description Act....I put on  1.4lbs that day and, before Sue M says so, it can't have all been that Pingo Doce baguette...ed.)

ACHIEVEMENTS VERSUS INVITATION CRITERIA 
YES: purple heather
        white heather club
        Andy Stewart & Moira Anderson in your ear?
        Quinta da Escosia!
        coos
        goats

NO: January sunshine 
        twa border collie dugs
        dancing in the streets *(see note below)

ATHLETIC ACHIEVEMENT AWARD: Linda

At the end of the walk, Linda completed the Bensafrim public park trim track exercise circuit!
While her activities were witnessed, unfortunately there is no photographic or video record as the Grandstand film crew had already retired to the bar!

*note from above
Linda's athletic performance is being considered by the Scottish and English negotiating teams based on equivalence arguments in terms of "dancing in the streets"

FINALLY THE TOWER 

Less than one hour in, our leader pointed out a distant tower which he indicated would be a reference point throughout the day. At lunch he claimed it was again within site? Many agreed - although it seems likely that most were just pretending to see it, as evidenced by the multi directional pointing at distant horizons! 

Questions were asked if there was any prospect of us getting up close and personal with the tower. Much later, after any number of stiff ascents, the tower indeed beckoned much closer. It seemed just a hop,step and jump away, but each time we closed, another false summit awaited.

Eventually we made it but in doing so and for the first time, front to back of the group stretched to maybe half a kilometre - everything was working as planned, smoke was rising and you could almost smell bbq fat burn!

( I was bringing up the rear on the tower approach and commenting on a particularly stony patch that almost seem to be bruising my feet : Isabel disagreed, saying it was an excellent free reflexology treatment!...ed)

After a tower touching ceremony, we merrily skipped off down to Bensafrim where we were invited to enter the "members only" Bensafrim Sports and Social Club, of which it appears our leader is a member?

A final Scottish twist - probably the cheapest round of drinks in the history of the AWW, certainly of the AWA!

SLIPPY WATER JUMP PERFECTLY EXECUTED BY ALL

FARM WORKERS OUTING TO SCOTLAND - SOME HIDING IN THE BUSH!

THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE GREAT COORDINATOR WEIGH HEAVILY!

QUESTION: IS THE ABOVE PHOTOGRAPH -

    a) a clear as a bell picture of a tower in the distance

                        OR

    b) a Specsaver calling card

DO YOU RECOGNISE YOUR MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT?

MY NAME IS NICHOLAS - I PROMISE NEVER TO BE LATE AGAIN!

THANKS TO ALL
Jim &Gill

AWW 9 January 2019 : a meander along the Funcho

AWW 9 January 2019 : a meander along the Funcho

The second walk of the New Year saw 18 walkers prepared for a liesurely stroll, as a gentle introduction to the more rigourous AWW walks planned for later. We welcomed 6 newbie's, Caroline, Karen, Jon, Dawn, Pat & Terry. Isabel had an adventure getting there, thinking it was a monday CVO Rambler walk at Rasmalho and started driving to Monchique! Sue M barely made the starting grid in time, busying herself with phone calls about  her thursday walk.

As an aside ( for newcomers, the best AWW blogs seem to have more asides than they do walk commentary) it seems that if you know the right contacts, you can walk almost everyday in the Algarve : Monday is CVO Ramblers, ditto often for Tuesday (as more cafes shut these days on a Monday). Wednesday is of course AWW, Thursday is Striders/Strollers in the East. Friday is the Furtive Friday Walkers and Sunday is the Hash...so who walks on a Saturday?

Anyway,  getting walkers onto the starting grid was a bit of a no-no, people seemingly more interested in drinking coffees and chatting, but here's the best I could do in the absence of Resident Chief Photographer John, AWOL.

From L to R : Ken, Sue, Karen, Gill, Dawn,Steve, Jon, Terry, Pat ( hidden) , Terry M, John,Linda, Russell, Geoff, Ros....not sure where Jim,  Caroline and Isabel were....

Keen observers will note that Ken has only a stick rather than his  usual two lady companions : Miriam is still awaiting her ankle being unscrewed ( aaaggh!!) and Bica has developed a limp in sympathy...or perhaps she only likes strenuous walks?.....Sue looks as if she has gained a leg, but that's because she moved and was anxious to be off!

As a consequence, we didn't leave till ten minutes after the stated time ( black point!) and set off at a brisquish pace, with some nattering about the importance of recces. I concurred saying how this walk was 100% recce'ed , only to find, to my chagrin, that a bulldozer had destroyed a perfectly decent path within 5 minutes of the start of the walk!

Having learnt from our mistake in November when the AWW Remainers ( or Stay-at-homes as the TV Watchers called us ) , we arrived at the Lynx Farm Observation point without any False Trails, only to find it was still a pile of burnt rubble.....or was it vandalism? :

Without the use of the Observation Point's telescopes, we couldn't see if the Lynx were back, but John's photos reveals they were...can you spot the two in each?

After a bit of tarmac, we crossed the divide from the Arade to the Funcho , but this hearty group eschewed the lunch spot we used in November, preferring to walk another half hour and eat on the side of a precipice.....Ken had an almost sheer 60 foot drop, don't think  Miriam would have approved!

John & Steve , brought their own seats , a fashion since copied by Lord & Lady  de Lobo  , albeit not today, bit too precarious!

       

while Jim decided to show off his Rambo chest ( again) ;

Gorgeous luncheon views:

Back along the end of the Funcho,  we passed an area that was being developed, but for what we could but guess ...but at least it was well fenced;

and thus back to the de Silva for a well earned drink....but the bulldozers had been ahead of us again, and another path had gone ! I don't think the guy talking to Isabel, whom we has seen earlier that day, could quite believe we had been out walking all day!

     

The German chapter of the Harley Davidson's were before us:

Isabel & Ros chose to gossip away on their own....perhaps Ros was practicing her Portuguese?...anyway, Isabel's outfit matched the tablecloth and her drink, whereas Ros'.....

Anyway, thanks to all for coming.....some stats courtesy of Terry M :

Distance :19.1k
Time : 4h 31m...including lunch
Av speed : 4.2k.....very creditable...doubt we'll do that with Jim's next week!
Ascending : 910 m
Max elevation : 187m

Geoff
PS
Some extra photos from John & Gill:

AWW 19.12.2018: Mulled Wine and Muddied Boots

The pre-walk blurb told us what we all knew already, that this outing was to be David Littlewood´s swansong as both Leader and AWW Co-ordinator. Of course, he will be allowed to lead again, but the Co-ordinator´s Burden has now been handed over to another. Anyway, it didn´t seem right that David should have to lead, report, and also blog  on this, a landmark day, so this Blogger has stepped in to do the last bit. Frank McE suggested that there is an ulterior motive to this – we shall see. David´s very full  report follows. interspersed with a few photographs, a statistic or two,  and the occasional editorial comment. And now to David´s report.

“From Mince Pies to Mesquita (e volta)

“At Casa Benjamin, the Littlewood household was up and about even earlier than usual on this pre-Christmas morning, preparing for what seemed like an ever-diminishing group to appear, ravenous for the promised goodies. Steve S and family had been forced to pull out through illness, and Sue M mailed to say that her knee was in revolt. Gill and Jim were up against Xmas deadlines, and of course at this time of the year, quite a number were either 30,000 feet in the air like Ros, or already safe in the bosom of their far-flung families for the festivities (did you see the alliteration there?)

“In the event, Sue drove her complaining joint into action, and with three people arriving largely unannounced, we ended with a respectable 10, though Julie was under the weather and headed for the shops rather than the slopes. (Wise decision.) The early morning party was completed by marathon girl Rachel, who shared in the very welcome mince pies, mulled wine and coffee expertly prepared by Dinah. By the way Ken, did you get Steve C´s message to say that he would be joining your second walk in a week?

Coffees, mince pies and mulled wines.

( Frank really does not want to move.)

Our hostess

And our host.

“After a cosy half-hour (couldn´t be anything else in our sitting room), the party decamped down to Nave do Barao to start the walk. Our resident paparazzo had a longer run than usual to get into the photo, having had difficulty in finding anywhere to mount his gorilla pod.

(We assembled at the town rubbish dump cum recycling centre cum bus-stop for the Starter photo. The paparazzo´s magic remote control refused to work so he had a twenty-yard dash to get into the line-up in time.)

(With a bit of judicious photo-shopping ™, we get a reasonably presentable Starter Picture.)

“The final walking group consisted of: Tony, Sue M, Frank (on the road to recovery), John H, Hazel, Maria, Alan, Steve C, Karen and David. (Not necessarily in that order.)

Jasper decided to go along for the lunch time titbits. (and Frank still really does not want to move.)

The Track

and The Statistics

Total distance:17.9 kms. Total time:4 hrs 41 mins.

Moving time: 4 hrs 5 mins. Average moving speed: 4.7 kph

Total ascent: 685 metres.

Back to David´s report.

“Leaving the cars parked on the rough ground near the eco ponto (that´s the posh description), we walked along the new strip of tarmac connecting the main road with the farm lane in the valley, and took the latter along to the cross-tracks about 300m away. Turning left here (not half-left Sue), we walked across the valley floor and then up the increasingly steep track onto the ridge below trig-point Picavessa. (On the old military maps, all the trig-points have names).

Maria explaining the meaning of the word “Nave”

(apparently, it can mean “boat”, “plane”, “spaceship”, “aisle”, “plain or plateau”, or anything you want.)

On, up.

(When we did manage to pause for breath up at Picavessa,(which we shouldn´t have done, because here a rogue bee seized the opportunity to attack Steve),  I pointed out to the Leader that we had been going at 4.8 kph. Of course, it was Sue M with the allegedly dodgy knee who was leading the charge. Things eased off momentarily when Maria found an abandoned Minim …..is that the right name?………

……..but only momentarily.The Gang of Four, Sue M, Steve, Karen and Tony, kept the moving average well up, all day.)

“From here we turned left and covered the long but pleasantly flat and broad ridge separating the Nave do Barao and Tor/Funchais valleys before descending finally to the Loule - Salir road at Mesquita. All made the dangerous road crossing unscathed, and then walked down the roadside for maybe 200m to find the narrow concrete Rua da Pasmora. This leads down into the very attractive and surprisingly extensive valley below the main road. (And down really did mean down – a long way down, the inevitable corollary being…..).

“We walked along a mix of field tracks and concrete before climbing the most challenging hill of the day (I think I shall call it The Hill of the Five Steps) after which lunch was taken.

Persevere, Frank; only three more steps.

“During lunch we observed that the weather, which had started sunny and very promising, was beginning to turn more cloudy and chilly (I could have done with another mug of Dinah´s excellent mulled wine at this stage), and this developed steadily into 100% cloud cover by the end of the walk.

“Leaving the lunch spot we took another couple of turn and twists around the valley before climbing back out to Mesquita once more. Heading back up through the hamlet, we took a different route out onto the hill, passing the large water tanks serving the communities below, and then following a dirt track on a gentle descent to the almost deserted hamlet of Nave das Mealhas, overlooking the Nave do Barão valley.

“From there we descended into the Lagoa da Nave down a twisting old terrace track. (By the time we got down to the Lagoa, we were all a couple of inches taller because of the accumulation of red mud on the soles of our boots.)

Red mud the consistency of industrial grade,  export quality, cement.

(An archive photo from September 2012.)

“We crossed the Lagoa to the font, paused to scrape as much of the encrusted mud off our boots as we could…..

“…..and finally walked the farm lane, passing a splendid persimmon tree en route,

“and finally  back to the cars. We drove the short distance to the Bar Barão and settled down In the shelter of the outdoor seating area for the usual post perambulation drink and chat. Excellent value, especially the copos de tres of white wine.(The paparazzo failed in his duty and did not take any pics of the post-walk session, so here is another one from the archives, same bar, same location.)

Archive – also September 2012.

(One of the topics of conversation was trees, including the benefits of eucalyptus, in a managed mixed forest environment, as mulch, and a pair of dangly bits on a fig tree which had attacted Sue M´s notice towards the end of the walk –again, the paparazzo failed by not getting a shot of the evidence.)

“Thanks to all for a most enjoyable day. See you in 2019!”

David”

Well, it is us to have to thank David, not only for today´s hospitality and an excellent walk, but also for his co-ordination of the AWW over the past seven or eight years – I can´t remember exactly when  it was that he took over from Janet – may be more. He has kept people informed, prompted leaders to lead, put an immense amount of effort into organising the November expeditions that took the place of the Round-The-Corner events, has put up with the occasional hissy fit, has collected funds for the Bombeiros when we resolved to contribute annually after the Drama of the Frenchman´s Cliff, etc., etc. Great stuff.

Here are a few more archive photos of David to round this blog off.

His trade mark when walking has always been to carry a Google Earth map, so we always confident that he knew where we were or where we were meant to be going

.Searching for the mythical 10 dot cistus.

Applying the cistus markers

I don´t know what he is going to do with his time now. He could always take over as Chief Blogger.

Boas festas to all.