Day 3 of Via Algarviana- Furnazinhas to Vaqueiros

Three days down and only one more to complete this week. We knew that today’s walk would be the longest due to a new solar panel farm that has been developed over the last two years. Where the walk should have been around 20kms it ended up at 24km. As we gathered at the start in the village of Furnazinhas we saw local people arriving at the start ready for a walk too.

 

They all had white T shirts and all must have been well over 70 years old. ...(bit like some of us then, Ed).It turns out there was a local walking festival for the elderly and the local Camara (council) was busing them in and there must have been nearly 100 of them. Their own photographer was good enough to take our group picture but as we were amongst so many old people they asked us to wear masks.

From left to right (I think!) Brenda, Elizabet, Jim (looking down), Geoff (looking right), Miriam, Ros, Frank, Alan (kneeling) Marion, Ken, Jan, Jill (looking horizontal), Sue and of course Bica the dog.

We then set out around 10am on our own walk and after a climb out of the village we were met by some panoramic views across the Algarve countryside.

At the next village we came across a local man who showed us his haul if olives and outside the village we were met by Jan’s husband, Otter in their campervan, where we observed a 2 minute Silence as it was Armistice Day.

As we continued we noticed that some member of the Algarve Wednesday Walkers had marked the way markers with an AWW and we found more ( AWW = Frank Was Here!...Ed)

We then headed out to an area that had been cleared for fire prevention which looked like a moon-scape.

The next village brought us a goat herder who was very curious as we walked by and so was his dog and a few of the goats.....( Jim first of all thought they were walkers in the distance, then hunters....should have gone to Specsavers...Ed)

Lunch found us sitting on some very uncomfortable rocks amongst a few trees looking down over the solar panel farm.

After lunch we found a fire watch tower with great views looking across the solar panels.

We then made a long slow decent down to our destination village called Vaqueiros and a well earned cold beer only to meet their dog with fleas. The walk was 24kms and we managed it with a lunch break in just over 6 hours which is pretty good going.

After the walk I headed home but I heard a few stories about the events at the hotel later. It would appear that Miriam took a liking to some flashing dog collars and the owners were good enough to offer her one for Bica but to be sure Ken was kind enough to model the collar to make sure it was exactly what Miriam wanted (was it for the dog or Ken I wonder!).

 

A gruelling third day:

A great first day....

Distance : 22.8 km

Total time : 5h 10m

Elapsed time : 6 h 15 m

Highest point : 332 m

Uphill ......284m........8km......

Downhill ...264m....  7.3km

Flat .......7.4km

Overall speed 4.4kmh

Words and photos by Alan.

AWW Day 1 Via Algarviana : Corte de Seda to Alcoutim

Walking the Via Algarviana was conceived within the AWW intially in February 2020 , with a view to starting that year with completion in 2021 to commemorate the 25th. anniversary of the AWW. Thanks to covid, that never happened, but at least a start was able to be made in the anniversary year. Four intrepid adventurers ( Jim, Gill, Susan John) braved the heat of September 2020 to recce the trail, and it's thanks to their planning that we eventually got underway in November 2021. It was decided to follow the basic  VA plan, but to even out some of the days to approx 20kms.

A dozen of us met up at the Hotel d'Alcoutim early on 9 November, all having travelled up that morning apart from our intrepid leaders Jim & Gill who arrived the night before : we car-shared and drove to Corte de Seda, as it was thought easier to walk back to Alcoutim, where we were joined by Jan, making a bakers' dozen walkers. Starter photo was taken by Carol, Alan's wife:

L to R : Miriam, Ken, Alan, Frank, Brenda, Lizabeta, Sue, Jan, Geoff, Gill, Marian, Jim, Ros...and Bica

Lots of oooos and arrrghs over the newborn lamb:

and then off we went, the target a mere 19.8km today:

Passing through a number of villages that had all benefited from fresh coats of paint ( presumably to allay the boredom of lockdown) , but without any sign of a living soul!

A pack of goatdogs decided to investigate us, but fled when they saw we outnumbered them:

Some of the absent villagers were out gathering olives:

We came across some ancient monuments....

........the stones, that is, not our leaders....so we took a break for lunch:

It was surprising that none of the locals seemed to want to take advantage of the VA walkers....no cafes/bars/trinket shops....but we did find:

where Jan got all excited about a giant cockeral....

...and Miriam invested in a bowl/plate.

We passed  a small farm with an elderly lady, lots of olives and gorgeous puppies:

Before finding a large mural which seemed to be missing something(s) , much to Ros' amusement...

and thence back to the Rio Guadiana  .......

... and the hotel, so that drivers could be driven back to Corte de Seda to retrieve cars, and return to hotel.

'Twas a shame we had another 15/20 minutes walk  that evening to the village bar , but enjoyed  a great dinner at O Contrabanistas, which did a wonderful javoli....

Though Jim insisted on showing his six pack....

Sue can't recall walking down to the riverside after dinner....

A great first day....

Distance : 20.5km

Total time : 4h 40m

Elapsed time : 6 h 5 m

Highest point : 187m

Uphill 33%......2h 12m......4,2kmh

Downhill 40%....2h 7m......4.5kmh

Flat 27%...........1h 45m.......4.6kmh

Overall speed 4.4kmh

Photos by Alan & Geoff

Geoff

 The Remainers walk 10/11/21

So here we are, a small, elite group of Wednesday walkers, the only ones remaining after the majority have decamped to Alcoutim to attempt the first three legs of the Via Algarviana. Our group of five was to be eight, but Barry and Beulah had to withdraw at the last minute due to an unreliable house painter and Karen remembered a hair appointment.

We met at the Sol e Serra cafe/restaurant, just above Querenca, at the appointed time with the route heading north to Vale Covo near to the N124 and back via Cepo summit.

Here we have David, Martin, Sue and Julie plus Tony with the camera and Rafa out of shot somewhere.

Within minutes of setting off Rafa had made enemies of the local dogs and the calm of the warm and sunny morning was shattered by barking.

After climbing up to our first ridge we had excellent views of Rocha de Pena and the route ahead. Martin and Rafa are ready for a race.

After nearly an hour of circling Picota hill we decided to stop for refreshments.

And no, we're not going up that hill.

We're going up this one.

Finally, at the col on the northern side of Picoto, David exclaimed 'I can see my house from here.'

And Sue spotted something too, but we never found out what?

By now the morning was hotting up and it was time for another breather prior to further climbing and dropping down before Vale Covo.

In the end Julie, Sue and David decided not to take the steep climb up to the very small hamlet of Vale Covo and the subsequent very steep drop back down to the unimaginatively named Ribeira de Vale de Covo where they waited. Just Martin,  Tony and Rafa did the climb. Although Rafa did try to get out of it by following the others.

After our well deserved lunch, Martin was so tired that he needed a hand up from Sue.

After a short section along the N124, there was a climb up (what else) past end of season lavender and flowering heather.

And some very tiny white flowers.

We also spotted numerous patches of ground level spiders' webs still glistening with their morning dew, despite it being the afternoon.

Back to the ridge where we'd been an hour earlier there seemed to be a degree of puzzlement with people not sure which way to go. Of course the leader stepped in and we were back on track.

Another distant view of David's house!

Finally we reached the highest point of the walk, Cepo at 426m. Julie was happy to pose, but not climb the trig point.

Then everyone joined in. Happy to know that that was the last climb. Phew.

Cepo, having a fabulous 360 degree view of the countryside sports this newly built fire observation viewpoint.

Sometimes the downhills are worse than the uphills.

Somewhere over there is the sea.

Finally back to civilisation in the hamlet of Corte Garcia. I wonder what they get up to in this house?

Some lovely flowers on display. No idea what this yellow specimen is but they seem to be everywhere at the moment. Any ideas? In amongst the foliage there are also pink hibiscus flowers hiding.

And so to a well earned sit down and a reviving drink. Enough to put a smile on your face.

Time for a selfie.

The route and statistics.

Time out was about 4h 25m with about 20m for lunch.