Sparrowfart 13th July 2022

 

Sparrowfart Walk 2022  – Santa Luzia surrounds

Date:  Wednesday 13th July 2022

On a hot and windy Wednesday morning the hardy five assembled bright and early in Casa Rita for some coffee ahead of our annual sparrowfart. With problematic parking nearby, the early conversation was dominated by tales of the novel and adventurous spots everyone had found to park. Ros who arrived first received the unique bonus of the the only available spot right outside.

The hardy five were: (with myself as photographer and of course Rafa):

                    Ros, Jan, Sue and Karen. 

                     We then set of on a shortened 7.2km circular route around the hills of Santa Luzia and                            Assumadas.

We had some nice views from the top of some of the hills down to Loule and with a distant view of the sea.

 

When we reached the highest point of Santa Luzia there was a scary view of the smoke trail from the ongoing fire near Faro and Quinta da Lago.

As we worked our way towards home and a welcome breakfast we met an old Hash friend Ross aka Toots for a chat along the way.

Reaching Casa Rita Jan happily took charge of the BBQ, Sue provided some lovely freshly squeezed orange juice, Ros provided a beautiful fruit salad and Karen directed operations. I was left to make a half hearted effort to cook some eggs and I was limited to pointing out where everything was!

 

We then enjoyed a lovely Irish/English breakfast of English and Irish sausages, Irish bacon, black and white pudding and of course scrambled eggs washed down with fresh juice and coffee. 

But the best was yet to come as Jan completed a tour de force with her own pancake mix beautifully complimented with Ros´s fruit bowl.

 

Many thanks to: Sue for the fresh OJ, Jan for the BBQ expertise and the lovely pancakes, Ros for the beautiful fruit bowl and Karen for the overall organisation.

PS Thanks also to Jan for the lovely lemons!

Overall distance a creditable 7.2km in the heat.

                    Martin McKenna

 

AWW : End of year walk(let) and Lunch, 15 June 2022

 End of year walk(let)  and Lunch, 15 June 2022

11 walkers arrived for coffee and the starter photo , curtesy of Martin , but with Rafa pining at home for missing his weekly outing . Cycling Jim ventured forth from Luz to rejoin us, though not quite sure what the girls thought was so funny...

L to R : Jan, Terry M, Frank, (cycling) Jim, Linda, Geoff, Russell, Sue, Marian, Ros

This walk(let) was going to be quite short, just to wHet the appetite ( did you know Ros used to teach English and she & Sue  had pulled me up on my spelling previously!) It is based on a walk that Monica has done, but with a bit of Geoff improvisation.

Fortunately, it was about 10C cooler than the previous few days, though quite humid. I had promised a flat(ish) walk, but the Zimbreira mountain (all of 197m) began to appear...

Zimbreira....are we going up there?

Ros had recently scaled the heights and reported smelly bags at the top to the GNR : there seemed only the one route up and down, so decided to leave that particular adventure to another day...always  leave something to come back to.

For some reason, the converstion for some turned to particularly exotic ladies shoes made by Loubouton which could cost thousands....bit out of my league! Apparently they have red soles, but who sees  that?

We passed through some pretty hamlets, with some very des-res properties needing total renovation, but I forgot that Alan wasn't there to take pictures, so they will have to remain in your imagination.

We did approach a gypsy camp , usually empty, but now with half a dozen dogs....and as many begging children! Moving swiftly on , we did glance at a young foal....

Coming to Monte Boi though, some decided they needed a rest....

"Where's my seat ?" thought Jim

 "Ah, that's better!

With a car of multi colours...

Monte Boi was a village of two halves : some new expensive villas, but with a pretty street of older properties....

And so back to Casa da Zabel, to meet with those who were only there for the beer and lunch...

Alan had the prize for most exotic shirt...

Ros & Linda made a quick change to greater elegance...

....and Ken & Miriam arrived just in time....

Eileen made her return...

Food preparations were well underway....

The menu was quite large....and cheap!

 And so to eating...though the wine was a bit late in  being served...

I gave a brief resume of the year....45 walks, 13 days of VA, only 3 cancellations ( 2 for rain, 1 for no walkers!) and no less that 15 different leaders. A drink was  raised to our absent treasurer , Sue M , for all her hard work, and to the 26th year of the AWW.

I think all enjoyed it, thanks for coming and your company throughout the year, shame not all could be there, in particular our VA walk Leaders Jim & Gill , ably supported on the reccees by John & Susan.

Lasly, here are the track stats....elapsed time almost 2 h 15 m

Geoff

Ribeira de Algibre, June 8th

 Ribeira Algibre

This week's walk was very well attended, despite late cancellations due to illness, a fall and a vehicle problem. Our dynamic dozen are pictured here outside the cafe with no name in the small hamlet of Ribeira de Algibre, close to the path of the river with the same name.

The river rises in the foothills of the Caldeirao from tributaries around Querenca and Amendoeira, passing through Quinta de Ombra, Tor, westwards towards Paderne, where it turns in a south westerly direction, finally meeting the sea at Vilamoura. There is a good path of about 42 km all the way from the Roman bridge at Tor to the sea. But today's walk was somewhat shorter than that.

From left to right, Terry, Geoff, Sue, Julie, Jan, Tony, Alan, Ken, Yves, Ros, Miriam, Robert, plus of course Bica.

The main challenge for all of us this week was the heat. And our main preoccupation was finding shade and the chance of a breeze. Fortunately the start headed through shaded paths down to the river passing an old head-high irrigation channel.

Walking west with occasional shade, beside the dry river bed.

The first of many stops in the shade and everybody still smiling.

Surely Geoff hasn't had enough already! And where did he find that chair?

The first major hill and Yves seems to be enjoying it.

Come on Ken, head up. There are good views to be had. Or maybe they're not a match for the Himalayas.

Looking west towards Foia.

Time for another shaded stop.

At last, salvation. Provided by the Igreja de Boa Hora. We can sit under the shade of the Plain trees enjoying a gentle breeze while we eat lunch.

Proper seats too. Luxury!

But there's more walking to be done, and the shade is getting a little scarce. We pass through agricultural land on our way to Monte Seco.

Let's head for those trees.

Finally onto the tarmac road up to Monte Seco. Is somebody a fan of Bollywood films, or maybe the Kama Sutra?

But by now most thoughts will be on the climax to our walk. Bolstered by the many colourful flowers along the way, such as these bougainvillea.

At last we're on the final descent to the finish, cheered on by these energetic canines, who sprinted up the hill to lend their encouragement. They knew we'd had a ruff time of it.

So ruff, Julie was desperate enough to try a drink from from an electric well pump. At least I think that's what she's doing!

A final reminder of the agricultural importance of this valley and the water that flows through it. Some of the time.

And despite the heat of the sun, some are already preparing to heat themselves this coming winter.

Enjoying our well-earned rest and rehydration after a hotter than average walk.

Thanks to everyone who managed to make it and to Alan for his pictures.

Some statistics:

15.3 km

350 m of climb

4h 05m walking

25 m lunch stop

Tony and Julie