The Wild West 5th October 2022

It was a glorious day. The sun was shining and the leader was nearly recovered from a bout of Sciatica. So the planned walk was revised and shortened.

We met at Praia do Castelejo near Vila do Bispo. Ken was wearing his new boots. They were very "fetching"

We set off north along the sand towards Praia da Cordoama. 

The beach has changed significantly since March 2014. It demonstrates the immense power of the tides and storms. The beach is now covered by sand. Back then the sand had been washed away making the beach walk much more difficult.

A previous AWW walk along the same beach

When we reached Cordoama, we turned inland and scaled the headland to give great views along the coast.

The view was great, but everyone preferred the bananas

We went down to Praia da Barriga and made a loop over the next headland. However the photos taken by the leader were his trademark out of focus, so have been deleted.

Back at Barriga we stopped in the shade for a leisurely lunch. It was quiet on the beach despite it being a local holiday. The access to Barriga is a non metalled road. Then it was the start of our return south.

At Cordoama we left the beach aand climbed the headland to the viewpoint.

The cafe on Cordoama is closed on a Wednesday

Cafe at Castelejo was open so more people

It was now very warm and the leader was starting to struggle, so we stopped the walk at Praia do Castelejo.

The cafe was open, but they did not allow dogs, so we left and went home

Walk Details.

Distance:               13.2km

Elevation change:   354m

Time (walking):     4 hours

Speed:                    3.3km/hr

THE HILLS OF ODELOUCA – WEDNESDAY 28 SEPTEMBER 2022

 

THE HILLS OF ODELOUCA – WEDNESDAY 28 SEPTEMBER 2022

I offered to step in and lead a shorter walk as the temperatures were still quite high.  As advertised, there were lots of hills to make it feel like a much longer walk. 

7 Walkers and 2 dogs joined the expedition into the hills.

L to R : Alan, Miriam, Russ, Linda, Ken, Sue, Karen and the 2 dogs Bica and Toby.

Everyone arrived early so we started the walk 15 minutes early.  Heading up towards the hills and down into the desert.

 

We found a shady path along a flat section. 

Then as Miriam had expected, we headed back up another hill with a rarity - green grass.

We enjoyed some nice views from the top.

We managed to fit in the occasional downhill section

A bit of a rest from looking at our feet all the time.

 

Everyone was looking into the Abyss to see where the hills had all gone.

Round the bed before another hill.

 

Bica is much too mature to lie in muddy puddles so she took a turn to guard the mud for Toby.

Eyes back down to the ground.

Follow the pack leaders.

Back up out of the desert.

 

Oh no another café closed.

 

We completed the distance of 13kms in 3 hours 40 minutes.  Having only taken short breaks for snacks along the way.  We had hoped to enjoy our sandwiches with a drink at the café but the café was closed for holidays.  The next café was so busy serving lunches they couldn’t provide us with drinks and a third café was also closed for holidays.  So, unfortunately, we had to put a euro in the Kitty say our goodbyes at the roadside and drive our separate ways home.

Thank you to Alan for taking the photos for us today and the rest of the gang for braving all the hills.

Linda.

 

Inagural Walk September 2022, mishaps and all

 Inagural Walk September 2022, mishaps and all

In days of yore, when Men were Men and Women were Women ( and not Birthing People ) the AWW used to walk in the rain (see below)  and blogs were a lot more erudite than they are today , meandering-on about such esoteric topics as Angels dancing on pinheads and the suchlike : the walk barely got a mention at all. With this week's walk leader declaring UDI on writing blogs, your co-ordinator has stepped into the breach, and this blog is thus likely to follow that pattern, as I am a thousand miles away in the UK.However   Alan  kindly sent photos and some  walk details.  And so to begin.....

There was a great reluctance to lead on the inaugural walk of 14 September, so Ros kindly volunteered at the last moment, albeit with a caveat on the weather. The day before the walk, most forecasts  foretold rain : as there were only 2 others coming , the walk was cancelled.  This prompted young John H, now a WAGS, to comment that rain never caused AWW walk cancellations back in his days of yore, supplying photographic evidence ( from  2010 ):

When the AWW walked in the rain....

Mark you, ***'s law decreed that the weather turned out to be better than expected , though a couple of heavy showers would have made the trio wet.

Sue M  was  thus the leader  for the revised Inaugural Walk on 21 September, though the gremlins  had got to work and changed that to 21 October, Trafalgar Day in the email that went out. Upon realising this error, a correction was issued, but John H must have a lot of time on his hands as he kindly pointed out that 21 September was the anniversary of the Battle of Preston Pans, the highpoint of the 1745 Jacobite  Rebellion, saying : "  In it the Jacobites beat a Hanoverian Army whose commander was General Sir John Cope. The battle lasted less than half an hour and is still remembered in Scotland via the song “Hey, Johnnie Cope, are ye wauking (waking) yet” because the story is that Cope was still in bed when the battle began. "

Perhaps best not to mention Culloden....but wasn't it an English army, albeit with  an Hanovarian contingent?

Anyway, mishap 3 was the return by the " Email Administrator "  of many of the correction emails I had sent out : problem  was, they were only returned on Wednesday afternoon, too late to tell anybody. I just had to hope that enough of the correcting emails got through, or that walkers were savvy enough to realise that 21 Septembe was meant, not 21 October.

It was with some relief then to see the starter photo, showing 10 walkers and 2 dogs:

L to R : Alan, Ros, Miriam, Lee, Ken, SueM, Karen, Roger, Jan, Martin....and Bica and Rafa

It was good to see Roger back walking ( memo : must  now ask him to lead sometime!).

Having met at Fonte Filipe they walked up to Quarenca , about 6kms, which looked mainly uphill:

Quarenca church

A well desreved coffee break

 Unfortunately, there were a number of quad bikes parked and consequently there was a queue for drinks:

Before off again:

On the walk back to the Fonte, they  had to wait by the roadside as a large group of bikers (30+) drove by with a few trikes amongst them.

 As  they  headed back, Bica found a large bone by the path and guarded it carefully : they  rather hoped it wasn't a human femur but, in any case, she devoured it in short order:

Lunch

When they  got back to Fonte Filipe the humidity was intense after a night of heavy rainfall and storms so the Wimps of Ken, Miriam, Alan, Roger and Lee decided to end there . The Rambos of  Sue , Karen, Jan, Ros and Martin ( note, no Oxford comma, for grammar pedantics!) continued for another 8km loop.

Geoff

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