AWW 09.09.09 - On Your Marks!

 

The Ninth Day of the Ninth Month of the Ninth Year of this Century. A Very Auspicious Day to start the AWW Season, and not just according to Myriam. Nine is very lucky and is associated with longevity and endurance. We shall see.

I am in a quandary at the start of this season. To Blog or Not To Blog?  Since the first Blog in the 2005-6 season  (First Blog) there have been almost 300 posts, and it is probably time for a fresh approach. Believe it or not it is a very time consuming process, and both the Bloggers and the Paparazza have had to tolerate a certain amount of good-natured chaffing!!  As we seem to be repeating the same walks about 90% of the time, the Blogs are beginning to repeat, and I for one am becoming stale and the creative juices are drying up in the hot early season sun.

     Hopefully, someone will come up with a suggestion, or an offer to share the load, with a new angle, but I am not going to hold my breath, based on responses to previous calls for participation.  I have not discussed it with the ACB (David) yet as he has only just returned from UK, but we will meet this Sunday for a lunch which he and Dinah have kindly offered to host for the Algarve Way crew.
     The DCB suggest that it might be appropriate to just give a brief and factual account for statistical purposes.

      Any suggestions will be gratefully received.

In the meantime, to keep the ball rolling, a short note and a couple of pix from this Wednesday's Inaugural Walk, which was a variation on the Trilho Ambiental near Vila do Bispo.

The Traditional Start Photo

Leader:  Paul

Walkers: Vitor, Janet, Ian S., Tina, Dina, Carol, Alex, Rod, Ian W., John O', Phil, Andrew F., Myriam.

Dogs: Maddy, Misty

Stats: Total Distance: 10.3 km; Moving Time: 2 hrs 30min.; Total Time: 3 hrs; Moving Avg.: 4.1 km/hr; Overall Avg.: 3.5 km/hr; Tot. Ascent: 343 m.; Max Elev.: 167 m.

A good turn out for a short notice first walk, and we welcomed first timer Phil,who is also an apprentice Geocacher, introduced (but not accompanied ) by Mike.   Janet's sister Carol and Tina's husband, Andrew,  were also welcome additions to the more regular AWW's.

  Slight confusion after the prolonged coffee break at the meeting point,  Snack Bar ZigZag in Vila do Bispo,  when the Leader who was under the impression that he was leading, missed a couple of car loads who streamed invisibly past to the start of the trail, causing him to turn back to retrieve them, until a phone call from John O' informed him that all were at the start!!

  And so, to keep the 'Fung Shui' going  we started at 9 minutes to 9, and set off for the Torre de Aspe, which for those that don't remember looks like this:-

 

Torre de Aspe

The group paused here while I found a new geocache placed nearby since our last visit, also logged by Team Divi (Dina and Vitor), and already recorded by Galebars (Phil) on a recent expedition with Espargosas (Mike).

    Then a stroll to the Coastguard House, and some wonderful views of Castelejo Beach.

Castelejo at mid-tide

The Coastguard House which has been repainted and maintained was found to have the door broken open, and clearly some vandals had messed up the interior, which was quite sad. Having spent the money on refurbishing it, I cannot think what they intended to do with it.

Open Sesame!

Interior mess.

Next was the one descent as advertised which was down the 'middle finger' towards Castelejo Beach. Once again, the Leader was the only one who completed the descent properly to the end of the ridge, Rod and Ian S. both took the soft option of a short cut down the side, as if the walk wasn't short enough already, and the rearguard followed!!

 

The 'Easy' Descent!

A short sharp climb back up to the Trilho Ambiental, where again the Rebels exhibited their anxiety to get back to the cars as soon as possible, and cut out the Mirador overlooking the Castelejo Beach Bar.  In fact, let the statistics show that I was the only one who did the full 10.3 km  - I estimate 9.9 km for the rest!

  

John doing 'The Teapot' and a rare glimpse of Myriam!

After a mere 3 hours on a pleasantly sunny and breezy day the walk was all too soon complete, and we made our way back to Cafe Bar ZigZag, where despite it being full when we arrived, rapidly cleared on our malodorous arrival!

 

The End!

"When thought becomes excessively painful, action is the finest remedy. "  Rushdie, Salman

"CREATIVITY is thinking up new things. INNOVATION is doing new things."   Levitt, Theodore