AWW Saints Sub-Committee: Matters Arising.

 

   Quite a long time ago, there was a discussion on one of Mike’s walks about saints in general and more specifically a Patron saint of Walkers. The conclusion was that there was no specific one as such, but we could adopt one to fill the need – if indeed there was one. That can be seen at the last paragraph of the  blog which can be found by clicking HERE .

   This quandary seems to have left Rod, who oddly was not even on that walk, with an itch that needed to be scratched, and has finally gestated in a masterly monograph which he sent to me last Thursday.

     I withheld publication for a few days, not only to corroborate the research, but to vet and ascertain that there were no sinister and subliminal nor commercial implications – the Saint in question also being the patron saint of winegrowers and makers , but not of wine merchants – and  now I am pleased to present Saint Vincent de Saragossa as a candidate for Patronage of the Wednesday Walkers.   It is a sad fact that Internet research was hampered by the fact that there is a rather beautiful female singer who goes by the name of St Vincent; the island nation of St Vincent and the Grenadines, and a rather more famous saint named Saint Vincent de Paul, all of whom take up the first ten pages of a simple Google search.

      Let that not be a bar to Saint Vincent of Saragossa’s promotion.  Here is Rod’s case:-

 

Saint Vincent of Saragossa

 

     A while back the Saint Appointment Sub-Committee discussed the idea of choosing a suitable Saint as the Patron for the Wednesday Walkers..

There appeared to be no Saint specifically dedicated to walkers, nor any suitable alternatives, and the matter was dropped. I think the matter should be raised again and I would like to propose that St. Vincent be appointed as the Patron of Wednesday Walkers.  Why him? Well there are a number of reasons (not all of which, I accept, are of equal importance to everyone!); 

1. He is the Patron Saint of our Capital.

2. We live in the Algarve and the Cape named after him is an important geographical feature here.

3. An important sea battle in the annals of British naval history was fought near there and where one Commodore Horatio Nelson made his name.

3. The Anglican Church in the Algarve is dedicated to him.

4. He is the Patron Saint of winemakers.

5. Perhaps most important of all is that following the founding of the Wednesday Walkers by Maurice Clyde its first project was to create a walking route across the Algarve.  Almost from the outset it was decided to base this route on a little known Pilgrims’ Way across the Algarve; part of a route from Valencia in Spain to Cape St. Vincent followed by pilgrims to pay homage to St Vincent whose remains were buried near the Cape. Some research on this had been done in the 1980’s by a Portuguese group, Caminus, and this gave us a useful start.  Much work needed to be done to further research, up-date and modernise the route and many Wednesdays in the late ‘90’s were spent on this. The route became, of course, the Algarve Way  or the Via Algarviana; both names coined by the Wednesday Walkers it might be noted.  It seems this alone is probably reason enough for St. Vincent to be chosen as our Patron Saint.

A brief history of the Saint is below.

If this agreed then we should establish his Saint’s Day as ours, January 22^nd.   On that day, whatever the day of the week, or whatever the weather (of course!), we should celebrate with a suitable walk at the Cape followed by a lunch in Sagres.

ST. VINCENT

     Cape St. Vincent, Sé de São Vicente in Lisbon, St Vincent’s Anglican Church; we are indeed surrounded by the name of St. Vincent. But who was he? There is a small statue of him in the Church of Nossa Senhora de Graça in Sagres but virtually no reference to him at the famous Cape that bears his name, and Guide Books are singularly devoid of any information about him at all. This is particularly odd since he is, in fact, the Patron Saint of Lisbon and, almost as importantly to some, the Patron saint of Wine Producers! Indeed ask even a number of Portuguese who the Patron Saint of their capital is and some half of them will tell you St. Anthony....S.Antonio.

S. Antonio indeed merits a public holiday in Lisbon and poor S.Vicente’s birthday(22^nd of January) is practically forgotten! Why is this? Well perhaps one reason is that S.Antonio de Padua was born in Lisbon and S.Vicente de Zaragoza was; in fact, Spanish!

Vincent was born in Huesca, Spain, in the latter part of the third century and early in his life joined the Christian church in nearby Zaragoza. He obviously caught the eye of the Bishop, Valerius, and was appointed his Deacon. Although Valerius was a devout Christian he was a much older man and apparently suffered from some sort of speech impediment. Vincent effectively became his mouthpiece and seems to have become even more outspoken in his Christian beliefs. So much so that when they moved to Valencia they soon came to the notice of the powers that be in Rome and Emperor Diocletian had them imprisoned. They were found guilty; Valerius in view of his age and infirmity was released but exiled; Vincent was horrifically tortured in an attempt to make him renounce his faith. He resolutely refused and in AD 303 was finally put to death. His eventual canonization was pre-congregational so the date is unknown.

History then becomes more legend but at some point after that his disciples chose to remove St. Vincent’s body as far away from the influence of Rome as possible. They placed him on a ship and set sail westwards out of the Mediterranean. They sailed as far as Sagres. Sailing round the Cape when the northerly or westerly winds are blowing was then well nigh impossible, and difficult enough today. So waiting in the protected waters of Sagres bay for the winds to change was an obvious choice. Anyway the Cape was an awe-inspiring place; inhabited in Neolithic times, as can be seen today; the Promontorium Sacrum as the Romans called it, and the end of the known medieval world.

His body was brought ashore and buried, probably to begin with just temporarily,

somewhere near the cape. It was unlikely this was at the Cape itself but at some place more convenient between Sagres and Vila do Bispo. Whether it was always intended to leave his remains there, or whether the intention was to remove them to northern Europe is not known, but in any event they remained near the Cape for many centuries, guarded as legend goes, by a flock of ravens. During the rest of the Roman, Visigoth and Moorish occupation of Iberia a trickle of Pilgrims, including Moçarabes, found their way across the Peninsula to pay homage to his memory and there was, and partly still, is an ancient pilgrims’ way stretching across southern Spain and the Algarve. This never rivalled the pilgrims’ route to Santiago de Compostela in the north but existed nevertheless.

There he remained until around 1170 when, with Moorish occupation of the peninsular on the ebb, King Afonso Henriques recovered Lisbon for the Christians and as a symbol of the liberation decided to transfer St. Vincent’s remains to Lisbon. Still protected by the loyal ravens they were once again placed on a ship and then re- interred in the Sé that bears his name. He was declared the Patron Saint of Lisbon and the Coat-of-Arms of the city portrays a sailing vessel with ravens on either side. More recent legend has it that the descendants of the flock of ravens continued to occupy roof corners of the Sé until as recently as the mid 20^th.century.

From then St. Vincent’s fame seems to have declined. S. Antonio was born in Lisbon in 1195, died in Italy in 1231 and was canonized a year later. Because, probably, of his ancestry and place of birth he became a more important icon for Lisboetas.

Not forgotten, St. Vincent´s name crops up around the world; he is important in the eyes of the Eastern Orthodox Church and, for example, he was remembered by Columbus who named the Carribean island after him when he discovered it on a January 22^nd. Sadly, though, he remains one of the lesser known Saints, but, in Portugal especially, he surely deserves better.

 

 

Below is a copy of an article I did for the 10^th Anniversary of the first Algarve Way crossing.

ALGARVE WAY / VIA ALGARVIANA 10 YEARS OLD

10 years ago The Algarve Way / Via Algarviana was created, so what is it and how did it come about?

In AD 303 Vincent, a devout and active christian from Zaragossa in Spain was tortured and martyred for his beliefs in Valencia by the Roman Emperor Diocletian. He sometime later became St. Vincent. His friends and followers took his body and set sail, probably with the intention of avoiding the clutches of Rome, towards northern Europe. They sailed as far as Sagres where his body was buried, possibly at the time just temporarily, near to the Cape that bears his name. There it lay for several centuries, however, during which time a steady trickle of Moçarabe pilgrims made their way across Iberia to pay homage to him. They crossed the R.Guadiana at Mertola and set off across what became Portugal, from Alcoutim, heading for the Cape - The Promontorium Sacrum as it was then called; already a religious site and the end of the known medieval world.

St. Vincent´s body remained at the Cape until 1173, when as a symbolic gesture to mark the reconquest from the Moors, it was taken to Lisbon by ship, guided by ravens as tradition has it, where it remains to this day in St. Vincent´s Sé. He is, sadly, a little recognised Saint. There is nothing at Sagres or the Cape to commemorate him, but he is, in fact, the Patron Saint of Lisbon (although even many Portuguese do not appreciate this), and the Lisbon Coat-of-Arms depicts a sailing vessel surrounded by ravens. He is also, perhaps almost as important to some, the Patron Saint of Winemakers.

Little was done to record or perpetuate this pilgrims` trail in the way of that of St. James (Santiago) in northern Spain, until a Portuguese group called the Associação Caminus did some research in the 1980´s and in 1990 published a study and map of the route under the title “Moçarabe em Pergrinação a S. Vicente”.

So how did this become the Algarve Way or the Via Algarviana? In 1996 the Algarve Wednesday Walkers (AWW´s), a group of quite energetic countryside ramblers, was founded by one Maurice Clyde. Apart from exploring the magnificent Algarve countryside, he had a dream of creating a cross-Algarve long distance walking route to link in with one of the Trans-European walking routes (the GR13/E4 already existing through to SW Spain). What better than to base this on the old St Vincent´s pilgrims´ trail as described by Caminus. Members of the AWW´s spent many months developing and reconnoitring this. At about that time the Portuguese environmental group, Almargem, were encouraged to take an interest . Although they were heavily involved in many important environmental issues and had few resources to allocate to this project they gave much moral support, as too did the Região de Turismo do Algarve ( Algarve Tourist Board).

Much of the original route, rather inevitably, has become tarmac roads and urban areas, so to avoid these stretches and to include some of the other lovely parts of the Algarve interior, a number of modifications were made. The route also had to have a name, of course, and to give equal weight to foreign and national users the two names Algarve Way and Via Algarviana were coined.

In 1997 the route was developed enough to have some test walks. In May of that year the eastern half from Alcoutim to Messines was completed in 4 days by AWW´s Ian Cooper, Mark Harman , Roderick Frew and in part by Maurice Clyde himself. In October the western half from Messines to Cape St.Vincent was walked in 6 days by the same group joined by Tony Webster and Jamie Milne-Home, and a number of others for part of the way.

In October 1998, to much fanfare, the first full 250 km. trans-Algarve crossing was accomplished in 11 consecutive days by a group of seven AWW´s; Maurice Clyde, Ian Cooper, Mark Harman, Tony Webster, Myriam Lo Isaac, Roderick Frew and Ian Angus plus four dogs, and much logistical help from other AWW´s. This was also done partly as a charity project to raise funds for the APAA animal protection group.

In 1999 the walk was completed in reverse from The Cape to Alcoutim. This was undertaken by Maurice Clyde, Myriam Lo, Paul Akehurst, Lindsey Henley-Welch two walkers from a Spanish Club and Neil McCabe. At the end of this crossing a post marking the start of the trail was erected in Alcoutim.....this still stands there today.

In the same year Ian Cooper lead two partial crossings for an Irish based Cancer Charity, with most of the participants suffering most bravely with terminal cancer.

In 2000 and 2001 the trail (slightly modified for horses) was covered twice by horserider groups led by AWW Roderick Frew. The second of these was undertaken to raise funds for Charities (RDA and the PSP Association) and was also covered by Karen Yates and Tony Barry on mountain bikes. In 2002 the crossing was first achieved by a visiting individual, an American, Kevin Nawn, following the rather rudimentary route description only then available.

Up to that time little had been done to actually map and record the route. In 2005, however, David Littlewood and Terry Ames, both experienced long distance walkers in the UK came to the Algarve, joined the AWWs and set about mapping, describing and way-marking the route. This very considerable achievement may now be viewed on www.algarveway.com and the route, under the Algarve Way name, is now regularly waymarked with a white cistus flower emblem. Terry Ames walked the mapped route in 2006, much of it solo, in what must be a walking record 8 days.

By 2006, too, Almargem were in a position to take more interest and be more pro-active in the project. They were able to attract some EC funding which when disbursed, will give more visibility and publicity to the route as well as invest in permanent way marking and route facilities. They are now actively promoting the route, with some differences, under the Via Algarviana name and have an informative website www.viaalgarviana.org .

In 2007 the route was covered once again by a large group of horseriders, half of whom came from the UK, led again by AWW Roderick Frew. Once more this was a major Charity project. At about the same time it was also covered,over four weeks, by an Irish based group led by David Littlewood, and a large part of it, solo, by AWW Mike Pease.

So after 10 years of graft and hard work Maurice Clyde´s dream lives on. It has now become a reasonably well recognised route which can be followed readily by anyone downloading David Littlewood and Terry Ames´ website, although one of the difficulties for the outsider doing the crossing remains the lack of accommodation in the eastern Algarve interior, where transport inevitably becomes an issue.

And what of those AWW´s who put so much time and effort into the early research and crossings? Of the original 7 of the first crossing, Myriam Lo and Roderick Frew still walk regularly with the AWW´s, Ian Cooper returned to the UK, where he still walks (and runs) after overcoming a heart problem and other health setbacks. Mark Harman, now residing in S.Bras, leads regular walks there, Tony Webster however prefers bridge to walking. Ian Angus, although never an AWW, resides in Spain and still walks regularly. Of the other AWW´s who participated in early walks, Paul Akehurst still walks regularly and organises a regular blog of AWW activies, Lindsey Henley-Welch, and Mike Pease do too. Jamie Milne-Home, not an AWW, lives much of the time in Spain and walks often. David Littlewood walks regularly and will happily assist and impart his website knowledge of the route to any prospective walkers. Terry Ames also walks regularly and would be more than happy to lead groups along the route and organise logistics. Maurice Clyde himself? He tragically suffered a major stroke and had to eventually return to the UK. Although he can no longer walk he still takes a keen interest in the activities of the AWW´s and for sure still dreams of his Algarve Way.

This a magnificent walk through the original Algarve countryside, much of which has never changed. You will see Algarve countryside and villages which you would never dream exist. It is well worth the effort to walk parts, or even all of it before golf courses, electricity pylons and wind turbines take their toll.

October 2008

(Since this date sadly both Ian Cooper’s and Mark Harman’s healths have deteriorated seriously.)

 

Well, if you are still with us, it seems a pretty strong case, but of course the AWW are almost a democracy! A poll is below.

 

If anyone has any suggestions or counterarguments, then either post a comment, or if that exceeds your technical expertise, send me an email and I will publish it.

 

“Saint. A dead sinner revised and edited.”    Bierce, Ambrose

AWW 27.01.2010: A Tale of Two Errors

The Fathead and Pointyhead Walk, or

A Tale of Two Errors

Those Led into Error:-

Janet, Rod, Tina, Dina, John H., Terry A., John ‘O., Stan, Elaine, Paul, Myriam, Ingrid, Frank, Bob.

He who led:- David

Accompanied by:- Maddie, Rusty, Alfie, Amos, Shellie, Misty and Rosie.

The Track

After the interesting events of Wednesday, I have no option but to burst into song – virtually, you understand.

The following should be sung (softly and in private, please) to the tune of The Seven Joys of Mary :

‘The first mistake the leader made ,it was an extra ‘d’:

Poor Janet got it in the neck, the guilty one was ME.

Communication was impossible with this added digit, see?

So, take heed of this and aim to miss the odd additional key’

‘Twas thus a minor miracle that all those intending to walk (with the exception of Chris, who woke up feeling unwell) arrived at the start-point by the bridge at Alte as requested. Not only that, but everyone was there ahead of time, which has to be some kind of record. Dina parked up by the fontes, but realised her mistake and still found the group before departure time. Mind you, the speed at which service was delivered (very cheerfully) by the lady at the bar Marco meant that people could probably have arrived at 10.00 and still been in touch.

All set

The well-dogged group climbed the first short sharp hill to the Alte Day Centre, at which point Amos was mugged by a most unpleasant local bovver-boy on four legs, and had to be rescued by Bob and Terry, the former with a rolling tackle, the latter with several blows from his leki-stick. Fortunately, Amos’ neck proved too thick for the beast to get it’s teeth into, and no blood was spilt, but the victim made his feelings known with howls of distress, whilst the workers at the Day Centre looked on with mild interest.

After this, things settled down into a more normal rhythm, as we descended to and crossed the N124 and marched at some speed down the long valley to Charneca. The morning was cool, but bright sunshine promised an excellent day for walking. The first of the almond blossom was beginning to appear, making the contrast with the preceding weeks of rain and murk all the more striking.

The first signs of Spring

A series of old caminhos and farm tracks took us to the base of the hill below Espargal, at which point we swung south through the gap, heading towards the R. do Algibre on a new piece of tarmac. Turning off after a short distance, we began the very gentle ascent towards our first main objective, the summit of Cabeca Gorda. (Fat Head) The trig pillar stands in a wilderness of cleared scrub awaiting the planting of yet more citrus bushes. However, it was a trig pillar, and the photo had to be taken. For such a modest mound, this hill affords excellent 360 degree views.

The leaning trig of Cabeca Gorda

We then descended through a large orange grove, with the smell of rotting fruit in our nostrils, most of it apparently destroyed in the wind, cold and rain of previous weeks. Lunch was taken in a clearing just off the road in the valley between the two hills which were the main features of the day. Myriam took the leader to task for having promised plentiful water for the dogs, when they had not seen any for at least half an hour. She should have kept her powder dry for a much better opportunity! The day by this time was very pleasantly warm, and there was some reluctance to resume the trek.

Happy Munchtime

Any more liver cake,our kid?

The next section took us along the valley floor and then gently up to a narrow plateau below one of the twin summits of rocky Cabeca Aguda, (Pointy Head) on which sits a line of old lime-kilns, the path linking them providing our route. The pits themselves afforded an interesting photo-op. The hillside was honeycombed with goat-tracks and other evidence of their presence, but nary a one did we see. From there we descended once more to the valley floor and touched the outskirts of Lentiscais before heading down more lanes and tracks towards Monte Brito. By this time the sun had temporarily disappeared, and a cold north-easterly wind reminded us that we were still in winter-time.

T.A. in the pit, under attack from ferocious beasts …

..watched by an enthusiastic crowd……

Spurning the opportunity of refreshment at the bar in Monte Brito, we climbed the hill away from the village through the road works which are finally going to make the road surface thereabouts fit for purpose. Now, the leader had been determined that this walk should be recc’ed down to the last kilometre – and it was the last kilometre that caused the problem. Sing up, now:

‘The second mistake the leader made, it made the first look tame;

He thought the end was easy but that’s not what it became.

The path he sought had gone away, the way was blocked, the end so near:

There was nought for it but blood and sweat before we got our beer.’

Making the connection between the ridge path above Monte Brito and the valley floor below Alte proved time-consuming and painful, as the expected route seemed not to exist. The leader returned from an exploration of the mato to find the group asking a bewildered Portuguese in a car how to get to Alte. With a wide track behind, and a sort-of tarmac road beyond that leading straight to the town, he must have thought we were all a tad malouco.

Well, I wouldn’t start from here….

(Caption courtesy of John H. Esq.)

Into the valley of death…..

A Distant Haven….so near and yet…..

In the event we struggled down through the undergrowth at the cost of some vital fluids and made our way across the valley and up past the very attractive waterfall back to the start-point and the bar. The leader was so stressed out that he had to have a macieira along with his coffee, but at least there was enough room in the small cafe for all to find a seat. Some members of the group had to depart without refreshment due to the lateness of the hour which was not only sad for them but for the kitty as well.

The Waterfall at Alte

‘It’s on the Box – there’s a search party out!’

The Rittle Rady in Led (and Brue)

Only the positive side of life is reflected in the blog.

Statistics

Total Distance: 25.1 km Moving Time: 5 hrs 24 min. Total Time: 6 hrs 41 min. Moving Avg.: 4.6 km/hr Overall Avg.: 3.8 km/hr Total Ascent: 483 m. Max Elevation: 256 m.

Myriam’s Stat for Average Age of participants:

64.538 years (Excluding Janet and Bob – a.n.k.)

“Be bold. If you're going to make an error, make a doozy, and don't be afraid to hit the ball.”

Billie Jean King

“A hallucination is a fact, not an error; what is erroneous is a judgement based on it,”

Bertrand Russell.

There you, you see! I was away with the fairies, so blame them, not me!

CB’s Comment:

Well done David – a Parson’s Egg of a walk – but mostly good! And an innovative way of deflecting criticism – by doing so in verse.

It was the first sunny walk this year, and the temperature was ideal, until the sun went behind clouds towards the end. if the undergrowth hadn’t grown so ferociously since the recce, we would have been back in Café Marcio, supping beer well within the projected 6 hours our leader had estimated. It is a rare species of David’s walk, that you can look at the accumulated ascent at around the 20 km mark and find that you have only climbed about 14 metres per kilometer! And ‘joy of joys’ a trig point!!

I do have the GPS track recorded, but I suspect there may be a little fine tuning done to the endgame before we repeat this walk.

I can’t resist a couple of quotes myself:

“The Promised Land always lies on the other side of a Wilderness.” Ellis, Havelock

and

“One thorn of experience is worth a whole wilderness of warning.” Lowell, James Russell

Rod has been visited by the Muse and expanded on his theme during David’s walk. It was only his proposition that saved you from the first of an occasional series of food-related ( to appeal to a wider audience) blogettes on AWW Lunch Tucker. This will go ahead when I run out of any more interesting material, so feel free to contribute examples of your favourite recipes for sandwiches and other comestibles that you bring with you on our walks.

I will hold Rod’s article for a few days, until you have digested this one, and publish it separately, perhaps for a little weekend reading!

One other thing – you may have noticed the ‘Flag counter in the sidebar on the left. I have solved the mystery of the Jordanian Flag there, as Frank had accessed the Blog while visiting his daughter, and the Irish one was John O’ sending the 70th Birthday Blog to his relatives. I suspect the US one may have been Mike’s daughter and family. The German one should be Barbara and Volker who walk when visiting Hilke and asked to see the Blog regularly, but the Pakistani and Malaysian readers are still unidentified. Any ideas?

Just musing

The One and Only Limekiln Ladies Choir

AWW 20.01.2010: Romeiras: Rain and Revelry

NOT the Algarve’s first Gay Wedding!

Last week we went to the cinema in Portimao to see Julie and Julia, (no not Jules and Sandy) the film starring Meryl Streep as Julia Childs, and based on a blog written by the Julie in the title, Julie Powell played by Amy Adams. You can see much more info about the film by clicking HERE.

It occurred to me that I must have got it wrong – four years labouring on this AWW Blog series, and according to the Viewers Flag Counter installed in the left sidebar, two weeks ago, I have so far had 68 views in Portugal, 14 in GB, 7 in Germany and one each in US, Jordan and Malaysia. I suspect that more than a few are repeat viewings by the two ‘registered’ followers, and the foreign ones are mainly chancers seeking to persuade me to publish their ads for High Yield Investments in the Comments section!

Whereas, Julie Powell had thousands of viewers and followers for her Blog on attempting to cook the recipes of an odd-ball American cook of the ‘50’s!

So in an attempt to garner a wider audience, I have inserted the photo of two fairly recent septuagenarians jointly cutting a birthday cake, prepared by Antje, and placed among the remnants of some coriander-garnished sandwiches and sausage rings, prepared by Marg. If the chefs concerned were to publish their recipes in the Comments section, then I am sure that would boost our ratings!

The occasion was the ‘secret’ birthday party held after our ill-starred Romeiras walk, cancelled last week, mainly because one of the Birthday Boys had dropped out of the walk (and also a little bit of rain!!). Ian S. master-minded the social side, in his absence from walking because of his injury.

We now have four over-70’s in the active walking section of the AWW’s, and Myriam is working on producing a stat on average age for the walkers on each walk. If anyone knows Janet’s D.O.B. please advise Myriam, as it wouldn’t be fair to go on appearances!

Our Senior Member, Mike left for UK today to undergo repairs, for which we all wish him well, and hope he is back soon to boost the Geriatric Stats.

Not raining – yet!

As the 12 ‘in-the-know’ juniors, and the two ‘yet-to-be-surprised’ septuagenarians lined up for John H’s start photo, it was grey but dry, and promised a walk in fairly reasonable conditions. Rod even set off without his trusty brolly and also left his rain proof jacket in the car.

Leader: Paul

Birthday Chorus: John H., Hazel, Hilke, Lindsey, Dina, Yves, Rod, John O’., Ian W., Myriam, Alex, Janet and Chris.

Dogs: Maddy, Tiggy.

Track (Click to enlarge)

Stats:

Total Distance: 14.8 km.
Moving Time: 3 hrs 3 min.
Total Time: 3 hrs 35 min.
Moving Avg.: 4.8 km/hr.
Overall Avg.: 4.1 km/hr.
Total Ascent: 344 m.
Max Elevation: 387 m.

Walk rating (DoD): 2 *

Hazel could do it backwards.

My task was to design the walk to avoid any swimming, and so that we would be away from Casa Pacheco for about 4 hours, to give the ‘caterers’ time to set up. I had 3 options, 15, 18, and 22 km, and was hoping that most of the cast would be able to get round the 18km course in the prescribed time to get us into the 3* DoD., but alas, the going was soft and when the rain started to fall softly after the first climb, I had to curb my ambitions. It was Janet’s first walk back for over 3 months, and she promised to love me forever and not make any more sarcastic comments, if we curtailed it, but I can’t see that lasting!

Red, Amber and …..err… Red

The walk itself was fairly uneventful. apart from meeting one of Julie Statham’s staff doing a recce for her next walk………

……..but after an intense interrogation by Rod and a gang of hoodies, he was allowed to go on his way.
All too soon (about 3 hrs) we came to the option point, and as there were no less than 3 septuagenarians present ( and one had no waterproofs) I relented and took the shorter option. Having plenty of time now, I authorised a ‘banana break’ which was well received.

‘ave a banana!

Maddy, who was under Myriam’s care had managed to get quite muddy on the way round, and while Tiggy jumped in a small reservoir and washed herself, Myriam had to try and get Maddy in by throwing biscuits into the water.

You can just see Maddy sitting on the bank beside Myriam while she throws the bait in – she didn’t fall for it!

We were back at Casa Pacheco a dribble after 1 pm and the cake and food was only just being laid out – Ian S. had graciously managed to test the beer on our behalf already though. We were joined by Antje, Marg, Jyll ,Diane and Ian for the revelry.

Myriam charitably decided that she couldn’t return Maddy to Ian and Marg in her current condition, and did a full service!

Maddy wishing she had jumped in the water earlier!

It was a good spread…

Rod made a small speech, welcoming his fellows to the Geriatric Club, and there was a presentation to the Two John’s……….

….who duly posed with their ‘no-expense-spared’ gifts……

and displayed a sponsors logo!

Calculations were done under the Data Protection Act, and excluding Janet, who was rather coy, the average age of the walkers today was 23350.4 days or 63.9 years. Whether a contribution from Janet would have raised or lowered the average age is for you to guess (and comment). Now if Mike had been there and Alex had a day off then who can guess the result!

“I delight in men over seventy. They always offer one the devotion of a lifetime.” Wilde, Oscar

“To be seventy years young is sometimes far more cheerful and hopeful than to be forty years old.” Holmes, Oliver Wendell

“The years between fifty and seventy are the hardest. You are always being asked to do things, and yet you are not decrepit enough to turn them down.” Eliot, T. S.

John H has added some acknowledgements:
Acknowledgements
As John O’ rightly said, the British are generous; so too are the Belgians, the Chinese, the French, the Germans, the Kiwis, the Portuguese, and those from Yorkshire to boot. Without their combined efforts, where would the Septuagenarians be?
But the AWW is, as we all know, a completely amorphous construct, with no discernable central identity at which a finger of blame could be pointed nor the occasional plaudit be directed. The AWW seems to function ( if that is not too positive a verb ) by way of a plethora of ad-hoc phantasmagorias, known to the cognoscenti as “sub-committees”. These sub-committees (SC) appear and disappear, rise and fall, as if of their own volition - unelected, unobligated, un-pinnable-down - spontaneously generated and dissolved - misty and mysterious - as demmed elusive as The Scarlet Pimpernel or, to be more prosaic, as inaccessible as the bureaucracy of the European Union.
Nonetheless, they do seem to get the AWW business done when it needs to be done. So, here, in no particular order of seniority (logically one can’t rank that which cannot be apprehended ) is a list of those insubstantial will-o’-the -wisps to which John O’ and I owe many thanks for last Wednesday’s post-ambulatory symposium:-
The walk-postponement and curtailment SC
The cryptic messages and subtle hints SC
The birthday cake SC
The sandwiches and sausage rolls SC
The photographic archives SC
The cod-Latin captions SC
The birthday cards SC
The picture framing and gift-wrapping SC
The pecan-nuts and avocados SC
The picnic plates and paper napkins SC
The “I can do you a speech at the drop of a hat” SC
The Lagos condominium dwellers’ arm-twisting SC
The AWW Travelling Supporters Club SC.
(E & O E)"

AWW13.01.2010: A Werry Wet Wednesday

I have not had a lot of luck with the Romeiras walks ( see here ) and this one scheduled for 13th was fated anyway!
       Events conspired to cause the walk on 13th January to be cancelled the evening before - an exceedingly rare event, but as at 5 pm on Tuesday, I only had firm acceptance from Myriam,  Rod and Chris, and a couple of 'maybe if it's not raining' from Lindsey and David, the forecast was not encouraging, and most of those that walked on the 6th were still trying to dry their boots.

      However, with a Wednesday free, Myriam was suspiciously compiling lists of 'things to do about the house', so I suggested that we head out to Romeiras and check on the river levels and the depth of the Bravura Reservoir.  And since when have we needed an official walk to have an official Blog?

    On the way we drove alongside the NW reaches of the Bravura, and saw that the levels had caught some by surprise!

The Bravura is quite full!

Plenty of water in the well!

"get one's feet wet"

Fig. to get a little first-time experience with something. (Obvious literal possibilities.)

   eg.   "Of course he can't lead the walk. He's hardly got his feet wet yet." 

   and ..   "I'm looking forward to leading a walk. I can't wait to get into those rivers and get my feet wet."

  This was the rill that previously, we barely broke step to cross, at the beginning of the long valley up towards the Marmelete road. The photo can't show the ferocity of this raging torrent and the fact that it was thigh deep in the middle, and beyond the capacity of the average 65 year old to leap nimbly across! There is an encouraging new path caused by forestry activities on this side of the river, but it needed further exploration to see if it actually went anywhere useful.
     Anyway, my objective was to find a walk for next week on which we don't have to paddle, and things are looking hopeful if I can get out before Wednesday and check a few paths.
      After an hours driving on muddy, rutted tracks in the Berlingo, 80% of the walk was deemed 'suitable - but not for the faint hearted', and we repaired to Casa Pacheco for a liason meeting with Dona Aldina.

Drive-in Coffee Shop!

  It was a slow day, which rapidly degenerated into a long conversation in Portuguese on the treatment and prognosis of osteoporosis between Myriam and Dona Aldina.  Still I didn't have to put up shelves or clean anything, and we did get a cup of coffee and 6 fresh eggs, though even the hens were taking shelter!!

 

I'll leave it to the ducks!

On the way home we went to the Hansel & Gretel end of the Bravura to laugh at the motorhomers, and to check the dam. I must say I have never seen it so full.

Muddy Waters

La dam belle sans merci 

One of the workers on the dam informed us that the water in the reservoir had increased from 20 million litres at the beginning of December to the present 35 million litres.  We can expect a few more golf courses to be approved on the strength of that!

Rod had earlier visited the new Odelouca Reservoir which we saw

not too long ago, with barely any water, yet now it is apparently half full!

      Another piece of good news is that I have received some recognition for Services to Blogging.  The Swedish Committee went public recently and you can see their pronouncements by clicking Hero .  It may take a little while to load, but it is worth it.

Até a próxima Quarta feira !

“My evil genius Procrastination has whispered me to tarry 'til a more convenient season.”    Lincoln, Mary Todd

AWW 06.01.2010: B(l)og-trotting in Bensafrim.

On a day that would have had Alfred Wainwright hunched by the hearth in a Lakeland pub, puffing on his favourite pipe, Rod having summoned the faithful and foolhardy to Bensafrim by an exceedingly vague walk description, led the AWW's out of the village in what was to be a four hour session of drizzle through the boggy hinterland.

Celianne made a bold attempt to be excused at the last minute, by explaining that she had packed her husband's boots instead of her own, and only had carpet slippers to walk in, but Rod dismissed this by indicating that Reverend Bob always walks in carpet slippers!

Geraldine was up for her third walk of her filial visit to the Esperanças, and showed her confident disdain for the weather by completing her Sudoku while the Health and safety briefing was in progress!

  Bob's son, Tom was a first timer, recruited I suspect to allow Bob some free-style walking without being towed by Alfie.

Rainwear exhibition (spot the publicity seeker who did not walk!)

In Rod's favour, technically it was not actually raining as morning coffee was taken before the start of the walk, hence some smiles in this starter photo, but soon after we left the village there was a stop to put on the rain gear. I had pre-empted this by showing an uncharacteristic pessimism, donning my poncho before the group photo. It remained on until we reached the cafe some 4 hrs 32 minutes later - which is I believe a new record for continuous wearing of rain gear for AWW's.

 

Wetter than it looks.

Chief Bogfinder: Rod

Waders: John H., Ingrid, Paul, Hazel, Ian W.,  Myriam, Celianne, Geraldine, Dina, Chris, John O', Tina, Bob, Tom.

Water Dogs: Maddy, Misty, Tiggy, Amos, Alfie, Harry.

Track (unlabelled as we didn't stop much!)

Stats:

Total Distance: 19.2 km.

Moving Time: 4 hrs.

Total Time: 4 hrs 32 min.

Moving avg.: 4.7 km/hr

Overall Avg.: 4.2 km/hr

Total Ascent: 471 m.

Max Elevation: 202 m.

Umbrellas : 1

Decathlon waterproofing: Several

Upmarket protective Gear: Not enough.

Unsurprisingly, there were not too many photos taken on the way round, most paparazzi unwilling to expose their long lenses to the elements.

Here is Rod's account of the paddle, cunningly written in the third person to avoid personal culpability:-

      Amazing turnout really bearing in mind that the forecast predicted heavy rain !  Nevertheless all fourteen (fifteen?) set out from Bensafrim market square heading west towards the ridge now adorned with countless wind turbines. Most of these were happily obscured by heavy low cloud which after about 30 minutes proved the forecast correct. From that moment on it really never stopped raining, not torrential, but enough to ensure that nobody had brought their rain gear in vain...indeed everybody wore an assortment of Géologique and K-way capes, Quechua and Berghaus waterproof jackets and indeed a brolly, the entire time!

    The onset of rain provoked the leader into choosing plan B ....although only he knew (or did he?) what plan A was.

    In any event he assured us it was a bit shorter and eventually led us down to the main road.  A couple of hundred metres down this and then back up north, we finally took a track up a valley to the east.  No sooner had we settled on this track then we came across The First Stream…. somewhat unavoidable if one sticks to valleys in such weather! 

River deep……

 Nobody seemed keen to venture across this, wary perhaps that there were  several more along the valley, so we reversed and headed up a track to a ridge that kept us well away from water hazards.  The price of such comfort was a more testing switchback track which, to certain consternation from some, seemed to curve away from our destination.  Our leader assured us that this was necessary if we were to avoid water filled valleys and was not purely to ensure  we were going to achieve 20 km’s .

Myriam uses Rod as a mobile telephone box

 …..and Mountain High

 The complete Almares

 

As there was no let-up in the rain and therefore nowhere very suitable to stop for lunch, it was mostly taken on the hoof!  There was a 5 minute break in the rain near the ruined stone windmill above Bensafrim allowing a brief moment to stop and finish snacks before down it came again.

 

 

Unretouched Windmill scene

 

Lunch ‘on the hoof’  (brightened by Picasa)

 

 

Gimme Shelter

 

 

  From there it was all downhill  to the bar and a surprising number of hot ‘galões’ rather than beer helped the drying out process.....then the sun came out!

 

Afternoon ‘tea’ on the verandah. (Who is Tina talking to?)

 

 

Study in ‘Body language’!

CB’s Comment:

          A navigational tour de force by Rod, who managed to get us round the course without having to wade across a stream, though I suspect that for many it would not have made much difference to the dampness of their feet. At least it was not particularly cold, and the dogs enjoyed it!

Queen Maddy of Bensafrim

 

Maddy soon realised why Ian had sent her out with Myriam, and stayed at home himself!

 

“Rain and adolescence are the only problems that disappear if you ignore them long enough.”    Wilson, Earl 

“Bad weather always looks worse through a window.”    Unknown,

(Not sure about that last quote!!