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