After goodness knows how many days of rain, how many cancelled walks, and so very little exercise, a few desperate souls were unable to resist Terry’s repeated challenge of “come, walk with me”. The 9.30 am kick-off was delayed because Ian W and JohnH were unable to work out his simple directions of how to get to the starting cafe. Terry, however, sprinted to down-town modern Salir where they were floundering about and shepherded them back to old Salir. A kind of Starters Photo was taken, mostly under umbrellas, while the weather turned a trifle melancholy.
Starters in the rain
The walk had just stuttered into life when IanW had to go back to get his wallet out of his car. JohnO professed to be at a loss: “Who on earth,” he asked, “could possibly be so desperate as to want to break into a car to take a Scotsman’s wallet?” Peace between the two of them had scarcely been restored when Celianne’s dog, Harry, deposited a princely-sized dump right outside a Salir worthy’s front gate, and again we paused while she did her civic duty with the poop-scoop bag. And so it wasn’t until about 9.45 am that the ever-patient Terry was finally able to lead his group through the lanes of old Salir, past the open doors of Igreja Matriz where we didn’t tarry, and out into open country, where the weather lightened.
So who were these magnificent but foolhardy Seven?
Leader: Terry Ames.
Followers: Tina and Andrew, IanW, JohnO, Celianne, and JohnH.
Dogs: Rusty and Harry.
Statistics
Your deputy blogger’s GPS is notoriously unreliable with measurements ,but these are what it recorded and they don’t conflict all that much with what the Leader put down in his report:
Moving time: 3hrs 57m
Stopped time: 2hrs 23m
Total time: 6hrs 10m
Distance: 25.96km
Speeds: who cares?; we got back!
The Track
(click to enlarge)
The Leader’s Report
“ A lot of up, a lot of down, 6 hours total, 5 hours walking, 4 star rating.
"As I lay in bed listening to the rain beat down, I thought 'here we go again - third week in a row’.
"At 7am still raining but bits of blue and clouds quite high so I made up my mind the walk was a on. Had a few calls but, not to be dissuaded, it was on. After the caffeine intake it’s all systems go, a bit of light rain and wet under foot, but we took off, route Via Algarviana out of Salir heading for the hills; small detours needed to walk over the bridges as the river crossings were not a option unless we are into white water rafting.
Not an option
“The trails were soft but but no deep mud as such. We wound our way ever upwards in light rain, warm sun so off came a layer of clothes as we began to perspire. (Despite an encouraging phone-in from invalid Paul) the leader was hesitant in parts as having not walked that way for some time but we came out at the right place and on up to the old mill for lunch.
It certainly was upwards
Lunch at 497 metres “Lunch over,we walked west along the ridge in the sun while the rain swept through the valleys below us with the ever changing light watching the greens of the valley sides keep changing colour. The afternoon was dry as we started to descend and, yes, I made another small navigational error but soon spotted it. (He was clearly distracted at this point by IanW’s offer to “show his bits”. Ed)
Ian repeating his offer
“After making another route change to find the bridge, I was aware that legs were beginning to tell us that maybe we are not as fit as we would like to be.( He can say that again! And again! This was me at the Point of Pain, with JohnO about to sign me off for good in accordance with ancient Irish rites!)
Oh, my goodness!
(Pic copyright Terry Ames Images)
“However, at last we made it up and over the ridge to be rewarded with the sight of sunny Salir. As the end was nigh the finish soon came and the smiles were back on our faces as we went to the cafe for our just rewards. We all agreed we had had more dry time than wet and were glad we turned out . Thanks for coming , Terry.”
Post-mortem
Here’s Terry, after the walk, looking thoughtful. Now,do you think he’s already mulling over what to put in his Leader’s Report?
Nah; he’s watching F.C. Porto beat Arsenal 2-1. Apart from that, the main topic of discussion in the bar was a comparative analysis of whether being on one of Terry’s hill-climb endurance tests was more exhausting than having to read all the way through one of the Chief Blogger’s introspective medical ruminations, e.g. his last one on the common cold and how to get it/not to get it.
Well, I think that it’s fair to say that the jury –if indeed there is one competent to hear such a case- is still out.
Be that as it may be, here are the statistics on that latest blog of Paul’s:
Quotations: 1
Captions: 3
Pictures: 9
Paragraphs: 42
Text Lines: 305
Words: no less than 2724 (+/-)
Now isn’t that quite something? And from a sickbed! And what does Myriam give him?
But let us not mock, my friends: as Frere Yves, I am sure, will tell us, one of the world’s greatest 19th century authors took to his bed from where he produced a masterpiece constructed initially out of his thoughts about being ill and about cookies, or to be more precise, about his memories of a particular buttery, lemony type of cake called a madeleine which he had just nibbled. (visit http://www.slate.com/id/2118443/ to learn more).
I haven’t read his works, neither in French nor in English, but no doubt Yves has, and I’m sure he will tell us more. But Marcel Proust’s book (A La Recherche du Temps Perdu) ran into twelve volumes, and it still sells!
Paul is close on his trail, however; he has already published two AWW Blog books; a third and a fourth are under preparation; the twin themes of health and cuisine are gradually emerging; and so the series will grow. Place your orders for these future life-enhancing masterpieces now!
Three quarters of the sicknesses of intelligent people come from their intelligence. They need at least a doctor who can understand this sickness. (Marcel Proust)
Illness as a catalyst for artistic creativity is not a new theme, and surely Marcel Proust should count as one of its most celebrated examples. (Thomasine Kushner, M.D.)
We are healed from suffering only by experiencing it to the full. (Marcel Proust)
Post-Scriptum
I have already been corrected by one of our more literature-minded walkers that Proust's major work was not put out in 12 volumes, but in 7. Well, as it's obviously cheaper to buy 7 books than 12, and as two of the sub-texts to this week's blog are the number 7 and the parsimoniousness of the Scots as a race, I'll go along with that and stand corrected. Indeed, since no greater authority on such matters as Monty Python ratifies the 7 version (check it out on "Monty Python's Flying Circus Episode 31 - The All-England Summarize Proust Competition"), who indeed am I to argue?
Post-Post-Scriptum
After months of clandestine research by M and appointment of Excel Consultants Brian and his advisor Clare, I am now in possession of a table that enables me to calculate automatically and swiftly the average age of the participants on each WW. (provided they have submitted their personal data accurately and/or are not suffering from gerascophobia or even gerontophobia).
The stat for this week reveals that the average age of 6 of the walkers whose data we know is:-
65 years, 1 month and 7days as at the date of the walk.
It is not yet known whether the effect of this stat will be uplifting or depressing, but counselling can always be sought in the Bar/Café after the walk.
I have already had to add a corrective post-script to the blog because some eagle-eyed know-it-all reader has pointed out to me a mistake that I made about Proust. Never mind, all it means is that Paul will catch up with him sooner.
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