AWW 14.04.2010 Ladies Day, or A Walk in the Rain - Again!

"When you´re lying awake
With a dismal headache,
And repose is taboo´d by anxiety,
I conceive you may use
Any language you choose
To indulge in, without impropriety;
For your brain is on fire
And the bedclothes conspire
Of your usual slumber to plunder you..........."

As he walked into the Bar`Mouros Encantados´in Paderne that morning, the Deputy Chief Blogger´s heart sank. There were Myriam and Janet comfortably ensconced enjoying pre-walk coffees, but no Chief Blogger! (No Maddie either, come to mention it.) DCB soon knew full well what was in store for him - he would have to do the blessed blog - and indeed there was to be no escape. His first, but entirely unworthy, thought was that Paul was a crypto-misogynist who could not face being led on a walk by no less than two ladies. But that notion was in no way correct. What in fact had happened was that our Chief Blogger had cruelly been struck down by insomnia, hence our opening quotation from W.S Gilbert´s patter song in Iolanthe. No doubt, Paul will be able to follow up his recent successful Proustian description of his heroic struggles with man `flu similarly with a Gilbertian-style epic on overcoming sleep deprivation.
But first the Starter photograph had to be taken. The initial attempt was a failure. People looked grim; Tina, Terry and Bob in particular looking as if they had seen it all before, all too often; and a special guest appearance by John Philip Sousa on tenor horn was blocked by Hazel.



(click to enlarge)

The second attempt at least brought out a few smiles - Ian Wilson or Ingrid had probably cracked a joke at the crucial moment.

The Starters plus one

Now for the cold facts:

Joint Lady Leaders: Hilke and Lindsey

Lady Followers: Myriam, Tina, Ingrid, Janet and Hazel

Dogs: Amos, Andy, Rusty, Bella and Shelley

Underdogs: Terry, Bob, Frank, Ian W. and John H.

The statistics (courtesy Ingrid´s all-American GPS):

total distance: 18.10km
moving time: 3hrs.56min
total time: 4hrs.40min
moving avg: 4.6kph
overall avg: 3.9kph
total ascent: 282m
max elevation:249m

average age (excluding a certain lady):- 64 years, 2 months, 3 days.

and the Track:

The Joint Leaders´Report:

"After the last fine weeks we had expected good weather, but no, we had to learn the hard way: our first appearance as leaders had to be in the rain. But we must say that the walkers who had not cancelled wore a smile on their face and did not let the weather bother them.

"We started in Paderne with the weather still holding, but already on the outskirts a drizzle developed into heavier rainfall and caused the first dress stop. We continued through some little villages with people greeting us in a friendly way, a bit surprised about those strange foreigners.


" After leaving the last village of Aldeia Grande behind us, the path climbed for a time taking us away from civilization into the beauty of nature. We had some good views over ridges, hills and valleys even though a bit hazy. Flowers were out that we had not seen on our reccying, i.e. lavender.
Discomfort stop

(One particular stretch was very soggy with especially clinging mud into which one poor chap seemed to have sunk headfirst:)
What a way to go!

"After quite a long spell of dry weather the rain started again just before the only really steep descent, which was rather slippery and took us some time to cope with. (We are really rather relieved that you cancelled, Ian Scott, it would have been a bit difficult to manage for a first walk after your operation.)

" So, when we reached the bottom and walked towards the River Algibre, which is really a very beautiful spot, we were all covered up and did not see much below our hoods or hats. And lunch had to be taken standing up as well (except for Ian W. - nobody cared to sit down on a wet rock).

Standing room only



"As we did not want the walkers to take their boots off in the rain, we took a little detour and crossed the river on a bridge (there had been no drop of water in it when we had done the first reccie last August, but it was quite a torrential river now). There was a big obstruction in the river at the bridge - full of rotten bamboo - on the one side and a quiet river on the other side. This might be a danger if there is more rain coming down.


"Going on we were rewarded by a fragrance of orange blossom when we passed through a huge grove. The countryside opened up and we walked through vineyards, olive trees and oranges.

(Here, Terry dismantled a GNR security barrier heedless of his personal well-being.)

"The rain finally stopped again when we approached Paderne. Some ladies (possibly because the end was near or because the rain had strained them?!) danced around to the tune of “Raindrops keep falling…”), but we made it into the café without any accident and without losing anybody (although we had been allowed 20% at the beginning as we were two leaders). "

Show me the way to go home

And back at the Bar "Mouros Encantados", there was time for some well-merited mutual congratulation between the Leaders:-

Well, we sure sorted the girls from the boys!

and for a touch of art connoisseurship for the camp-followers:-

A Titian, I´d say; arguably from his Byzantine or Blue period

before Frank was jump-started on his way home.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The shares are a penny,

And ever so many

Are taken by Rothsschild and Baring

And just a few

Are allotted to you,

When you awake with a shudder despairing..................

You´re a regular wreck, with a crick in your neck, and no wonder you snore, for your head´s on the floor, and you´ve needles and pins from your soles to your shins, and your flesh is a-creep, for your left leg´s asleep, and you´ve a cramp in your toes, and a fly on your nose, and some fluff in your lung, and a feverish tongue, and a thirst that´s intense, and a general sense that you haven´t been sleeping in clover;

But the darkness has passed, and it´s daylight at last, and the night has been long - ditto ditto my blog - and thank goodness they´re both of them over!

(The complete words to "When you´re lying awake" can be found on
http://www.hyperborea.org/writing/nightmare.html

Aplausos para W.S.Gilbert.)