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.)

AWW 07.04.2010: How Many Fontes can we find?

        A good walk should be like a good book. It should have a  beginning that grabs your attention, an entertaining body and a satisfying conclusion. So it was with Terry’s latest offering:- Plenty of parking, a coffee and clean loos at Taberna a Bica at Besteiros; a gentle beginning warm-up with no vertical ‘heart-starter’ hills; an interesting theme in that we saw more Fontes than I can ever recall – and far more than are mentioned in his note below; and at the end, well-deserved ‘cold ones’, though what I thought were Bohémias in the chiller were Mini Bock ‘Preta’, but these details are only for true connoisseurs!

        The discrepancy between the forecast 21 km, 2*+ D.o.D. and the eventual 22.2 km and 3*+ D.o.D. can easily be explained by a misreading of the Guide, and the lack of charge in Terry’s batteries (GPS that is!) and anyway was insignificant compared to the miscalculations of political proportions of previous weeks.

Here we all are at the start:

The Starters: Blue is the new Season’s colour !

Fonte of All Knowledge: Terry A.

Tributaries: John H., Bob, Myriam, Celeanne, Chris, Stan, Elaine, John O’, Nan (guest of David), Hilke, Rod, Alex, Lindsey, Paul, Janet, David, Yves.

Sprinklers: Amos, Alfie, Rusty, Harry, Maddie, Rosie, Misty, Tiggy.

The Track (click to enlarge)

Stats:

Total Distance: 22.2 km.
Moving Time: 4 hrs 46 min.
Total Time: 5 hrs 55 min.
Moving Avg.: 4.7 km/hr.
Overall Avg.: 3.8 km/hr.
Total Ascent: 547 m.
Max Elevation: 286 m.

D.o.D.: 3***+

Average Age of walkers: 63 years, 4 months, 19 days

 

John H sets up the starter pic by the First Fonte

Here is Terry’s report, interspersed with rather a lot of Fonte pix:-

How Many Fontes Can We Find?  Wednesday Walk Starting At Besteiros Fonte 1

Wednesday dawned cloudy and with a chilly  breeze, forecast was for sun and warm temps.

Oh well after we were all finished with coffee etc we got started on one of my, as advertised, "easy" walks, some of the non-believers were muttering Terry's idea of easy is not necessarily our idea of easy, but hi give me a break, we were looking for Fontes and we soon found the next one (2) hiding in the long grass.

There must be a Fonte here somewhere – is it up there?

We moved on to the stream crossing where I had spent time laying stones for you to walk on (I must be getting soft) the next river was easy to cross and now we were starting to see orchids and other spring flowers in profusion.

John O’ shows his Riverdance technique

   A gentle climb up to contour round to the next valley where there are two very old Noras in quite good condition, along quiet lanes to the next Fonte 3,

Old Nora…….!

…..and her sister……!

Wishee-Washee!!!

This one has been restored and is in use, on down the quiet lanes with the blossom full out on the fruit trees to Fonte das Vinhas (4) another in working order.

We had great expectations of this one…..

…… but alas it only dispensed water!

  We leave the lanes now to walk across the top of the ridge true Barrocal country to the next valley descending down to Fonte Benemola (5) a natural occurring Fonte which can discharge 4 million litres of water per hour and rarely dries up in summer. (I would need confirmation of that figure!!)

Fonte Benemola bubbling away

  Climbing up out of the valley now towards Querenca where at Pombal is Fonte 6 still working as demo by myself and Rusty & Misty,…….

Dog and human powered well!

…….and on the corner by the cafe is Fonte 7.

which may be this one – I’ve lost count!!

Querenca for lunch in the very warm and sunny square nice and peaceful till the clock chimed twice both wrong times.

A great spot for lunch not only seats but a coffee shop!

Down the hill from Querenca to the next village through small lanes to Fonte 8 

Rusty takes a dip! (This may have been Fonte 8!)

then we climb up through  the woods and over to the next valley, we were heading back almost in a straight line for the Bar.  We bypassed the next village which had a Fonte to go down a wet track to the road, a bit of road round the hill to the last Fonte 9. ( I think the paparazzi were all fonted out by this point!)   This one has been modernized but still dispensed the wet stuff, a quick dash across fields of small blue irises to the river, no problem to the WW note how the pace picks up, the Bar is soon in sight ahh we are back!!!  We all had a good walk, my stats were almost right, one of my better walks I think,  thanks to all who came.

Drinking at the final fonte.

  It was indeed one of his better walks, and as a bonus it was also Chris’s  birthday. Antje had thoughtfully packed him some special birthday cake, which he generously distributed, and was scoffed promptly after a quick chorus of the traditional air!

The Birthday Boy is relieved to finish another walk at his newly advanced age!!

A great value-added feature of this walk in Spring is the olfactory experience as we pass through orange orchards, eucalyptus groves and among other scented flowers such as freesias, which Lindsey can recount far better than I.  John even risked becoming the World’s Most Perfectly Ruptured Man to take a photo of some apparently attractive ground-dwelling species!

Don’t move!!!

John O’ no doubt suffering a sense of inferiority at not owning a genuine Tilley has taken to turning up with a selection of even more bizarre headgear at each walk. This week he sported an Old School Boater, which on closer inspection by John H proved to bear the crested badge of the Kowloon Bowling Green Club!

Jolly Boating weather……

Thanks to Terry for a memorable outing, with plenty of liquid – coffee at the start and in the middle, water throughout and beer at the end.

 

“Best friend, my well-spring in the wilderness!”    Eliot, George

“April is the cruellest month, breeding lilacs out of the dead land, mixing memory and desire, stirring dull roots with spring rain.”    Eliot, T. S.

AWW 31.03.2010: Fishermen’s Rest to Funcho

 

The day before April Fool’s Day, so there was some concern that Rod’s estimate of  ‘3 – 4 * on the richter scale but more like 4 * in ups and downs’ was a spoof, but 15 of us took the risk and joined him at a new venue - ‘Retiro dos Pescadores’ in Pedreira which was indeed open for coffee as advertised, complete with affable host.

The spring flowers are well out now, and there was the opportunity for some GM Cistus spotting. This is a rare example of the Lesser Five Red Spot variety in full bloom.  On exactly the same date last year we were on Day 5 of the Via Algarviana, walking from Benafim to Pedreiras  (‘The Day that Maddy ate the Poisoned Ear!’ but not the same as Pedreira where we started  today) and we had found the record breaking 9 spot Cistus. That episode can be seen HERE    We are hoping for a ten spot before the blooms fade, so keep your eyes open.

 

Leader: Rod

Present:
Mike , Janet, Hilke, John & Hazel, Bob , Tina & Andrew, Terry A, Jon O’, Paul & Myriam, Dina,  Celianne, Yves.

Dogs:
Misty, Maddie, Amos, Alfie, Rusty, Harry

John’s annotated track (you will need to click to enlarge to read the captions!)

Stats:

Total Distance: 21.9 km.
Moving Time: 4 hrs 58 min.
Total Time: 6 hrs 15 min.
Moving Avg.: 4.4 km/hr.
Overall Avg.: 3.5 km/hr.
Total Ascent: 690 m.
Max Elevation: 298 m.

D.o.D.:    ****

Average Age: 65 yrs 8 months and 30 days
(new record)

 

Herewith Rod’s report :

 

Met up at a new venue ( Retiro dos Pescadores) in Pedreira near Silves, which somehow or other everyone managed to find.

Starters (apparently John thought the BMW was necessary to include the bar name – I would have edited it out to use in a future Bar Identification competition!) 

A cool and fresh morning but at least dry for a change.

We set off through the village of Pedreira and, leaving the tarmac, gained height quite sharply.  First stop for a puff was under an electrical pylon carrying the loose ends of cables, marking the spot where the combined efforts of Almargem, Silves Camara and local residents had managed to defeat the might of EDP forcing them to reroute the line.

Quite an achievement except we don’t know quite to where it will be rerouted !

Trig Point Picões

From there we ascended to the first of the inevitable trig points (Picões) with great views of the Arade valley.  Then we descended sharply towards the Barragem do Arade, the valley floor still being very wet and the track virtually a stream. We ascended again up a long gully along a little used trail that took us up to a ridge joining the Via Algarviana route.

Follow the Yellow Brick Road..

Ladies to the Left…. Gents to the Right!!

We followed this for a while before making a necessary diversion to arrive at the second trig point (Açor) with splendid views of the Barragem de Funcho and Arade.

Açor Trig Point – they could all do with a coat of paint!

From there we took the track leading down to Funcho Dam.  Along this we were accosted by a pick-up whose occupants were gesticulating rather animatedly at us.  This was evidently indicating we should keep away for as we approached them they reversed away onto a side track yelling there were bees around.....indeed they had a hive on the back  receiving some sort of attention with bees buzzing all around.  Despite a number of them buzzing around our heads, somehow or other no-one got stung. (I understand John H. and Bob were stung as was Misty)

Recovering from this it seemed like a good time to have lunch, which we took on the track side overlooking the Dam. 

Lunch on the scree

Afterwards we wandered over the dam; fairly full it was but they have kept the level well short of the overflow spill-way. 

Funcho Dam

We descended below the dam along the Arade track which was on the Algarve Way route. 

 

At the point where this turns to retrace our steps up the valley we came down near the start of the walk, a very short sharp descent got the better of Bob who made a quite spectacular plunge towards a pond at the bottom.....saved from a ducking only by a few shrubs! 

No pride shown.. but just before a fall!

Hope he’ll remember that when he’s back there on his epic Algarve Way Charity Walk next month!

Health and Safety – honest there was nothing on the way in!

Little else of note occurred  as we made one final ascent before winding our way down the valley back towards our  start point and the usual revivers at the Fishermen’s Rest...must remember to enquire why it is named thus, being a considerable way from anywhere to fish!

Café Photograph………

……and photographer

The walk definition as being in the 3* to 4 * range was suitably vague for the final statistics to be incontrovertible ! 

CB’s Comment

A couple of wildlife items that Rod missed (and so did I) being at the front. One was a sighting of what appears to be a fallow deer (I stand to be corrected) of which several photos were taken by John and Myriam, but it was a long way off and this is the best of them.

Click to enlarge – the antlers are visible

The second was the ceremonial disbursement by Tina of Easter Eggs after lunch  ….

…entitled ‘Easter Bunnies’ by John.

There was also a rather obscene looking motorcycle track as we left the ZIF (Zona de Intervenção Florestal) which the purer among us thought looked more like a snail!

Snail tracks!

On the valley round the Arade there were a few landslides on the path widened to accommodate the heavy lorries building the pumping station, and also a red mud pool which the dogs found!

These boots were made for walking!

In the event, fears of yet another underestimate of a walk length were unfounded and Rod stayed fairly close to his admittedly vague prediction. As he said, “I could have easily made it a 5*” but I think we were all happy enough to finish before dusk!

 

“He who hunts for flowers will finds flowers; and he who loves weeds will find weeds.”    Beecher, Henry Ward

“Sitting quietly, doing nothing, spring comes and the grass grows by itself.”   Saying, Zen (adopted by Ian S.)

 

PS. There is still time to enter last week’s Bar/Café Identification Competition. Ingrid has done her homework, in between building duties, and scored 5 out of 8 points…. and she doesn’t drink!