Hedley's Walk; Wednesday 22nd March 2006

Walk from Rasmalho on the Monchique Rd
Approximately 17 Km - about 5 hours

(Report delayed as roving reporter Hedley had trouble with his 3G Satellite link!)

Leader : Hedley

Present : Paul, Myriam, Stan, Elaine, Vitor, Dina, David, Terry, Pam, Ian, Caroline, Tim & Shirley McGuire (guests).
Xana, Muffin, Nathan

Met at café "Casa do Pasto Riba e Serra" in Rasmalho to take caffeine on board followed by a short drive to the start point north of the village.
A flattish stride out for about 4 Km (heading north) round the lake and up to the village of Casas Velhas. A long haul up to the edge of the eucalyptus plantation, past the ruined house where Myriam lost her dog lead about 60 years ago! A lot of the terrain very wet underfoot after the recent rains : the water table should be really high by now which bodes well for the summer. Continued along the eucalyptus (much of which has now been cut) before swinging north again down a long descent featuring a solitary blue blob from the first walk ever set by Hedley (reputedly thought to be in 1996). At about the 8Km point a vicious downhill to the river which was crossed with only one wet foot,(apart from the 12 used by the dogs between them)! Lunch followed by a scenic stretch along an old shepherd's track, in single file, with steep drops to the river below. This path featured a profusion of wild flowers with spectacular displays of gladioli. (particularly in the steep rock garden cultivated by a family of German's who had appropriated Hedley's original path!!) Joined up with the main track along the Ribera das Canas and after about 15 Km decided that the approach of a cloud front made it desirable to shorten the original plan by walking throught the water meadows where it was revealed in conversation that our resident technogeek (S**n) was not au fait with the term "phishing" (don’t ask me either). Shortly after, the natural history lovers were rewarded by a very rare sight - a view of a bare leg displayed by Myriam as she applied medication after falling (gracefully) off a wall. A final burst through the Aloe Vera plantation to reach the cars and back to the pub.

Comment: I could be accused of getting rather 'anal' about estimated distances and times (see last week), possibly because of my frenetic dealings with Builders, Quantity Surveyors and Architects on our forthcoming (hopefully) rebuilding project. This time I took issue with Hedley re his reported kilometrage from the Silves junction to the start Cafe (He said 3.2 and the G-Wagon made it 2.7), and his estimated walk distance (16/17km) when my pedometer made it 13.3 MILES. In view of the fact that the G-Wagon is on oversize winter tyres, and I found that my pedometer had reset itself to an inch further than my current stride, I feel that I maybe slightly out in my figures, so I unreservedly apologise and promise not to comment on distances again - until someone else gets it wrong!!
Another thought - why did Hedley asterisk the two middle letters of "our resident technogeek"s name. Most of us would have deduced who it was from the cast list at the top of this blog!! Asterisks are usually used to faintly disguise a profanity - or something unpleasant. Surely it couldn't be because S**n was a Lawyer in a former life, and Hedley had a subconscious reaction while penning his piece! I will leave you to decide!