"The Brave" at Cafe Bravo!

 

What's the matos?

Ian's Carrapateira Walk:

Leader: Ian C-S

Present: Paul; Myriam; Mike; Hedley; Chris; Gack; Tanya; Maria.

Xana; Oscar; Archie; Tiggy.

Again a smallish group on a promising day, weatherwise apart from the early fog which appeared near the coast. I am glad to have had the chance to record this walk with the Bamboo Diagrams , as it is likely that Ian and Pam will be moving on soon, and I have only a couple of their favourite walks recorded. Tanya and Maria had partially recovered from their acute blistering, won on last week's walk, and proved game enough to give it another go! They also had a collection of other aches and pains from horse-riding and tennis, but were determined to have an Action-Adventure stay rather than spend all their time shopping and lounging on the beach.

As we headed inland and uphill from Cafe Bravo, the fog did lift, and the first 4 miles was very pleasant with the riotous colours of the spring flowers in all their glory, and a warm sunshine. We passed a cottage which had a rather unique frontage bearing it's name, which I for one had not seen before. (Top photo above)

On previous occasions on this walk, Ian and Pam have been out on the route a few days before, clearing the secondary jungle which festoons the minor paths when they are only visited once or twice a year. However, the preoccupation with selling their house and planning their next moves had on this occasion, precluded the pre-emptive machete and scythe expedition, and we entered the narrow valley to be faced with extensive 'matos' - brambles, cistus, and young saplings across the path! This continued on the steep uphill to the Trig Point (photo) where we emerged bloody (Mike and Chris) but unbowed - and posed for the obligatory shot. Mike reclined behind Oscar, Gack thought it safe to unzip the lower legs of her trousers, and Myriam held her bandaged finger aloft to prevent the throbbing. However all was not yet over as the downhill proved just as difficult, despite Ian's best efforts in the lead with his Lidl Secateurs!

After crossing the main road towards the sea, the fog made a determined effort to return, and spoilt our sea views during lunch, so we soon pressed on down to the beach, which was alive with surfers, clad in wetsuits. And so we returned to Carrapateira, and the Cafe Bravo, which happily had a good stock of cold Bohemia, after a walk of 12.25 miles(19.71km), which had taken us almost 5 hours. It was Hedley's last walk until after the summer as he drives back to UK at the weekend. Thanks to Ian and Pam for their repertoire of pleasant west coast walks, and I am sure they will be back to lead some more, when France's shortcomings prove to be even greater than those we have to deal with here!!

Terry's Besteiros Bonanza - 19th April 2006

Leader: Terry
Supported by: Paul, Hedley, Mike, Chris, Antje, Gack, Andrew, Lindsey, Stan, Elaine, Janet, Tanya, Maria.
Xana, Nathan, Archie, Oscar, Tiggy

An encouraging turnout of 14 (+ 5) for an all new walk created by Terry in his own backyard, starting from Besteiros, despite being towards the outer limits of known walking areas, to the east of Salir. It could have been 15, but Myriam was nursing a newly operated finger (no not the one used for prodding me - that still works perfectly well!), and claimed she would be unable to grasp her walking stick sufficiently well. Photo of motley crew (above) at the start, mostly paying attention to the appeals of the leader and cameraman to say "Queijo", except for a certain senior walker, who apparently had used his new batteries in his GPS this time, instead of in his hearing aid!!
Numbers were boosted,(and average age considerably lowered) by the voluntary participation of my daughter, Tanya, and her friend Maria, both trainee nurses, on a short break from studies in London.
This was to be an extremely agreeable walk, not only because we were favoured with a clear sunny day, with just enough cooling breeze to keep things comfortable, but also because the combination of ridges and valleys gave wonderful views, and the spring flowers were out in all their abundant beauty. Enough of the poetic appreciation of nature - now to the incident packed inside story!!
Less than 500 metres from the start, Janet had a senior moment, when she could barely be restrained from jogging back to her car for her fleece, only to have it pointed out that it was dangling from the bottom of her rucksack, invisible only to her!! Terry's navigation was almost impeccable for the first section, as he led us at the 2.5 mile (4 km) point down a valley through an original woodland of cork oaks to the building site of a new and impressive Country Club. The access paths in the area had been graded, and this perhaps forebode the dreaded tarmac, as Terry had spoken to the manager previously who had intimated that he would be laying out and marking walking trails for guests at the Club. Wouldn't do to get pieces of the Algarve countryside adhering to their Gucci loafers!!
We had been promised a climb or two, and we were not disappointed, as shortly we started up from the valley floor, without climbing aids nor oxygen towards a dauntingly high ridge. Gack surprised us all, by moving up through the field to reach top of climb in about 5th place. All was revealed when she extracted from her cavernous rucksack, a Hospital Strength Sphygmomanometer, and proceeded to check her blood pressure - apparently on Doctor's orders! The type of Doctor who would instruct a client to carry such an enormous piece of medical equipment up a hill should be struck off - the extra weight alone would give most people a much increased heart rate! Anyway, the readings were evidently most encouraging, and Gack leapt to her feet and strode on with renewed vigour.
Hedley made a bid for "The Earliest Query for Lunch" with a "Please Sir - is it lunchtime yet?" at only 10 minutes to 11. Fortunately, Terry had already picked out a superb spot near a windmill with panoramic views, and stone walls to sit upon, but we were still one hour and forty minutes away from that, according to my Bamboo Diagrams, compiled with a newly adjusted pedometer giving readings surprisingly similar to Mike's rejuvenated GPS.
During a short rest on the next uphill stretch, Andrew surprised us all by spitting out one of his front teeth, and stamping on it to demonstrate it's durability. He then replaced it, explaining that he needed it in place when he was talking to 'the girls'!! Apparently he had been a client of a dodgy Albufeira dentist in the past, but now flew to London for all his dental requirements.
Lunch was before 1 o'clock at the magnificent windmill (photo below), and here our visiting junior pedestrians removed their boots to find large gouts of skin hanging from the backs of their heels. I have to confess that I had ordered them to wear their boots out of fear of censure from the Senior Walker present, for contravening Bye Law 8.3 ss.7 'Failing to ensure that guest walkers are properly shod'! Had they been able to wear their preferred Designer Trainers, their heels might have yet been intact. If they are sufficiently recovered by next Wednesday, they may again join us, and I make a plea for dispensation in their case. Between us, Terry and I had sufficient 'Second Skin' to effect repairs and enable the two girls to continue.
The latter part of the walk was pleasant and highlighted by again converging on the Via Algarviana and we commented on the discovery of several Cistus Way Marks, which were only matched in beauty by the abundant 'real thing' which was blooming in all it's glory.
All in all a great walk - only 16-17 km altogether, but Terry did drop a few points as the Taberna do Bica at the end failed to come up with the preferred Sagres Bohemia, and Tanya naively fetched the Chief Blogger two of the miniature beers preferred by the local 'Old Boys' rather than his third of a litre usual model. So much for an expensive education!

I did mention the new Shakespeare Way to several walkers during this walk. Info can be found at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/global/main.jhtml?xml=/global/2006/04/19/nwalk19.xml&DCMP=EMC-exp_19042006 and

http://www.shakespeare-country.co.uk/swt.aspx?&cp=../swt/&id=649&pagetype=1&sim=&cg=

And another thing: It has been proposed that at our Annual End of Season extravaganza, when we blow all the accumulated funds, that there be a 'Blog of the Year' Award. As I am encouraging walk leaders to contribute pieces on their own walks (to save me thinking too much) I am all in favour, and would be grateful for comments and suggestions for criteria if the general opinion is favourable.

A great spot for lunch

Walking repairs!

Points of View 1

Following received from a Probationary Blogger posing under a pseudonym. I am willing to stretch the publishing rules in this case because (a) You know who he is; and (b) he makes a sound argument. We are to a certain extent "wimps", but then we are wimps with an average age of around 55-60, which is considerably higher than that of a Roman Legionary, whose life expectancy was probably in the mid-twenties!! Now when I was a lad......


Dear Chief Blogger,

In the course of some research on another matter I used the Internet to check on Roman Army marching speeds. Herewith a summary of what I found.
"The Roman Army was constantly on the march, sometimes going at unheard of speeds. Could you imagine marching all day carrying over 50 pounds of extra weight on your back?
Keep up! You might want to stop walking and start jogging, the Roman Army was expecting its soldiers to march 25 miles a day. An example of this would be the Magna Iterna. This marching mode set a pace that forced entire legions to travel 25 miles a day. While marching, each soldier had to carry his own sarcina, a soldier's pack carried over the shoulder, along with other baggage. Fast moving groups like scouts would be considered Expeditus, because they are light armed soldiers that can move quickly."

Cor, what a lot of wimps we must be! We are knackered after two days Round-the-Corner (bend) when we only walk about 17 miles (27 km) each day. At least we do carry 'sarcinas', even if by another name. And you can bet that the Roman sandals weren't made by Gortex.

Micus Aurelius

Spooky!

As I said in the comment to Rod's walk of 12th April, Myriam
and I went to Compton Verney to see a van Gogh Exhibition. Not only were there some very fine van Gogh originals, but in an adjoining room I saw a painting by Francis Bacon inspired by van Gogh's own (self-portrait) 'Painter on the road to Tarascon' (1888). I was immediately struck by how similar this was to my Profile photo on this blog. I Googled and found that it was one of a series of six studies, painted in 1956-7, and I have reproduced two of them above. Do you see it? The one at the top, (study ii) is not only the spitten image of me in my poncho taken by David L on the VA, but "The painter" is also wearing what appears to be a Tilley Hat!! It does not stop there. The second one, (study iv) bears a remarkable similarity to the photo I took of "Terry arriving at Marmelete", published in this blog last February 21st!! Of course Terry ruined the occasion by not wearing a Tilley Hat, but I am sure he will put that right when the sub-committee rules on the motion that I proposed and Stan seconded, that to be a Senior Blogger and above of the WW, it will be compulsory to wear a Tilley Hat AND drive a Berlingo.

Wednesday 12th April - Rod's Walk

Leader; Rod

Present: Mike, Terry A, Stan and Elaine, Gack, Janet, Peter S,
Archie, Pookie, Oscar, (Peter’s hound?)


Rod writes:-
Fantastic day, blue skies but a cool breeze. Set off point was Jinny Harman’s Riding Establishment in Bensafrim. Rod’s intention, he still being uncomfortably plump after a gourmet week in France, was to take his mare (horse not wife) but a threatened uprising put short shrift to that idea. So off we set, all on foot, in a north easterly direction towards the Barragem de Bravura. To his excitement Terry found some rare orchids…so rare that nobody knew what variety they were, indeed, Lindsay being absent, really if they were orchids at all!
Shortly before getting to the Barragem, somewhat unusually since we rarely seem meet anyone on walks, an American explorer suddenly emerged from behind a gorse bush….’ Say…aren’t there any birds around here?’ he ventured. We all looked at Elaine, Janet and Gack to see they were going to take up the challenge, but a large pair of binoculars round is neck suggested he was a mere ornithologist. He wandered off towards his car muttering that the only way he could stop it was by stalling it! Fortunately we never came across him in the car.
After the Barragem, which was encouragingly full, the going got a little more strenuous…but not enough to cause any abnormal complaints. We skirted around the ridge behind Peter S’ s house and at an appropriate point (where the luckless Peter is going to have to watch the erection of a string of Wind Generators) there was a pause for discussion as to whether anyone wanted to opt out and drop down to Peter’s house for coffee and a lift. Right then nobody did so on we went towards the Espinhaco do Cao trigpoint (Guerreiros). The ascent to this was enlivened by a meeting with a herd of cows and calves. One protective mother showed signs of getting over excited, snorting and pawing the ground, but Terry’s impeccable bull fighting technique quickly discouraged it and left us in peace to have lunch at a viewpoint from which we could survey most of the western Algarve.
Lunch must have caused a rethink for, after further rearguard discussions, Peter and Janet decided to return to Peter’s house…….never to be seen again!
The rest soldiered on but it was downhill from there on or at least flat.
The estimated distance for this walk was +/- 25kms. In fact, according to Mike’s debatably accurate GPS it turned out to be 25.8. This quite remarkably accurate estimate would have been spot on (probably indeed an unbeatable record) if Mike had not insisted on making lengthy river crossing detours to keep his feet dry!
We returned, 6 ¾ hrs after setting, out to Jinny’s house where some cold beers had thoughtfully been left.

Comment: Sounds like a good one - and a select crew!! Sorry to have missed it, but Myriam and I were in UK, and on that very day we had chickened out of a walk with The Stratford upon Avon Ramblers, because of an inclement weather forecast, and cold, wet and muddy conditions!
We did go to a van Gogh exhibition at Compton Verney, where I discovered a remarkable coincidence - perhaps more about that on another occasion - if the research pans out, and we also managed a half decent walk on Good Friday down the spine of the Malverns, finishing at The brewers Arms in West Malvern with a steak, onion and mushroom sandwich (with chips) and a couple of pints of good Pedigree. I promise to walk the pies off next week!!

One man and his dog - went to cross a river! 

Show Me the Way to Amorosa!!

Leader: David
Present: Paul, Caroline, Stan, Elaine, Terry, Hedley.
Dina, Vitor (DNS)
Xana, Nathan

Alas and alack! The walk could have been sub-titled "Halfway to Paraiso" . David's last walk before returning to UK for the summer with the avian flu-carriers,- and the Fates were not kind! Originally the intention was for an 18km or so perambulation in the area to the north of Amorosa to take about 6 hours, and to return flushed and with knees slightly browned for a beer at the cafe at the start point.
Things didn't look good when I arrived, spot on time, to find several of the walkers huddled under the rear porch of Stan's gleaming newly acquired Berlingo, in a semi-tropical rain shower.
Further, the cafe was not yet open, and Dina and Vitor were sitting under the roof over the terrace, looking glum!
An executive decision was made to find a cafe which was open and give it half an hour to see if things improved. We negotiated the roadworks on the Messines-Silves road, and ordered our meias de leite and bicas. Vitor popped in to hand me a very interesting booklet, entitled 'Tours', produced by Silves Camara in English, with some excellent photos and ideas for things to do and see in the Silves area. He then left with Dina, evidently thinking that we would call it a day!
Not so - within half an hour the skies had cleared and though cool and breezy, David led us off on a walk that could be terminated in the event of further inclement weather.
Miraculously, apart from the ladies trips to the bushes during a remarkably early lunch (1205 pm), forced by the decision to abbreviate the walk, as several people had 'things to do', the only sprinkle we had was when we were about 500 metres from the cars on the way back.
In the excitement, and potential wet weather, I aborted the 'bamboo diagrams before the start, and so forgot to reset the optimistic trip meter I carry. Concensus was we walked 10-12 km and took about 3 hrs 30 minutes.
The cafe where we had originally met was open by this point, and to rub salt in, did not supply Sagres Bohemia!! We sat under the leaky roof and enjoyed a standard Sagres, while we waited for the rain to end!! Bon Voyage David and Dinah, and take the rain with you - England needs it.!