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!!