AWW 26th March 2008 - They Came to Querenca

(Truly, a blessed relief, a Leader's report so well-presented that scarcely a comment needed, just add photos)

They Came to Querença – but NOT via São Brás.
OR Learning Stops At Sixty


Voyagers from Western Parts:- Stan, Elaine, John O’, Ian S. Ian W, Tina, Dina, Vitor, John H, Janet, Lindsey, Andrew.
Native Guide:- David.
Faithful Canine Companion:- Maddy.

The omens for this voyage of exploration into the wastes of the East were not auspicious. The native guide provided the wrong directions, and might have sent all to the frozen north had he not been persuaded of the error of his ways by his far more route-savvy wife. Frantic smoke signals at the eleventh hour prevented a disaster, and all turned up in the right place at roughly the right time – even Ian Scott! Janet managed several circuits of the newly refurbished square at Querenca before finally coming to rest.

Post-modern Querenca Plaza

Opinions on the said refurbishment were generally not complimentary, and there was a general wagging of wise heads when it transpired that The One Responsible was none other than the native guide’s Angry Neighbour, encountered on a previous expedition.

The members of the expedition should have known better than to hire a guide whose years had exceeded six decades. Not only had he learned nothing from the mistakes made on a previous foray into the same territory, but he added one or two more errors for good measure, including the aforesaid brainstorm around directions. That the whole party emerged unscathed from the experience was a matter of great wonderment to all.

All were in fine fettle following the obligatory brew of local stimulant and the customary Daguerrotype record of the party, taken as ever by the Official Recorder, alias Deputy Chief Blogger. In spite of missing his way for the second year in a row, the guide managed to bring the party to the first objective, a beautiful watering-hole in a deep wooded valley, where preparations were made for the climb to the heights above. This passed without incident, as did the ensuing walk across country. However, age once again caught up with the guide as he reached a path frequented by the metal-monsters-with-dirty-breath, and first marched the party one way and then the other in search of a safer route. Good fortune took him the right way, and soon the original route was rejoined

"I wonder which way it is."

First, the preparations.....
...and then the climb.

This passed without incident, as did the ensuing walk across country.

The Native Guide finds water

Vodaphone Vitor brightens up the Trig shot


Fortunately, the highland section of the excursion was successful if strenuous, with excellent views stretching as far as the homelands of many of the explorers. The native guide refused to repeat his chest-baring display, prompting some to ask for a portion of their money back. Explorer Andrew had a ‘charging-off’ day, insisting on clambering and striding where others feared to tread, and on the descent from the heights he was forced to retrace his steps after one such detour. Such was the steepness of some parts of the descent that progress became very slow for a time, but eventually the valley was regained.

The trick is to bend at the knees, Janet says

And at last the guide had a success, locating a path missed on the previous outing, which took the party up the hill to the Summit of the Departed, stimulating a lively discussion on the merits of different methods of disposing of the dead. Explorer Stan seemed at one point to be volunteering to bury himself. An explanation is awaited.

The safety of the native village regained, more local stimulants were consumed, and the weekly tribute paid to She-Who-Holds-The-Dosh. And then we all went home.

(but not before Ian S. won a prize for getting the Portuguese for Vodaphone correct.)

(And now for the really technical stuff.)

Distancia percorrida....... 18.1 klm

Velocidade média........... 3.7 k/h

Velocidade media geral.. 3.2 k/h

Tempo de deslocação...... 4h 50 m

Tempo de paragens......... 44 m. 25 s

Coordenadas:
Partida............ 37 11.953 007 59.250
Chegada........ 37 11.953 007 59.250

Almoço........... 37 13.681 007 59.136

CB's 5p worth:-

I will never give in to old age until I become old. And I'm not old yet! Turner, Tina

AWW 19.03.2008 Rain Stops Play or An Exercise in Diplomacy

P.S 18.05.2008 Now, at last, Val's photos of that special walk. Thanks, Val

The Starters
Picota, bathed in sunshine!

The ravine

Lunch

Ian does the statistics

Welcome back

Talk about being passed a Poisoned Chalice! The C.B., unfortunately, has to go to the UK, so asks me to do the next blog. "No problem, Paul." Then the walk gets cancelled.... again "No problem"... no blog needed. But then I hear that a walk of sorts did in fact take place, by which time I was miles away; I begin to detect over the airwaves certain sussurations of offended feelings; and C.B. tells me that he still expects a blog. But how on earth can one blog about an event (or non-event) which one did not take part in and, what's more, without exaccerbating said wounded feelings? Well, here goes. Anyone wanting to sue may get my lawyer's name on application.



First, the leader's apologia:

"It was not one of my most inspired decisions to cancel the walk, but it was safe. Because I did not finally decide to cancel until there was clear blue sky, many walkers turned up. In order to avoid being lynched, I hastily agreed to lead a short walk for the 8 people waiting at the Foz. We did what Ian S. and I call the Medronho walk, a gentle 13 km with only 2 river crossings. We had fantastic views and no rain, and I can only apologise to the walkers who were told that the walk was cancelled. And also too bad for those who had decided not to walk. The rain, of course, did come, but long after the walk was finished."



Pictures, courtesy Val, will follow in a subsequent edition.



Statistics, courtesy Brian and his GSM, are:

Distance:13.6km

Moving average: 4.5k. Overall average: 3.5k.

Total ascent: 436m

Tilley Hats: 2.



Participants

Ian W. (leader), Val, Chris, Antje, Alex, Marcela, Hedley, Hilke, and Brian.

Canine support: Tiggie



No route map available on my system, but anyone wanting to scrutinise the area has only to consult map no.585 of the Cartas Militares de Portugal (of which more later) over, I would guess, the Cerro da Arriqueta/Castelo da Nave areas.



What do I think? Well, a leader's responsibility is to see that the halt, the blind and the lame (and I'm describing only myself here) walk out and return safely; the macho types can probably look after themselves. A huge amount of rain had been dumped on Picota in the wee sma' hours of Wednesday morning; several experienced walkers had already called off; the weather forecasts for the day were dire; so, knowing as he does how treacherous the downward tracks on Picota can be, I think Ian was right to call it off. He was not to know that Boreas, Zephyros and Notus (Peter will explain the mythology) were going to play silly b****rs among the clouds and contradict the forecasts. I was disappointed of course, particularly as I had been hoping to establish at first hand if there is any truth in the rumours that The Fantastic Fantonis (a.k.a. Peter and Janet) are about to turn professional on receiving a lucrative offer from Cirque du Soleil, following their gravity defying exploits of the previous week. (This is merely an excuse to introduce at least one photo, even if it is a repetition.)


Let's hear it for The Fantastic Fantonis

And now, back to the subject of maps. When we were told that the walk was off, Ian S. (the long-suffering leader of the previous week's Alferce Amble (his motto by the way is, pace Marshall McLuhan, "The walk is the recce" )) and I decided instead to follow up on an enthusiastic recommendation of Thyll's and to go in search of some maps in Faro.
First stop was the Instituto Geographico Portugues, Rua Sao Francisco, No.4, just off Largo de Sao Frncisco (free parking). They sell the Carta Militar de Portugal but, being a department of the Ministro do Ambiente, they are not at all commercial in style. Rather, the ambience is redolent of academia and administration. We got only one of the maps we were after there, but the staff were cheerful and co-operative enough and they gave us with the name and address of a bookshop as another source, which proved a success.
This shop is Livraria Simoes, Rua do Alportel, No.86-A, near Igreja do Carmo, Escola do Carmo and Largo do Campo da Feira (pay parking). It has a large stock of the maps which one can browse through. Cost per map: Instituto - euros 6.20: Livraria - euros 7.
Ian also found another bookshop which stocks the maps, Livraria Bertrand, Rua Dr. Francisco Gomez, No.27 in the pedestrian precinct area, near the Marina.
The scale of the maps is 1:25,000, and the Algarve is covered by something like 40 maps, each one covering 10km north to south, 16km west to east. The detail is good. Paths, contours are clear. In rural areas you can pick out individual casas, cisternas, mine entrances (but not WineMine's as far as I can see), windmills, ruins, etc, etc. Ideal for presumptive leaders and property speculators alike.
Thanks, Thyll.
So there we are. I suppose that, with 2 Tilley Hats featuring in the stats, the substitute walk has to count as an official one. C.B. may want to comment.

BlogBackupOnline - Measures against finger trouble!!

I had been spending sleepless nights worrying about whether the blogspot server would suffer an irresistible attack, or just lose interest or even quietly close down, thus consigning this valuable record of our adventures to the darkness of oblivion.
Now we can all sleep easy thanks to my discovery of BlogBackupOnline, whose badge you can now admire in the sidebar below 'links'. More information can be found here.
This is an automatic facility that does a daily backup of the blog and stores it securely online, to guard against unforeseen events or even finger trouble from our contributors (you know whom I mean!). Even the pictures are backed up, unlike most other schemes, but the downside is that nothing this good is free. I have subscribed to the Professional Version for which I get 250Mb. However the guys at BBO have generously agreed to double our storage capacity if we carry their badge proudly, and recommend this to our friends. Consider it done.
In the words of a competitor to Blogspot (Vox) "This is Good"

AWW 12.03.2008 Alfer(ec)ce Adventure

Alfer(ec)ce Adventure: (NB Pronounced 'Alf a Recce Adventure)

First of all, and unusually for me, a retraction and an apology! I refer to the supplement to last week's Blog, entitled W.W.N.W, which was a new feature purporting to be a preview of this walk in tabloid style. Regrettably, it turned out that as with most tabloids, there was a tiny iota of fact, and a great deal of supposition and embellishment. I had (in good faith) even alleged that Ian S. who was to lead this week had started taking leadership seriously, and had performed a recce with a witness and cameraman. Little did I know that the recce had consisted of standing at a good vantage point in Alferce and waving his arm at the ridge to the east, and then a short stroll downhill to the first river crossing, where he proceeded to play at arranging wobbly stones, while being photographed, and then back up the hill to glow in his sense of achievement over several bottles of Sagres!!

wild goose chase

1592, first attested in "Romeo and Juliet," where it evidently is a fig. use of an earlier (but unrecorded) literal sense in ref. to a kind of follow-the-leader steeplechase.

The truth will be revealed in the following account!

The First XV outside Bar O Carlos,
(thanks to Alex's delayed action camera!)

Thyl turned up for the first time since long ago, having been on a Central American Adventure, and we also had Alex and Marcela standing in for Chris and Antje who were away on a romantic Anniversary trip to Spain. At least Tiggy enjoyed the walk! Most of the other 11 had been lured in by the promise of '18km and quite hilly'. Some of the more cynical among us had seen through the hyperbole and opted to stay at home!

Leader: Ian S.
Cannon Fodder: Alex and Marcela, John H., Ian W. Hilke, Lindsey, Peter, Dina, Paul, Tina, Vitor, Hedley, Janet and Thyl
Best Friends: Tiggy, Beroe

The track - note the 'Wild Geese' vantage point to the south!
8km before lunch and 11km after!

Stats: Total Dist: 19 km; Moving Time: 4 hr 41 min; Total Time: 5 hrs 53 min.; Moving Average: 4.1 km/hr.;
Overall Avg. 3.2 km/hr; Total Ascent 888 m.; Max Elevation: 397 m.

First of all let me praise the Leader, but faintly! Bar O Carlos was open and serving coffee for which my designated driver Alex, and Marcela were extremely grateful, having radically underestimated the time needed for preparation, feeding and emptying dogs, and attending to their own essentials. Nevertheless by some inspired driving, and my refusal to allow them to stop and pick up provisions on the way, we made it to Alferce with 10 minutes to spare - and we weren't the last. We eventually formed up and followed the confident leader out of the village at 0939 hrs.

The McScott Technical Tartan All-Terrain Jacket

The warm sun which we had enjoyed on the coast had been replaced by a gloomy cloudcast with northerly winds, and our Leader was resplendent in his highly individual cold weather gear. A chorus of "I'm a Lumberjack and I'm alright..." was quickly quelled.

No one tests the depth of a river with both feet. Proverb, Ashanti

(Except AWW's apparently)

The first crossing

After a nice downhill stretch of almost 3 km, we reached the first crossing, which was almost as advertised in last week's preview, except in reality, it was deeper and the stones which had been wrestled into position were too wobbly to trust. This led to a general doffing of footwear, and a cooling pedicure, except for Vitor, who attempted a risky traverse upstream and wet his trousers almost to wallet level!
I had been waiting for a chance to reveal my latest tech equipment, a pair of waders made out of wetsuit material, which with the brief exposure kept my feet warm and almost dry!

A fine calf!

We all towelled off to varying degrees and rebooted ourselves (in the archaic sense), only to find that 100 metres along the track on the unreccied portion of the walk, we had to recross the river, and it was deeper here.
With a cry of delight, Ian W. discovered a fallen log across the stream and nimbly flitted across.

Natural bridge

Alex too managed to cross safely, but when the CB (100kg) attempted the crossing, Alex (105 kg) had not fully vacated the log, and at the critical time the support gave way and the log dropped about 20cm, just enough to unbalance me. I executed a half turn and lunge towards the safety of the bank, but failed miserably and performed an almost perfect belly flop just short of the target. I now understand what they mean when they say you can drown in an inch of water!! I was wet to the chest, and both my camera and phone were fully submerged before I struggled to my feet, blushing! After that I didn't need any bridges - to boldly splash...

Peter has a 'moment'!

The river became even more persistent as less than half a kilometre further on we came to crossing #3.
Again there was a fallen log, but this time high above the water, and it gave Janet a chance to show off her balancing skills!

Let us cross over the river and rest under the shade of the trees. Jackson, Stonewall

(from Famous Last Words)

Blondin - who's he?

And that was the end of the serious water sports. We now had a long dogged climb up to the Trig point at Montinhos, where after the obligatory photo we took lunch after 3 hours and 8 km.

Pre-lunch pose at Montinhos TP 397 m.

After a generous lunch break by Ian's standards we pressed on to the south. Ian, as he repeatedly assured us, had 'done' this several times before. Thyl, too expressed himself familiar with the area. I myself could not recall being this side of the valley to the East of Alferce before, but then my memory is not quite infallible these days. The path along the ridge top was broad and the views magnificent, and the sun, at last drove the clouds away and brightened our spirits. The 'plan' if I may loosely call it that was to head south until we saw a decent path down to the valley to meet with the diagonal path going up the opposite side, which would inevitably take us to the famous piggery beneath Monte Velho to the south of Alferce.

"Cross my heart - I know where we are going!"

I must state that I did notice that the path we were on seemed suspiciously recent, and coincidentally went from pylon to pylon - and I was fairly sure that the pylons led to near Silves, but Hope springs eternal, and J.Hope, the Recce accomplice did not utter a word of dissent. After a couple of km. the cunning pylons decided to span a deep valley, and the path ran out at what would have made an admirable ski-jump piste. Alas no snow and no skis!
Undaunted the Leader announced Plan 'B' - or was it 'C', and we retreated, apart from a conciliatory avoidance of one of the peaks. We could see exactly where we wanted to go, but there did not appear to be any viable paths down the steep side of the valley.
After passing below our lunch spot, we continued north, ignoring the path we had taken on the way up from the valley, and set about a circumnavigation of the northern end.

"a kind of follow-the-leader steeplechase."

We almost found the path the leader and Thyl confirmed they had 'done' several times before, but eventually a minor rebellion resulted in a surge towards the immaculately surfaced San Marcos da Serra road, and the long uphill grunt on tarmac to the Alferce junction.

"Show me the way to go home..."
Now that's the way to cross the river in style!

It was a long steady slog up the road, but the Leader managed to stay in the lead and reached Bar O Carlos several lengths ahead of myself and the thirsty Alex.

...and this was fairly soon 'Ice Cold in Alex'
(just couldn't resist that one!!)

The faithful followers trailed in at intervals, and soon we were becoming ungruntled, and agreeing that it was one of the best led walks we had ever had!!

See no Evil; Speak no Evil; Drink no Evil!

The Leader was soon in cracking form, and promising even more ambitious and debilitating Mystery Tours. Fortunately the Secretary convened a meeting of the Sub-Committee, and a surprise virtual drug-test confirmed that he would be red-carded and sit on the bench until the end of the season along with Johnny Wilkinson and Dwain Chambers.

Leader's perks!

We are not retreating - we are advancing in another direction. Macarthur, Douglas after Ian S.

AWW 05.03.2008 Ferragudo F(ar)olderol

Ferragudo F(ar)olderol

Brian, making his debut as a leader had engineered a wonderful day for walking - gin clear and with sufficient breeze to keep even ladies of a certain age cool. 8 of the more meticulous walkers had responded to the request to confirm their presence, but in the end we appear to have had a quorum of 21, although I was under the delusion that there were 22. If you have been missed from Brian's cast list then please remonstrate loudly, as I have been unable to find a single photo that contains all 21 (or 22). I guess I must assume some responsibility, as Chief Paparazzi, Myriam, was again taking a precautionary rest day, and had failed to pack my camera! The designated photographers, whose work appears in this blog were John H and John. The words are from the leader's own keyboard (mostly)!

Most of the starters (how difficult it is to look at a camera!)

Leader: Brian

Ramblers: Paul, Hedley, Ian W, Diane W, John H, John O, Chris, Antje, Stan, Elaine, Vitor, Dina, Janet, Lindsey, Hilke, Yves, Peter, Terry, Monica and John G.

Os Cães; Tiggy, Nandi and Oscar.

Tilley Hat count; 7 (A new AWW record - invest in Tilley shares now - if not the hats!!)

Notable Absentees;

Myriam (All that housework is not good for my knees).

Ian Scott (How many properties is he buying?)

Mike (Hence discussion on the U.S. Democratic nominee race had to be cancelled).

Tina (Was ashamed to be seen with us in her local village).

David L (Presumably painting flowers).

Meeting point: The Square in Ferragudo

Stats: Total Distance: 14.4 km; Moving Time: 4 hrs; Total Time: 4 hrs 45 min.; Moving Avg.: 3.6 km/hr; Overall Avg.: 3.0 km/hr.; Total Ascent: 594 m.; Max Elevation: 58 metres

Track of the walk (out and back) (click to enlarge)

The weather clear and cool with a strong northerly wind that ensured that fleece lined jackets were the order of the day. Not one pair of bare legs to be seen.

The morning started disjointedly as there was more than one cafe open. The early birds settled in one but when the local squire (John O) arrived he hauled the rest of us across the square to another cafe to ensure he collected commission on the sales.

It took 15 minutes to pull the troops together and gather for the obligatory photograph.

GPS’s were then synchronised and the walk finally got underway at a leisurely pace along the harbour side to the lifeboat station. From there we continued past the fishermen’s huts to Praia Grande. Completely ignoring the "No Dogs" sign (who reccied this walk?) we walked to the east end of the praia and followed the cliff path to Praia Pintadinha, climbing again to the new lighthouse.

Not yet warmed up! (Spot the fake 'Tilley' among the front runners!)

The climb to the farol

The Old and the New!!

Blogs are lighthouses erected in the great sea of time. Whipple, Edwin P.

The next point of interest was the restaurant at Caneiros beach. This was one of the restaurants featured in the local press because the beach erosion, caused by the storm the previous week, had left the foundations a little exposed. Nature appeared to be repairing the damage it had caused. The discussion in the group was more concerned with the price of the meals with the consensus view that it was overpriced. The dogs appreciated the stop as they were treated to a well earned drink.

Modern take on a Beach Shack!

After approx. 1 hour we had a spell of steady walking on the cliff tops. Those that were thinking of taking of their first layer of clothing quickly changed their mind as we felt the full force of the wind.

Some old ruins!

A halt was called at the ruins of a windmill. Suddenly ramblers disappeared in all directions. Each seemed to have their own appointed spot to meditate. Time was then lost as we could not decide if someone was still lost in the wilderness. They were eventually found with a lead group that had decided they could lead themselves to the Promised Land. Order was restored until we reached the point at which we were due to turn back and retrace our steps. The leader had carefully chosen this point so as not to upset three Alsatians that guard a villa adjacent to the path. Unfortunately a good number of the walkers took it as a challenge and had to prove they did not scare so easily. When the leader refused to change his plans they reluctantly returned.

Water Garden with Naiads!

Peter making sure Oscar and Nandi are clean for Mike's return!!

The return walk was uneventful. A sheltered spot out of the wind was selected as the lunch stop.

How green was my valley!

Don't jump Yves - it was only a game of Rugby!

(Yves had thought it safe to return to walking two weeks after the resounding thrashing of Les Bleus by Les Rosbifs in Stade de France- Wrong!!!)

The pace, which had been leisurely, noticeably picked up as we neared the bar. (Note to Ian S). Don’t worry you would still have made it first.

The leader and his trusted senior advisor arrived first and selected the bar before there could be any discussion on the subject. Of course it was the coldest spot in the square as the tourists had all the seats in the sun. Myriam put in guest appearance but unfortunately was too late to negotiate the bar prices.

The shady side of the street

Antje always gets a laugh from reading a Tilley, while Stan tries to duck out of shot behind Terry's beer!

OK, so there was a bit of criticism about the choice of bar for the post walk drinks, but at least we had it to ourselves in the sub-zero temperatures - and the beer didn't get warm. Thanks Brian and here's to many more!

I like long walks, especially when they are taken by people who annoy me.
Allen, Fred A.

And now another value-added enhancement to the blog:-

W.W.N.W :- Wednesday Walkers Next Week

It could be somewhere near here!

Stung by the cruel criticism of one (or two) of his previous Leads (in this very Blog) and determined not to defend his Wooden Spoon in the 2006-2007 season, Ian S. who will lead next Wednesday coerced a witness (John H.) and with a camera set off on a recce of the proposed walk. Here are the details as disclosed by John:-

W.W.N.W are privileged to bring you an AWW first: an exciting preview of next week's walk on the wild side! See for yourself the dizzy heights, the plunging depths, of this unspoilt terrain.

Meet, as we did, with a horny-handed artisan, labouring, without the benefit of EU funding, to span raging torrents so that you can skip daintily and dryly across, using only such material as nature in the raw provides.

Witness, as we did, the patriarchal care with which said artisan shepherds his brood of porco preto, in anticipation of next year's Monchique Sausage Festival. And much, much more! (20 kilometres more, I reckon.)

I personally can't wait!! Sign up now - and pray there is no more rain, otherwise three bags might not be enough to get you across the river!!