A walk from Bensafrim.
Rod advertised this as a joint AWW/WAGS walk, having a 9.30 am start, with a +/- 15 km distance, and the option of a less-than-10 km route for the WAGs. His publicity certainly worked because by 9.15 am there were more walkers assembling in Bensafrim´s market square than there were local inhabitants. There were two or three market stalls offering winter clothing but they were devoid of customers.
Hedley made his first appearance of the season, setting the bar for sartorial strolling splendour at a very high level. One doubts that Paul´s new season´s gear can possibly be up to the challenge.
Decathalon´s Finest
Despite the numbers, the group were remarkably well-disciplined as they assembled for the starter picture, listening intently to the Leader´s “Don´t Straggle” Lecture as they did so.
I have little idea of all their names, but of the waggish persuasion, there were:- Rod, Hazel, Rose, Hedley, Peter, JohnH, as well as Ingrid who sounded distinctly dubious about the suden influx of new blood to the AWWs.
This is the Leader´s report:-
23/11 AWW (and some WAGS!) Walk
Quite the most striking aspect of this week's walk was the astounding number of people that turned up...27 assorted folk! So many indeed that having lost my written aide memoire ( I have a new one of those every day now) I can't possibly remember who was there....well I didn't even know half of them. Anyway John H and Gill 's pics seem to have taken in the group one way or another so I am sure you will be able to identify them for yourselves.
If this is typical of today's AWW numbers we will be competing with Julie Statham before long!
Whilst far too many for my liking ( not that that has any particular bearing on the matter any longer) I have to say it was a quite remarkably orderly and disciplined group. ...straggling, to some extent inevitable, was minimal, nobody (as far as I was aware ) got lost, and moans and groans (at least audible to me ) were indeed rare.
We set off, almost on time indeed, on a crisp but mostly sunny morning, from Bensafrim ' s market square heading in a westerly direction. The pre-walk description having been deliberately rather vague left plenty of discretion as to the precise route but in any event we covered a range of hills, valleys and ridges of the lower Serra de Espinha do Cão with its wild unbroken countryside and great views and vistas.
Memorable events there were really almost none. ..nobody fell in, out or down and nobody got stung (although we had to retrace our steps at one point to avoid some active beehives ).The final distance of some 18k ( somewhat less for a couple of WAGS ...Peter and Hedley. .who peeled of early ) was slightly (sic) in excess of that advertised but did take in the obligatory trig point and a slightly (sic) elongated tailend.
Bensafrim ' s cafés are not really equipped to handle such an invasion but the Café Nacional did pretty well and found a back room which they opened up to get us out of their way...although a few WAGS, in the know, disappeared off to seek the charms of Gloria in her nearby hideaway.
Until the next time.
Gill Lamont agreed to be guinea pig for the traditional trig shot and, for good measure, she photographed the groundlings.
At about 14 km, when we were within a comfortable distance of home, all downhill as the saying goes, and when we were just beginning to smell the beer, Rod had a sudden rush of blood to the head, influenced no doubt by all these new fit young recruits to the AWW, turned sharply to the right and threw in an unexpected diversion, with hills to boot, which must have added an extra 2 km to the tally.
Statistics
Distance:18 Kms
Time: 4 hrs 58 minutes
Ascent: 535 metres
15 kms plus or minus – fair enough - but to stretch that to 18 kms is poetic licence indeed!
The Cafetaria do Mercado, with typical apathy as far as potential sales and profits are concerned, had of course already closed by the time we got back, so we had to repair down the long high street (adding another km there and back) to the Café Nacional which for some reason was exceptionally busy and crowded and which became even more jam-packed as the AWWs piled in. Not wanting to wait too long for a drink, Rod and JohnH nipped round the corner to the much quieter Gloria´s Bar where they were later joined at what became a rather exclusive WAGs-only table by Ingrid and Hazel. It was heartening to see that most of the regular AWW lot did look in at Gloria´s afterwards to pay their respectful thanks for the walk to the Leader as he sat ensconced at the top table.
