WAGS 11.01.2017: S. Vicente Walk: Day 2 Recce. Vila do Bispo

Paul was invited to write the report of last Wednesday´s  Recce and he duly obliged. So here is his submission, modestly described in his own words as  
“a small but beautifully parsed piece of purple prose.”

At last we had some Hope. Not that the recce for our two-day S.Vicente commemorative walk would be accomplished, but that 2 of the 3 potentially available Hopes had recovered sufficiently from their sniffles to assist in the venture. So the pathfinder party consisted of John, Hazel, Ingrid, Chris, Antje, Myriam, Peter, Rod and Paul plus Sasha to keep any local chickens or lambs on their toes. This was a good quorum for an untried route that the party would repeat in less than two weeks.
John, Hazel and Ingrid went directly to a coffee shop near Hotel Mira Sagres, which confusingly is in Vila do Bispo, and waited for the other 6 who had met in Cafe Bairro, Lagos to pool transport, but still required 3 cars to proceed.
Happily, despite being delayed en route by the efforts of the road painting crew, heavily supported by Brigado Transito, who were repainting the lines on the ground at the redundant traffic lights near Alma Verde, which could easily have been just another roundabout, both parties met at about 1040 and, after the customary pit stop, posed for a nice group photo in front of the magnificent Vila do Bispo communal WC.

By careful position of Paul´s Tilley, the tell-tale WC sign is obscured - the art of the camera.
Rod was suffering from an injured knee and besides had some important admin duties to perform at Cabo S. Vicente, the Hotel and Cafe Correia, so he didn´t walk. 4 km into the walk, Chris wisely turned back, so that Rod would not have to drink alone at the coffee shop after completing his duties with a side trip to see the lovely Dr Jo at Luzdoc (picture unavailable).

The Track
Statistics: Distance, say 14 km. Moving Time, 3 hrs 5 mins. Moving speed, 4.3 kph. Climb, only 281m.
The walk, conducted in glorious spring weather, was very pleasant and fairly uneventful. Some spring flowers were already out and some almond blossom was showing.

In the background, Myriam, Ingrid, Peter and Hazel can be seen negotiating the price of estrume with the farmer: “€10 no saco- €9 do it yourself.”

No problems

Note the banana
A little consternation arose when my marked track headed across a new fence, but we found a gate secured with a rope that could be unfastened

and refastened
In an area well-known for its megaliths, an eagle-eyed WAG spotted one of our own  - well, more of a microlith really, in the form of a petrified dog.

Fido-dum


There it is.
The famous Quinta de Peniche was our landmark, looking a little more weathered than our last visit, but we rehearsed the photo on the steps for old times sake.

A friendly estate manager drove up while we were there, so Myriam managed to grill him for the latest news. Apparently the grandchildren of the owner have decided to do something with the long abandoned estate, and are planning to convert it into a Turismo Rural Accommodation. Asked when, he said “Soon”, so you can imagine we didn't rush to vacate the property, and are hoping it is still there when we do our walk on 23^rd.

The stony descent path to the Barranco valley was found easily, the only slightly difficult part of the walk. Then the long up slope towards Raposeira initially on the jigsaw road blocks which are gradually moving out of place and a danger to tyres.

With a bit of imagination and extra EU funding, the bricks  could have been yellow
In order to avoid carrying on to Raposeira, I had spotted on my Google Earth recce, a short cut through back up to the plateau towards Vila do Bispo. When we arrived, we found it to be a nicely landscaped track leading to the entrances to a couple of properties, and marked with a pseudo-official sign stating 'Passagem Proibido excepto em emergencias'. We had a short committee meeting and decided that 'They could not be Serious' and in any event it was an emergency as the restaurant in Vila do Bispo might close before we got there and Peter needed a beer for his back, so we headed through past a couple of friendly donkeys in a paddock, and some less friendly dogs, racing round a wisely fenced garden.

Nearly home
We arrived in the square in Vila do Bispo at shortly after 1440 having taken a leisurely 3 hrs 40 minutes for the walk, to find Rod and Chris reclining in the sun on the coffee shop terrace. Ingrid, as is her wont had ate her luncheon sandwiches on the hoof with a banana or two, so only stayed for a coffee.
For the rest, it was a short trip to Restaurant Palheira, which Dona Elena kept open and served us a welcome array of vittles including vegetable soup, fish soup, fried squid, a trencherwoman's portion of grilled pork meats for Hazel, and a massive dourada which Myriam and I shared.

Watch those frites

Satisfied that all arrangements were in hand Rod headed off, shortly followed by Chris and Antje and eventually the rest of us followed, John kindly giving us a lift back to Lagos in Hazel's car, as unfortunately his two seater Italian machine hasn't arrived yet. Will it be a Ferrari or a Lambretta?

“Look at every path closely and deliberately, then ask ourselves this crucial question: Does this path have a heart? If it does, then the path is good. If it doesn't, it is of no use.”

• Carlos Castaneda