The first almond blossoms of Spring
What better than a bit of floral grandeur to start the blog on a very sunny spring day in Benagil A collage homage to these wonderful blossoms, redolent of Princesses yearning for their home land.
Once upon a time, when the Algarve was ruled by the Moors and was known as Al Garb, a young Prince by the name of Ibn-Almuncim ruled from the capital in Silves. He met Gilda, a Nordic Princess and they fell madly in love with each other; they married immediately and lived in Silves.
As time went by Gilda began to pine, she missed seeing snow in winter. Gilda yearned for the snow covered fields of her homeland. Her prince was saddened to see his beautiful wife pining away and tried everything in his power to make her happy, but still her heart ached.
One day, whilst riding through the countryside, the Prince hit upon a grand plan. He would transform the Al Garb into a winter wonderland. He ordered thousands of almond trees to be planted from the walls of the palace, down into the countryside as far as the eye could see.
When the time was right and the almond trees were in full bloom, the Prince strode into Gilda’s chambers where she lay pining and ordered all the windows to be opened. Taking his fair Princess by the hand, he led her to the open windows. As she looked out at the beautiful scene before her, she was amazed to see that the fields below were covered in what looked like snow. Bewildered, she saw a veritable winter wonderland before her very eyes. For miles and miles in every direction, the beautiful trees looked frosty and the ground was carpeted in almond blossom.
Gilda recovered from her decline immediately and, from that time on, every winter, she looked upon the “snow covered” fields and never pined for her homeland again. And so the Prince and the Princess lived happily ever after.
Anyway back to the modern day. Thyl, after a long absence had made a comeback at our S. Vicente Commemorative Walk the previous week, and had survived his WAGS indoctrination, while protesting he was not geriatric yet!. Still shell-shocked he had been cajoled into offering a walk this Wednesday and had chosen Benagil as his opener. Rod had carefully briefed him on the essential parameters (NOT Rules) of a WAGS walk, but there was a suspicion that he wasn’t quite sure of the esoteric format currently in force. Fortunately we had Gita there to translate and curb any tendencies to go off piste and stretch the parameters.
He had sadly announced that he had been unable to find a coffee shop open for our 10 am start, and had sought special dispensation, grudgingly granted, so as not to alienate him altogether.
Fortunately habitual WAGS are resourceful, and driving on my way to the RV, I received a phone call from Antje and Chris who had already arrived and had found a working coffee shop above the beach on the opposite side of the bay. And very welcome it was too, and in the event, Brisa del Mar will perhaps be a better option for the start for walks in this area. Alas the message didn’t get through to the rest of the group, but we eventually all gathered in the large carpark in front of O Litoral Restaurant, where I found the above almond blossom in full splendour.
We eventually set off shortly after 1015 and a group photo.
Geraldine, Thyl, Gita, Chris, Antje, Rod, Lindsay, Paul, Frank Ingrid, Myriam, John ‘Jazz Hands’ H, Hazel , Janet
The (Iberian) lynx-eyed will have noticed a return by Frank of Arabia. Rod was also sporting not only new Karrimor racing plimsolls, to offset his blisters of the previous event, but also a pair of ultra lightweight ski poles.
After a start, when Thyl was asked which way to leave the car park, and he replied “I have no idea, I haven’t reccied that bit!”, we swiftly reached our habitual path above O Algar Restaurant and headed East, carefully keeping the sea on the right.
No underwear lingerie-ing in the bushes this time, but of course Myriam managed to spot an abandoned and fairly soiled set of shorts near our path,
The sky was blue, the scenery stunning and little wind made for an exceedingly pleasant walk.
Minor ups and downs.
New initiative from ‘Elf and safety’
Look carefully and you will see some birds on the beach. Cue Senior WAGS grabbing spectacles!
Mistress of all she surveys!
The walk was fairly routine until we reached the Praia da Marinha Car Park, where there had been a Skoda unveiling event the previous day. A couple of the cars and a mobile toilet were the only evidence.
Never one to pass an opportunity as this , Chris headed for the mobile toilet, whereupon a vigilant security guard leapt out of her car, and halted him in his tracks, announcing that it was only for Skoda owners. Despite his protestations that he once owned a Skoda, and that a tricky bladder had made him desperate, she overruled him, neither demanding he produce a Skoda nor evidence that he needed to go!. The toilet remained unsullied by the micturition of a Peugeot owner!.
The WAGettes, (or most of them) performing the ritual marking the spot at a scenic viewpoint.
It wasn’t all easy!
And then we hit the wall
Navigation on the way back was done by a combination of dead reckoning, partly remembered paths and my GPS, but we eventually emerged on to the path at the top of the cliff leading to O Litoral Car Park.
Unfortunately, as the staff at O Litoral were swift to point out, O Litoral is a Restaurant, and as such served meals and not the habitual WAGS fare of Bifanas, Tosta Mistas and assorted snacks. We sat at a large long table on the terrace and very nice it was until the menus were produced and prices of the items thereon were scanned. Nevertheless we mostly settled for Fish soup (Euros 4.50), beers and coffees, except the Hopes who went for the more exotic, baked cheese (John), Asparagus (Geraldine) and a Designer Salad, (Hazel)
It’s all in the presentation
A note was made to recce the start and end cafes as assiduously as the walk, but all agreed that it was a good first try by Thyl, and we would let him lead again.
We've got to have rules and obey them. After all, we're not savages. We're English, and the English are best at everything.
William Golding
For the record here are the stats and the track picture:-
Total distance was 7.65 km, total time just short of 3 hours with a pedestrian moving average of 3.3km/hr
As a post script, Myriam and I stopped off at Apolonia on the way home, to see where the Hopes and their kith do their grazing, and I spotted an elegant looking chap sporting a Tilley model I didn’t yet own. On interrogation he confessed he was a Canadian from near Toronto, and also a Tilley fanboy.
The model he had was the latest in cool hats from Tilley just flown in last week. It not only boasted a new technical fabric, but also front and rear vents to allow cooling breezes to circulate to the scalp. It is designated the TTCH1 and a full specification can be found HERE
Suffice to say, Myriam’s sisters in Vancouver were WeChatted (like WhatsApp only for the Chinese Mafia) immediately, and a TTCH1 will be couriered over in early June by Myriam’s nephew, just in time for my birthday and the warmer weather. Should any fashion conscious and practical WAGS desire such an item, perhaps we can come to some arrangement while he still has space in his luggage.
The Benegil coast line is always fantastically beautiful! We all enjoyed the walk. Thank you.
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