Now I must state, that in an attempt to alleviate the effects of the late season heat wave, Rod chose a walk which should have had refreshing coastal breezes, but alas lacked a starter coffee shop, which immediately induced a potential grumpiness among certain caffeine dependent WAGS. It lacked an obvious choice for a post walk refreshment, but luckily, a suggestion from Gita led to an improvised venue which apparently was successful.
I say 'apparently' as unfortunately the time we took to complete the walk meant that I had to attend a domestic recall without the benefit of coffee nor TM, which for a less stable, relaxed and tolerant individual could have led to unpleasantness.
As it was, few photos were recorded and this blog is largely textual from a 'bullshit' ( more shit than bull) report by Rod.
Two ' Spot the difference' Starter Photos: L-R Yves, Tony, Rod/Paul, Janette, Hedley, Ingrid, Gita, Thyl. Dogs: Shadow and Jess
Here is Rod's unexpurgated prose:-
In attendance
Thyl & Gita, Paul, Tony W, Hedley, Janette, Ingrid, Rod.
The heat still being an issue we opted for a relatively gentle walk along the coast from Benagil towards Armacao de Pera. The recently expanded car park has no convenient cafe....the one opposite the entrance seems to have delusions of grandeur; not only was it closed at 09.30 but at 12.30, despite having only one table occupied refused to serve anything but a full lunch.
The walk has, of course, been done many times before and the scenery never ceases to delight. However the never ending summer this year continues to attract the hordes and before 11 the beaches, car parks and many of the paths were well populated. A walk therefore best left to one of those bright January days when the madding crowds have vanished.
Three examine the Booze Cruise, heading for the cove, while one discreetly joins in!
Vanished too, at least pro tem, is the beach bar at Albandeira....to be rebuilt maybe?
We turned round some way past Albandeira and retraced our steps somewhat inland. This was a big mistake in that behind the now rather desecrated Praia de Marinha, an area recently the subject of an article in The Portugal Resident by Charles(Frew), we came upon an extensive area, including the path itself, litter-ally covered with human excremental detritus.
Graphic illustration of the horror! (not full size to protect the sensitive!)
Quite what steps can be taken to eliminate this absolutely revolting, and probably disease spreading situation remains to be seen.
The return was slightly more eventful. In a continuing attempt not to precisely retrace our steps Tony announced he used to use a short cut up a 45°slope so almost as nimbly as 15 years ago, up he shot....followed somewhat more laboriously by the rest of us.
At the top our leader headed off through the woods along a faint path (actually if you followed the spent gun cartridges it was not all that faint)....followed by a faithful 4, the 3 of little faith stuck to the coastal path. It made little difference....the car park is so enormous that practically no one could miss it.
It was so difficult to find anywhere for the habitual post walk tostas and beverage that we (well minus Ingrid and Tony and even Paul who was unusually overcome with guilt at abandoning Myriam who was involved in domestic redecoration) finally repaired to the Apolonia Supermarket cafe in Lagoa.
Amazing....ample at the door parking, pleasant outdoor shaded terrace, helpful smiling staff, a choice of Pao Caseiro or Forma for tostas and some highly refreshing Strongbow cider on tap....somewhere to be remembered indeed.
The walk, despite the bald statistics below.................
seemed quite demanding for a couple of the party, but despite the late difference in return routes, all returned in better shape than the leader of the AWW's the previous week!
The pace was fairly sluggish even by WAGS standards, and the overall average on my GPS was elevated by a late sprint by myself to get home before evening.
I have a new App on my phone supplied by Public Health Education UK called 'Active 10', and it appears the idea is to motivate seniors - or at least those that have and operate smartphones - to do at least 10 minutes continuous 'brisk' walking either 1, 2 or 3 times each day, depending on the target selected. There is no definition of brisk walking, but from experiment I have determined that it is marginally faster than an old lady leaving Tesco's (or Waitrose') with two bags of shopping. Sadly the pace of the WAGS on this outing failed to exceed Public Health UK's established criteria. The App reported to me that I had walked 189 minutes in total, of which 10 were 'brisk', and I am willing to wager that most of those 10 were during the last stage of the walk when i did my own route back, unwilling to risk Rod's unreccied path becoming a 'David Littlewood'! That his unerring sense of direction resulted in a fairly direct if bushy return to the car park is testimony to his leadership and navigational skills, but I must say I arrived contemporaneously with my prickle free route.
The only other item of interest, was a Praying Mantis on route, who had misjudged the return of the rains and was a resplendent bright green amid the arid brown of the landscape.
What he was praying for perhaps only Hazel could tell us!
"Adopt the pace of nature; her secret is patience."
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