To those who have been waiting impatiently for the account of last weeks venture into the foothills of Alte, I can only apologise. It was not the late submission of photos nor script as I had plenty of those, and the script arrived on Friday morning.
What happened was one of those disasters, that don't sound unduly dramatic when written in a blog in the warmth of a Spring Day, and wouldn't catch the headlines like yet another massacre in a US school or an earthquake in Mexico, but this was personal and therefore unfiltered and unexaggerated by media , and therefore alarmingly real.
The sewers beneath our apartment blocked at the garage level and bubbling up through the drain covers was a primordial soup, such as may have incubated the first life forms.
My first notice of the catastrophe was after I entered the lift at the ground floor (the garage level is -2) and on elevating to our 3rd floor, I commented that one of our genteel neighbours had perhaps broken wind in the lift (or words to that effect), a sadly not uncommon occurrence. It was not until another neighbour, with blameless bowels, rang at our door to tell us of the flooding threatening my priceless collection in our garages below, that I made the connection.
Myriam, of course then swung into action with mops, buckets, old cloths, sheets and towels to sop up and block the flow. The drainage experts were summonsed but were apparently enjoying lunch in Albufeira, and would take another 5 hours to arrive. Things were pretty grim down there, but once our garages were protected as far as possible, I removed my sensitive nostrils from the scene and tried to distract myself with some Winter Olympics, as this alluvion had curtailed the flow of my own creative juices which were about to produce the Blog of the Year (to date).
Myriam bravely fought the tide and gave huge support to the rescue workers when they finally arrived, and was down there in her Marigolds until well after I had cooked and consumed my portion of a Cabidela da Galinha, which I had dedicated to Lizzy Yarnold, our first Gold Medallist of the PyeongChang Games.
The cataclysm didn't stop there, as during her disaster relief work, Myriam had noticed a few specks of oil and a light dusting of diesel fumes in one of our garages, and decided that it would be amusing to ruin my Sunday by cleaning out the garage, and roping me in for the heavy lifting, and to emulate Hercules' 5th Labour.
In fact I have just escaped from the Stygian gloom, citing you my expectant readers as a valid reason to complete the blog before there was too much wailing and gnashing of teeth, letters to the editor, and calls to ISP's to enquire what had happened.
And so back to Wednesday 14th February, Valentines Day and a Leader (I hesitate to use the word 'new') other than the 4 that have led more than one WAGS walk or the 3 that have led more than 2 WAGS walks since October 2016, and the current Blog was resurrected. Actually the WAGS were first mentioned in recorded history on 29th March 2015, and the leader stats apply since then. But I digress, and Terry who had joined a few recent WAGS outings with Jill, had very kindly offered to lead a walk, which I accepted with alacrity, even though it was proposed to be in the mythical territory East of Silves into which the WAGS had not hitherto ventured.
This was Leadership of a far more professional standard than had been thought necessary for our previous outings, less improvisational and off the anklet. Terry had even done a recce the previous Saturday, but had been unable to reduce one of his perfectly designed 20 km walks to the required 10km-ish criteria. However he came up with a tour from Sta Margarida, Alte, which attracted a large crowd of nostalgia seekers and those who lived close enough. Jim returned having recovered from his recent ailments. An earlier application from a spritely recent 70-year old would-be WAG had been accepted, and he too turned up for his debut at Cafe Por do Sol.
John had to practice the 'remote control by smartphone' feature of his Christmas camera, and alas had a premature shutter discharge............
......however he soon got the hang of it and produced the definitive starter photo, successfully capturing all 14 starters actually paying attention.
L-R Ingrid, Myriam, Rod, Antje, GeraldineChris, Hazel Maria, Terry, Jill, Jim, Paul, Yves, John, and Sasha (front), Java hiding as usual.
Coffee having been taken among the local rude mechanicals, we set off some time after 10, straight into a downhill down a narrow lane.
Terry is a caring and conscientious leader, never put a foot wrong, and I suspect really knew where he was the whole time, and not just confidently pretending that we were on the right track. He wrote me a note, which I reproduce below, in his own inimitable style, but alas did not give me a lot to work with, so you will have to be content with photos and the odd bit of colour commentary. That is if you have read through the overlong preamble on my domestic issues without falling asleep.
Terry writes:-
It was my first attempt at leading the WAGS not quite sure how it would go, so many criteria to think about.
A recce of another walk went pear-shaped on Sat trying to squeeze a 20 km into 10 km then in one moment of clarity the St Margarida walk popped into mind, and very well it went too The Almond blossom was a sight to behold
A good selection of tracks hopefully to suite all abilities, listening to the chatter the rugby got a good going over and then the Chinese new year!! I think Myriam will have to explain the finer points of what it all means, does the Year of the Dog mean we have to be nice to dogs? I wasn't nice to the Rooster last year I ate my share of Rooster stew - think I will give dogs a pass.
Jill and I are enjoying walking with the Wags an altogether different way to enjoy what’s on our door step not to mention the discovery of the culinary delights of local cafe’s for that we thank you all.
Who said ladies don't understand mechanical things?
Ingrid demonstrates her banana-eating prowess to a still relatively happy group.
Single file uphill!
A bit of downhill - or is it Myriam helping Terry up?
Spring has sprung in some quarters..........
...........as these shots of the almond trees heavy with blossom prove.
Uphill at around the 8 km stage.....
......and still going up at 9 km.
The walk had been through beautiful country with fragrant almond blossom all the way, but there was some discussion whether it was appropriate to include a long uphill between km 8 and 9 when we all know that WAGS prefer to gently go downhill all the way, and not arrive breathless at their bifanas. Chris had tired over the last stretch, and Antje decided to mount a rescue mission, however by the time it arrived Chris had defeated gravity and only had 300 metres to go to the cafe.
Uber Service available for Seniors.
The track.
The stats according to Garmin. A bit over in time but perhaps Terry is not quite used to our rate of progress. Other devices had the distance under 11 km. The total ascent was measured by John and came to 420 metres which some of us felt. The slight surfeit was more than compensated by our Leader's arrangements for lunch at Por do Sol, where we had a table with napkins and place settings, and some excellent bifanas and tostas mistas.
Jim goes for the Bifana Royale with chips
Trainee waitress
".....but I need tomatoes for my prostate!"
John went for the TM - heavy on ham.
Some sound advice on a board in the cafe.
I think everyone agreed it was a splendid walk, and we look forward to Terry's added expertise in future walks, as long as we can persuade him that what he thinks is 'contouring' in fact to a WAG is a v. diff. challenge.
To finish a quote from a 2010 film, "Due Date"
Ethan Tremblay: [from trailer] My father always had a saying "When a day starts like this it's all uphill from here.
Peter Highman: Uphill? No, it's all downhill from here.
Ethan Tremblay: But nobody wants to be down, everybody wants to be up. It's all uphill from here.
Peter Highman: But it's easier to go downhill.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.