or for those of you who still stluggre to plonounce Mandalin plopely …..
The Story of the Walking Reader.
A group of eight WAGs and would-be Wags assembled at Café Retiro dos Pescadores on a freshish morning which had earlier seemed to promise rain but then somehow granted us a reprieve.
Present: from the right of the picture - Terry A with Java, Paul, Geraldine, Maria, Myriam, Hazel, Jill and JohnH (the Leader)
Apologies received from Rod (out of the country – again !), Tony (recuperating) and the Whittles (“tax evasion training” – so I was told)
The Leader was confident of his ability to navigate through the Silves hills because he had reccéed the planned route via Google Earth and, mirabile dictu, had not only managed to import the intended track from Google Earth onto his portable device, but also to open the route up on the device´s little screen even as he walked. With such technical challenges having for once been mastered, what could possibly go wrong? Over- confidence leads to complacency, that´s what..
Geraldine, at any rate, didn´t seem to have any qualms about the Leader´s ability to guide that she had her Kindle switched on all the way round and read it as she walked, with nary a stumble. For the record, she was engrossed in something in the genre Fanfiction titled “Freedom in the Eyes of Another”. (?? No, me neither.)
The Walking Reader
For the technically-minded and geographically-inclined, this was the intended track:-
The intended track
9.90kms total distance and something like 550 metres of total ascent, including two short but particularly sharp ascents/ descents, 37 –40 degrees slopes, i.e. no problem for the fitter AWW. But for the more mature WAG – well, one isn´t so sure.
Anyway, we set of full of confidence as I say and took it quite easy. Lots of stops to admire the “Cottages with Country Views” (a tribute to Fats Waller yet again). There was even an estate agent keen to sell us that particular property.
“There it is! Delighful location. Location, location, location”
Meanwhile,Paul´s camera was capturing the full sales pitch scene :-
“For you, Senhor, I give special price.”
As we went onwards, there were lots and lots of pauses, to catch one´s breathe,
and to chit-chat
And to laugh.
When we reached a well.known crossroads, we headed downhill and eastwards into territory unknown to the Leader other than via Google Earth. Luckily, the Leader had taken the precaution of having with him an experienced local guide in the person of TerryA who knows these tracks and is also a dab hand with the magnetic compass. He knew where we were.
Down in the depths, the Leader swung to the north, all according to the plan on his GPS device. He found a viable track, so far so good. But then, he missed a left hand turning and, because the track kept getting better and better, before the Leader knew it, we had totally overshot our bearings.His belated excuse for this lapse of attention is that, at this stage, Paul was enthusing about the comparative merits of various brands of ultralite walking underwear and, indeed, ultralite anything,.. (We will leave it to Paul to expatiate on that particular topic in one of his own philosophical blogs at a later date.)
Down in the Jungle
Anyway,to cut a long story short, TerryA guided us up to the top of a valley where we found that we had joined up with the Via Algarviana, and established with reasonable certainty that we were somewhere between Alcoutim and Sagres. Thus reassured, we could now turn for home. But the problem for the Leader now was that, not only was he far further north than he had ever been before in this particular neck of the woods, but that the troops were begining to complain of hunger. They had signed up for a slap-up almoço back at Pescadores at 12.30 pm and it was already past that time. So the Leader cut his planned return track short, Hazel led a sprint back in a homewards direction and off we went home by the shortest route possible.
All the meanwhile, the Working Reader continued to lead her Kindle,, sorry, read her Kindle, to walk with confidence and, if rumour be true, to multi-task to the extent of planning the evening meal.
The rest of the group walked on either with determination or with resignation:-
There was, however, a plus point to be gained from this departure from the originally planned route. It may have been slightly longer overall but it meant that the group had avoided two short but exceptionally steep ascents and descents – the 40 degree items mentioned earlier - and the total climb (derived from the Google Earth elevations) had reduced by 34 % from 550 metres. The following picture shows the planned route (in white) compared to the track actually taken ( in blue):-
So to the statistics:-
Total distance:- 10.9 km
Total time:- 3 hrs 21 minutes – Moving time:- 2 hrs 37 mins
By deduction, time spent catching breath, view admiring, general chit-chatting and laughing:- 44 minutes. (You wouldn´t get away with that much down time on an AWW outing.)
Average speed:- 3.3 kph. Moving speed:- a creditable 4.1 kph.
Total ascent: 363 metres
The route home was now the undemanding and familiar track along the valley floor to the tarmac road. The Leader´s suggestion that we complete the walk by going along the canal was treated with the disdain it merited and the group went directly back to Os Pescadores, arriving at about 1.30pm, an hour later than forecast. Luckily for the Leader´s well-being, lunch was still being served - and very good it was too!
Ready and waiting
Our hosts, Senhora Fernanda and Senhor Bento.
Accompanied by petiscos of morcela, rabanetes and azeitonas and by fresh green salad, and making a bit of a change from the WAGs´ traditional post-walk bifanas, the bochechas de porco came in alternative versions:-
One, the low calory plate with potatoes and carrots
preferred by Paul, mindful of his figure as ever,
and the other, the high calory devil-may-care version with additional esparguete, which was wolfed down by one or two others:-
The large olives attracted special attention. Senhora Fernanda gave the ladies a brief explanation of how to prepare them which instruction, I am sure, we will soon all benefit from.
All in all, a very good value meal.
But lest we forget the near–shambles of a walk, a closing quotation. What else but:-
“But Mousie, thou art no thy lane,
In proving foresight may be vain:
The best-laid schemes o´mice an´ men
Gang aft agley,
An´lea´e us nought but grief an´pain,
For promis´d joy !”
(R. Burns)
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Congratulations Leader, on not only a good blog, but a wonderfully disguised AWW walk masquerading as a WAGS outing. My Garmin stats, formerly the Gold Standard for AWW walk were somehow 'blogo-shopped' down from the believable distance of 11.81 km to the quoted 10.9 km. My legs told me different, but happily you were entirely redeemed by the superb lunch provided to replace the spent calories. Having arrived back at 1330 hrs, lunch broke up at 1515 hrs thereby fulfilling the criteria.
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