WAGS 25.04.2018: Liberation Day at Vila do Bispo

A seascape with downwardly mobile WAGS to begin

A return to the West Coast, fond memories for Yves and an invigorating walk on well-trodden paths.
The meeting arrangements were complicated by the fact that it was Liberation Day (Cafes open or not?) but a timely recce on Sunday found that although our usual Cafe ZigZag venue would be closed for Annual Holidays, an alternative, appropriately named Cantinho dos Amigos would be open.
Eventually we gathered and stoked up on good cheap coffee, and sat and admired the other walkers trailing past on a Lib Day walk organised by the Vila do Bispo Camara.

Participants: Paul, Myriam, Hedley, Janette, Rod, Yves, Ingrid, Antje, Chris and Sasha

Nice to see Hedley back for a very short visit and glad that he found the time to join us despite his self-admitted lack of fitness.

We lingered a while, prompt starting times not being an issue for WAGS, and eventually grouped for the starter photograph by the Sculpture Stones near the Trilho Ambiente at 1023 or so. The Camara walk was passing this point, and we managed to obtain the services of a young lady  with a professional looking camera to use my phone to take the starter photo. Not being used to the complexities of my OnePlus 5 she also managed to take a selfie before the shot above. If you recognise her again from the photo below, I can recommend her as a top starter photo taker.

Our photographer

 She also took a photo of us with her camera for the Vila do Bispo Facebook page for their event, which you can see, like and/or comment on HERE (not all cooperated) and you will find us under All Photos in the 11th row down.

    Anyway we set off round the Trilho Ambiente initially, and I managed to steer the group clear of the first refreshment station for the Camara Walkers.

A bit of geocaching maintenance on the way round:-

 Those trousers look baggy - must be losing weight!!

 Along the shady Trilho.

At the end of the Trilho we came to the crossroads to the Miradouro, and alas there was another refreshment station there - this time I couldn't prevent the WAGS from availing themselves of free oranges and water intended for the athletes of Vila do Bispo.

Some even tried wooing the ladies in the reflective vests with floral grandeur!

Eventually these embryo relationships were broken up and we continued on to the Miradouro. Last time we were at the Miradouro, just over 4 years ago, as the AWW, on a rare lead by Myriam, there was rather a lot of traffic!

Happily this all ended happily, but perhaps if it had all gone the other way, we might have been spared some of the worst jokes ever endured by a walking group.

This time there were some good photos:-

Chris  decided this was far enough for the day and left at this point.

There was even entertainment on the descent by the local para-sailers, who were struggling with a gusty onshore wind.

Even some Gallic courtesy on the way down

Some para-sailers got airborne by the time we reached the bottom.

Across the beach and we regrouped at the Cordoama car park. Being a holiday the cafe was closed!

Chris was waiting and thinking deep thoughts in the sun in case there were casualties, and Hedley also decided to call it a day here.

Interesting colour combinations!

The remaining 7 set off for the only climb of the day, past the Barranco de Garcia and as we turned up to the right we heard the sound of trail bikes and several gaudily-clad daredevils descended an extremely steep slope.

After some egging on by sadistic WAGS, one was encouraged to ride back up!

He almost made it, but had to walk his bike back down after it ran out of power.

Once at top of climb, apart from some discussion of which of 3 tracks to chooose, the walk back to the main road and the start was fairly uneventful.

Of the 3 ViewRanger users, the winner was Yves with a total distance of 11 km.

Scroll sideways for full details

My ViewRanger stopped itself after 19 minutes and was useless. Rod neglected to switch his off completely after arriving at the cars at the end, and so recorded an extra couple of km back to Cantinho dos Amigos in Vila do Bispo.

The Garmin succeeded, though as ever was more encouraging with its stats, 11.66 km.

Likewise scroll to see all the map.

Garmin stats:-

and elevation

which was all pretty much as promised.

We drove back to the cafe in fairly good time.

Antje demonstrating why the others wear sunglasses!

The cafe produced some nice bifanas and tostas and also Myriam's luxury Prato de Dia, filet de frango no forno. The chips went down well as I sacrificed myself to help. 

Nice to get back to the rugged part of the west coast as WAGS without over exerting ourselves. The ice plants were out in the most vivid colours.

Remember:-

"No matter how slow you go, you are still lapping everyone on the couch!"