WAGS 17.10.2018: Double 9th (9th Day of the 9th lunar month, Wu Xu Year, Year of the Dog)

This week's notional walk was to be a short excursion round the forest which is more elevated at some points than our usual environs on the coast (not for all,  Ingrid!)
     However, it is also the time of year when visitors arrive and people travel thus avoiding the school holidays and increased prices. And some WAGS this year seem unable to find the time to get walking.
     By Tuesday night, only Ingrid had signed up for the walk, and I was reluctant to drag her down from her mountain eyrie when the dangers of too much yang were threatening in the lowlands, so the formal walk was cancelled.

Some pretty useful male attributes there!!

A short video that will increase your knowledge immeasurably can be found HERE

     By way of explanation, the 9th Day of the 9th Month in the Chinese Calendar, is an ancient holiday known as Chung Yeung and this year it fell on the 17th October. Nine is a 'yang' number and it follows that Double 9 produces far too much Yang and is therefore dangerous to the more sensitive types.   One countermeasure is to flee to high ground. Another less energetic antidote is to drink chrysanthemum liquor (until you have enough not to care about excess yang), or to wear the zhuyu plant (qv).  In Hong Kong as I remember it was also a day  for 'bone-polishing' ie cleaning and redecorating ancestors graves, and then having a good feast of roast suckling pig.
     In 1966, Taiwan rededicated the day as Senior Citizens Day, which is something the WAGS should think about.
     Anyway, once again left to our own resources, Myriam and I were not to be cheated of our weekly stroll, so decided it would be an ideal opportunity to do some Geocache maintenance in Sagres, and to hope that the hills of the Trilho Ambiental in Castelejo would be high enough to keep us clear of all the yang being produced.
     First we visited the 13th Century Chapel to the Virgin of Guadalupe, where I have a cache that is causing problems, and resolved that.
     A couple of New Zealand Geocachers had visited the Algarve in 2007 and set a cache at Sagres called 'The End of the World'.  It is at Cape St Vincent, and is quite tricky to extract, being right in the field of view of countless tourists, but nevertheless it has survived 11 years. I had maintained it for this couple before and I had a request to replace the container which had apparently bio-degraded and cracked. So this was the second call. It was breezy but a cool glorious clear day.

View from the Cache

             It was rather draughty to walk far here, so we headed back to Vila do Bispo and Cafe ZigZag for a reviving cuppa.  
           On the way we stopped for a quick recce of the Fortaleza de Beliche , which has been rescued and now houses a cafe. Sadly it was not open, but now you can pass through the fort and see the views from behind. There is a long path with steps heading down towards the sea, which once had a rope bannister to hold on to, but the rope is gone, and I didn't fancy the climb back up.

Fortaleza de Beliche

In Vila do Bispo we found that the town had been swamped with hippies and surfers, tattooed, dreadlocked and pierced to the hilt. Nevertheless we enjoyed our coffee at ZigZag, which appears to be under new (and younger) management, if the price of coffee is anything to go by!

            After this we headed for the Trilho Ambiental which has been maintained in terms of the signage and waymarking.  We walked the circuit' visiting and maintaining my caches as we went and only met two or three walkers the whole way round.  

Serious selfie practice. Apparently I can't smile and operate the camera at the same time!

By the time we reached the Forestry Guard house we were warmed up, when a German registered Land Rover Defender emerged from behind the building, and proceeded to lift the wooden barrier and drive out.  Of course we interrogated them and they turned out to be a pleasant enough young couple, who had been here for 2 months and were going to head back to Germany later in the year.  We looked back behind the house and saw several other German vehicles parked almost out of sight, and the door of the house was also open. I suspect it is a 'squat', but apparently Vila do Bispo Camara are aware.

The Forestry Guard House

A choice of trails

We returned via the car park and picnic area to find a couple of Camara artisans repairing the public barbecue.  Possible WAGS event here!!

So, a pleasant walk, must do it again soon, only about 5 km on the Trilho, but we had other things to do in the afternoon, which surprisingly ended up with a feast at 'Chicken in the Gutter' in Silves and a fact-finding mission after to the Top-of-the-Range Super Luxury Lidl close by. But that is another story!

The lively Miss Ing-e-rid Bonte,

Ate bananas in a manner quite jaunty.

    When on a long walk

    She loved a good talk,

But demurred at performing Full Monty!