WAGS 02.01.2019:First footing in Santa Margarida

First WAGS walk of the New Year, and Terry A had volunteered to lead. Even though it was rather a lot further East and North than the familiar WAGS stamping (or shuffling) ground, Rod had accepted with the alacrity of a man who had done his share for the previous 3 weeks.
      Actually, Terry had done another walk from Santa Margarida last Valentine's day, and I notice that when blogging it, the terms 'alacrity' and 'accepted the offer'  figured prominently on that occasion.  We are short of offers to lead in the WAGS and although there is a general preference for Silves and West, who can blame a volunteer for choosing their own neighbourhood?  But as Terry noted, the longer walks we did formerly when AWW members are a challenge when it comes to compressing them into a WAGS format.
      A  large crowd awaited us when Myriam and I arrived at Santa Margarida with Janet barely 30 seconds before the appointed hour owing to minor navigational difficulties and two back seat drivers!
Terry was expecting 14, and it took a head count some 2 hours into the walk to convince some we had 16. We never did find out who the extra two were! Unfortunately the Cafe was closed, but a considerate leader led us into the village where we did find a quick bica from a reluctant hostess for the more desperate..

Here is his report, which by the standards of the 3 previous weeks , is quite verbose!

16 Old Walkers sitting on a Wall: L-R Antony, (with Ember) Janet, John, Terry M, with Myriam, Terry A, and Jill with Becky, Lindsey, Ingrid, Paul, Geraldine, Hazel, Rod, Tony with Shadow and Jess, Maria, Monica 

Well what a turn out for a Wags walk I thought I had 14 coming but two more sneaked in, all on time all found parking under the watchful eyes of the locals standing on their balconies warming up in the sunshine and what a lovely morning it was, dry blue sky and sun, but it must be a New year thing the Cafe was shut!!! no notice on door nothing they missed an early morning bonus, but no problem time for a quick one at the Cafe in the square, John Paul and myself first through the door to find ourselves in a time warp cafe circa late fifties with a lady who must be a contender for the most miserable one we have come across even beating the one Ian Scott spent years trying to get a smile out of three bica’s was all she could manage so we beat a hasty retreat.

To get back to the reason why we are all here is to have a walk and the walk was a repeat of the one from last year with some changes cutting out two climbs to leave just the one which is an easy one, so down hill we go, some seem to go down quicker than others so we were soon spread out but we could hear Myriam regaling all her latest holidays also her latest head gear suitable for all kind of conditions, 

Myriam's new ex-HK Millinery - suitable for Mosques, Cathedrals and Beekeeping

Soon we walked through a cork forest most recently cut, as we turned off onto a track to take us along the bottom of the valley we were all to gasp at Myriam’s amazing Chinese  granny type walking stick complete with light, music, attack alarm, and more the mind boggles, lets get on this was a new track I had found as a Wags first  to out on to some small quite lanes through small villages all very quiet after New Year's night, now for the one hill that was not too bad any way made a change from going down then a little way left down the road to the track opposite Ros’s house to find someone has put a gate up but it was not locked so we carried on regardless to the top of Vale de Vinagre to walk East through the Orange groves back to Sta Margarida.

The day was problematic once more in finding somewhere to have a toaster and drink as normal, Alte was full up with people who have nothing to do except eat and drink so we went our separate ways in search some sustenance, Jill and I went back up to the Alte Hotel for a coffee  just the Manager Pat who I know quite well from Algarve Walking Days and one young lady cleaning the bar glasses on duty, after the hello pleasantries any chance of a coffee and a tosta mista, Pat informed me they had no kitchen staff on,  also no fresh bread only yesterdays bread but as it’s you I will do you coffee and a tosta mista, so we got to enjoy a late lunch after all, talking to Pat she said the bakers don’t bake New Years day hence with a shrug of the shoulders no bread.

Never mind the problems I think we all had a good walk to start the New Year thanks to all who came.

Perfect walking weather

Busy road this one!

King of cabbages

Emerging from the undergrowth 1

Emerging from the undergrowth 2

Emerging from the undergrowth 3 - even the dogs were breathing hard!

Sticks are a must-have accessory for the discerning lady walker!

The walk was carried out at quite a pace - John made it 4.3 km/hr, and I certainly felt we had a walk especially the next day. Use it or lose it as the saying goes.

Here is the track according to Locus Map by way of change.

and the stats according to Locus Map, including almost 300 m of climbing.:

and also Garmin. Differences may be accounted for by (a) two starting locations and (b) inherent inaccuracies in the software.

A curiosity on the way round was this road sign:

At first our resident Portuguese linguists didn't have much idea, but research (Google Translate) had the word carrasco referring to an executioner or a cruel man. Later enquiries in a more comprehensive traditional paper dictionary (Myriam's) ,  revealed  a rarer meaning of a grove of a species of olive with an implication that it was difficult to pass through. This was substantiated by the lady cook in the Veranda in Chinicato where I had lunch on Friday, who said it was a valley with a lot of bushes.

    It was a good walk on a perfect walking day to start 2019. However, when we attempted a mass TM or bifana expedition into Alte, we found that 16 was too many - the restaurants and snack bars only wanted to serve full lunches, or had no bread, and that there were a remarkable number of tourists hogging the seats in our preferred haunts.  We gradually lost enthusiasm, and Tony went home as did Terry M and Monica, Lindsey and Ingrid. Terry A and Jill went to the Alte Hotel which left 9 of us intent on food agreeing to meet at Intermarche in Messines and decide from there.

On the way Maria remembered a restaurant in the outskirts of Messines and the Jazz and the Audi diverted there, forgetting that the Frewmobile had gone on ahead.  By the time we had suffered another rejection at this restaurant, we had lost Rod and Antony but 7 of us managed to arrive at Intermarche and order coffee and giant TM sandwiches.  I won't rate it as a gourmet experience, but as it was about 1440 hrs by then, it hit the spot!

Janet models a generously proportioned sandwich

Still waiting but........

......another satisfied customer.

And so we reached home almost 8 hours after setting off for our little stroll, probably having added more calories than we spent.  

Now on a serious note - for those who have read thus far, and have the stamina to continue.  At the top of this blog is a header which sets out the ethos of the group, which was started back in 2015 by myself, Rod and  Chris for those that for one reason or another no longer wanted the longer , more vertically challenging AWW walks, or felt they were physically unable to keep up with the newer walkers. The focus was on 'Limited' and 'Invitation Only'.   Over the years, the group has expanded and there are now about 23 on the list of whom all except 2 are current walkers. Some crossover walkers from the AWW have been welcomed, but as a general principle, it was never intended that the WAGS would be an alternative group for AWW who  for any reason didn't want to go with the AWW that week. WAGS means WAGS!!

   So to make it clear, if you are invited to walk by WhatsApp or email then you are a WAG and welcome. However in an effort to control numbers and preserve the viability of the apres-WAGS gourmet snacks, all guests should be cleared with the walk leader or Rod or myself.  We don't want to burden ourselves with rules, (that has led to friction before!) but to enjoy a social walk by concensus, and the key word is enjoy the interaction as well as the exercise. Enough said - "Res ipsa loquitur"! (Ask John!)

A Long Distance Walker named Terry

Disliked to use a Dictionary.

His walk explanations

Had no punctuations - 

Which made them grammatically scary!