WAGS - 22-23.01.2019 St. Vincent’s Day Event

WAGS - St. Vincent 2019

Antonio de Montana signing in and stepping into the blogging boots of Paulo a Pé whilst he is cruising the Caribe in MV Britannia...

This walk followed its predecessors but on a slightly lesser scale, in that it marked Dia de São Vicente on the 22nd January, culminating in a "pilgrimage" to the Igreja de Nossa Senhora de Graça in the  Fortaleza de Sagres, but covered only 15 km over two days.

The weather was blustery to say the least but we all met at our overnight layover of the Hotel Mira Sagres in Vila do Bispo and were ready at the usual time of 10h00 to drive to the end of the old world... Cape St. Vincent.

For once John did not use his phone activated remote camera for the group photo for fear of it blowing over. A nice lad took it for us. Lindsey, Antje and Chris were AWOL from the photo.

...and John took this one, otherwise all present and correct...a good start!

,

Whilst group photos seemed to be order of the morning we had to include the most metallic, and controversial!, of renditions of St. Vincent himself behind a backdrop of ominous skies.

With saintly rays of sunshine beginning to descend from the heavens we started north towards Praia do Telheiro passing the majestic cliffs of the Cape.

Soon some eagle eyes spotted some neolithic paintings on the exposed lower Jurassic dolomitised limestone...a profound discussion ensued...

As the clouds continued to disperse a bit we traversed a gully to Praia do Telheiro where we ventured inland to the cape flats.

With winds more or less within the parameters of controlled flight it seemed an opportune moment to unsheathe the "eye in the sky" in order to appreciate the scale of the bleak flats. Maria mentioned this was her least favourite section as the Lighthouse forever seemed very distant, her skipping gait seemed at odds with this.

Upon reaching the Sagres road we crossed to the precariously positioned Fort of Santo António de Beliche...perhaps St. Vincent had a small say in the geology of the underlying cliffs.

Having skirted the cliff edge on the southern coast of the Cape we eventually made it back to the last few hundred metres of tarmac to the end of the old world.

A fortuitous meeting with the proprietor of Restaurante Vigia, as she was about to shut up shop, led us to our very own cafe and another photo opportunity to reenact "the last coffee and tosta mista".

Finally we made it back to Hotel Mira Sagres as rain was threatening. Siestas and long hot showers were enjoyed before another hike to the restaurant directly across the road from the hotel entrance, the gastronomically renowned Café Correia. 19h30 found Senhor e Senhora Correia swimming in pots and pans putting the finishing touches, under Rod's supervision, to our fine meal of sopa de feijão e legumes, massa de peixe com camarões e galinha a cabidela.  

WAGS - St. Vincent 2019...satisfied WAGS with our very good hosts, Senhor e Senhora Correia (José and Zelita)

Lubricated with suitable libations the sounds of contentment emanating from room 101 meandered down the corridors of Hotel Mira Sagres late into the night.

Feeling invigorated and refreshed with a hearty continental breakfast we set off to storm the fort. This time the wind was down .5 on the Beaufort scale to a mere 6.5. Time for the "eye in the sky" and a visit to the Church of Our Lady of Grace.

At the far end of the Fort with its unassailable cliffs we came across the acoustic nod to Neptune where we sat and waited for him to blow his nose...it appeared to be more a monument to the proclamation of love...so we all had a group hug.

Finally, having completed a whole 2.5 km around the Fortaleza and rain clouds threatening we headed to the fishing port for a quick coffee and chocolate brownie where it was decided that the geriatrics had nothing more to prove from bygone days of blistering 25km hikes...I was not going to argue for a toss of the coin.

...Meanwhile and most poetically, somewhere on the Island of St. Vincent, Paul and Myriam were busy with their own geocaching but with us in spirit.

As a virgin to this blog, I have decided to stamp my mark by putting together a small video of our endeavours...enjoy.