WAGS 20.02.2019 - MHPARRA: (Rod becomes middle-aged)

The Octogenarian's Birthday Walk

     Despite a few production difficulties, Antony got the basic blog out early the following Wednesday (27th) afternoon, on his way to Lisbon, and with a little titivating it is presented below, well up to standard, and very photo-rich.

The Starters.

L-R  Tony with Shadow and Jess, Antony with Ember, Rod, Lindsey, Chris Terry behinf Jill behind Geraldine, Paul behind Maria (where else?), Ana half hidden behind Antje with sasha, Peter, Hazel, Dina, Myriam and John.

.

Listening to the Warden (is Antony making a comment?)

Upon starting the long descent, and fully aware that could only mean a long ascent, no complaints were raised on this occasion...slow and steady.

Having met the Warden of the Mata National de Herdade de Parra, we were warmly greeted and had his full blessing for our small stroll with the premise that we kept our faithful hounds on their leashes... Spring was in the air and the avian population were busy copulating and re-populating the fire ravaged hills...Not to be disturbed by Ember and Sasha scampering through the undergrowth. Good to see that the Warden´s Nissan had some environmental message promoting the need to save water by the avoidance of unnecessary washing of ones vehicle...and the winner was Rod´s Mitsubishi.

On reaching the bottom of the descent Myriam spied a Fiat bulldozer and went about showing off one of her myriad of skills... earth moving. To no avail... the beast would simply not start.

even the plough would not succumb to her will...

The jewel in this leisurely stroll's crown was a circuit around a particularly picturesque headland taking in views of the Barragem de Odelouca...as they say...

"A picture paints a thousand words". (CB: A thousand words would have been OK by me!)

And plenty of floral beauty along the way...

The views were, as promised, quite delightful

As Rod pondered over the view and his age, he came to the realisation that the walk was simply not long enough and offered to take a small detour in distance and altitude... 

And whilst the "nayers" continued on the level contour...

The "Yayers" opted for his steep descent and additional 1 or 2 kilometres (CB: 0.8 km by my count!)

The Ayes to the Left (plus photographer John.) 

Even Geraldine, blissfully lost in smile inducing music, was happy to follow Rod´s extra bit...

A quick march up the long hill brought about the much needed sweat and an amicable quenching of thirst at the top for Ember and Sasha...although whose vehicle it belonged to and who got the most space was never bought into question...

 A small drive led us to the affable and voluptuous Ana where we did indeed 'para e fica'...for a good while...and a splendid 'arroz de pato'.

With the hounds still on their leashes we sat down to a Birthday banquet fit for an Octogenarian...

Sasha still showing the effects of her traumatic barbering

WAGS at their finest

And a hearty meal to which we could become accustomed ...

Arroz com pato

Espetada de Peru

and grilled robalo

followed by a heartfelt speech by the Birthday Boy himself, who also bigged himself up as a 'WAGGS' - the extra G being extra Geriatric, but he thought it meant Golden!

although the sharper detectives will realise he was merely 70 when the shirt was made!

And an anecdotal story about testicles and and an uncomfortable plastic chair by Yves...

(Just in case the French/Yorkshire accent distracted the listeners and they didn't hear the full story, here is the original video to play. It can be expanded to full screen and louder volume by the usual controls)

The Birthday cake arrived, coveted by Paul, whilst I tried to make sense of the average age of the WAGS (myself and Geraldine excluded)  (see below for version applying to this walk)

(with thanks to Brio Dixon for his Excel Expertise)

Average age (excluding the dogs and the children) for this walk was 74 years, 9 months and 24 days, with 6 being above average, and 7 below average, and 1 (Maria) being frankly , a young chit of a girl!

Finally a toast with the not so amber nectar...

and down the hatch...

With a final flourish of poetry I leave you with not one, but three limericks... The non-authors should guess which was written by whom...

When Rod became Oct'genarian

He decided to be Vegetarian 

      But the voluptuous Ana

      Produced a bifana

Which defeated this self-disc'plinarian! 

Composing limericks rhyming with octogenarian

Needs wit far beyond that of a rustic sub-librarian.

He cannot just conform

With the accepted norm

But must boldly strike the pose of a rabid antidisestablishmentarian

A recently accomplished octogenarian

Considered as quite the egalitarian

But if any did plod 

Behind his directional rod

Proved actually to be more authoritarian.

It would not be seemly to omit the stats and track of the longer walk by John

Total distance:- 7.44 kms. Total Time:- 2 hrs 15 mins.

Moving Time:- 1 hr 43 mins. And, mirabile dictu, Standing Still Time:- 0 hrs 32 mins.

Average Moving Speed:- 4.3 kph.

Total ascent: 268 metres.

Once we had begun the climb out of the Slough of Despond into which Rod had led us extra milers, the hill was non-stop and unforgiving: 2.68 kms long, 168 metres in ascent.

as compared to the walk the sensible ones did (below)

which stats are 6.83 km and 118 meters of climb only.

And finally a picture of the reluctant blogger in pursuit of his art, Antony a Montana

WAGS 13.02.2019 : Ponte da Piedade

Last week's Blog by Antonio de Montanha was published just as I was about to put my boots on for today's walk, so technically he had availed himself of the 'just in time' management strategy, more commonly applied by Toyota in manufacturing cars.  He published the photo-rich blog just 65 minutes before Antje had decreed that today's walk would START (not the time to turn up for coffee.)
      Duly, most WAGS turned up at Retiro dos Trindades for their caffeine fix just before 0930, and enjoyed the excellent coffee as recommended by Antje who is a regular patron.
       Antonio was chauffering Rod, and leading their two independent guests, and again resorted to his 'Just in Time' strategy arriving at Trindades just after the rest of us had headed for the 0945 start at Ponte de Piedade.

 However we all assembled at 09 45:38 seconds for the starter photo which was pretty exceptional for WAGS. L-R John, Peter and Liz (Rod's guests), Rod, Antje, Myriam, Hazel, Maria, Paul, Geraldine, Chris and Antonio (dressed for winter)

   In the event, Antje's strictures and admonitions about time were unnecessary as she had cancelled her physiotherapy session for the early afternoon, in the realisation that she would be psychologically better served by a less stressful time intensive walk than an ultrasound machine.

     Rod's guests kindly drove over to meet us and view the Ponte da Piedade which was glorious in the winter sun, and only accompanied us for the first half-kilometer before leaving to do their own sight seeing.

    The Ladies had a 'Me too' photo session, which I had hoped to avoid by moving well aside, but alas I was caught glowering in disapproval by the wide angle lens.

    One feature which was a first time for many of us, was the proliferation of a wooden boardwalk with viewpoints along the cliff path right to the viewpoint above Praia do Canavial.  Some of the paths are also in concrete, ostensibly to preserve the terrain from multiple tracks.

The full SP. Luckily most of us didn't approach the 'Intsable Cliff'. Perhaps a better proof reader is required by Lagos Camara


 Originally, the Lagos sub-section of WAGs were aghast at the thought of concrete spread all over this outstanding natural area, but now, with an eye to the future, we will be able to acquire lower spec off-road mobility scooters to negotiate our WAGS journeys.

Might not need these - The Hex Hog £18-25,000, the Terrain Hopper Overlander £12,800 can be replaced by:-

The Wanderer folding scooter from £2695

Failing to plan is planning to fail  as Benjamin Franklin once said.

Anyway, enough digression, by the time our mobility is even more challenged we will all get jet packs on the National Health.......

and that will  obviate the need for WAGS Rule 1 - No Hills!

Enough digression - back to the Boardwalk.

An expensive piece of carpentry.

Antje, very kindly submitted her summary report of the event below:-

On a beautiful winters morning 10 Wags and two guests met at Ponte da Piedade in Lagos.
Starter: Rod's guest Peter and Liz, Rod, Antonio d.M, Myriam and Paul, Hazel, John, Geraldine and Maria, 
Chris and Antje to lead the way with scout Sascha.
We started at the lighthouse and followed the recently constructed boardwalk along the cliffs towards the
Cascade Resort and through an urbanisation of villas down to Porto do Mos beach. Rod' guest had taken the circular route back to the light house by then.

A short steep climb up for the beach was followed by a more gentle ascent to the top path which then followed the cliffs with spectacular views all the way to the triq point looking down onto Luz village and beach.

We headed inland then following the edge of BoaVista golf course for some time and then cut across country to reach the path taking us down to Porto do Mos beach and then back up to the light house.

An uneventful walk for most, but Anthony lost his favourite hat which he hoped to find on the return trip , but unfortunately did not.

Antony took a more direct and adventurous route, which we have used in the past, but have more sense these days. It did result in these rather fine pictures and views, but as a caution remember Yves at Castelejo, and always seek permission or a companion on alternative routes. As it was he only lost his hat, which was a just punishment as it could have been worse.

It was decided to have lunch not at the starter cafe, Trindade but at As Manas , urbanisation Azevede, so I learnt today,

Feijoada was on the menu and 7 of us enjoyed a very tasty dish, the photo does not do it justice.I had advertised the walk as ca 8.5 km but two different readings at the end put it at 10.4 and 11.4 Kms respectively. Sorry guys !We had measured the distance of the 2nd part of the walk, but I had underestimated the distance from the light house to Porto do Mos. Not all Germans are precise! On the return, Chris had wisely opted out at Porto do Mos, I think Paul wished he had done so as well. (Nonsense - I love hills at the end of a walk!!)

Thank you for all the nice photos.

A few more pictures as we have some very talented snappers with John and his Sony, Antony and his iPhone and myself and Myriam with our mighty OnePlus's.

There was a degree of floral grandeur, it being early Spring in the Algarve.

Almond blossom reaching its full bloom.

Lupins......

and of course this shy and retiring little wallflower!

Houston - we have a communication problem!!

Photo by guess who?

As Antje reported, a late decision was made to divert to As Manas, recently under new management from the former owner of Boa Gosta near the skate park.

Myriam and Maria were delighted to find that the Prato de Dia was Feijoada Transmontana at around €5,00. Immediately 7 of the 10 of us signed up for the Feijoada, while Rod and Antonio, mindful of  their social commitments that evening had rather a long wait for their tosta mista, which was a reasonable example of the genre.

Vitamins - at last!!

Geraldine had spotted a type of filled pizza crust in the display counter and was in fact served first.

A reasonable venue, as it is quite often difficult to find a cafe to take on a larger group after lunchtime has started.

Now the stats which varied wildly. 

John's SatMap device had:-

Total distance :-11.30 km. Total time:- 3 hrs 26 mins.

Moving time:- 2 hrs 42 mins. Standing Still time:- 0.44 mins.

Av. Moving speed:- 4.3 kms. (no´ tha´ bad)

Max slopes:-  + 27%..  - 34% (true, shortly before the Obelisk stretch, there was a sharp drop.)

Accumulated ascent:- 275 metres.

Elevation gain/loss:- 404 metres.

(Don´t ask me the difference beween the two.),

 .... but found his iPhone reporting less distance (10.46 km) and a meaningless 29 flights ascent, which he recalled was similar to Antje's phone.

My Garmin had jumped the gun and started recording from Trindade, but with some editing and track measurement it came in at 11.7 km. In reality it is anyone's guess, but it was a good walk, and we all felt we had burnt off enough calories to wolf down the Feijoada.

And to finish a limerick whose rhyming daunted me - so make some allowances!

A WAGS Lady Leader called Antje

Preferred to have food A La Plancha

But at lunch in As Manas

She ate Feijoadas,

And trumped like a Mexican Rancher!