WAGS 17.04.2019: A Wee bit o' Rain and No Petrol

This Blog is pure plagiarism, as heeding the Extinction Revolution, trusting the Forecasters, and following a Mother's advice "You'll catch your death if you go out in that!" Rod called off the Walk for the 17th, and on this occasion there was not a murmur from the Hopes setting off on an unsanctioned WAGS walk, as they were down for the equally cancelled AWW walk this week. So here goes with the rip-off. NB (For AWW's read WAGS)

It´s not often that there is a blog about a walk that did not happen, but your blogger thought this one is merited. Merited not, he hastens to add, by any passing suspicions that the AWWs are getting soft. Not a bit of it. He would not dream of even suggesting that a wee bit of rain and some overly pessimistic prognostications of possible bad weather are enough to put the modern generation of AWWs  off. 

Rod's pre-walk calling circular was typically business-like, to the point with none of the banter and verbal gymnastics which polluted the AWW circular this week . 

 "WALK WED. 17/4.... was hoping for a walk with views but weather looks ominous. So 10.00 Cafe Para e Fica (  you know..3 kms up Silves- S Marcos road from Silves). Let me know." 

Rod

And then after a wet night, a look out of the window, and a short WhatsApp from me about the wisdom of saving fuel for emergencies, the WAGS group received this from Rod:-

"Those coming seem to be just those checked in above (no one else via email).   Too wet for Yves I assume and therefore for Dina. Paul seems worried about his cars running out of fuel as well as the weather. Looks as though best to call it off."  Rod

  John completed the AWW excuses in a similar fashion:

In the event, the walk was called off the evening before because of the bad weather,  very much, one would guess, to Jim and Gill´s regret, because their enthusiasm for the recces, the walk and the countryside can certainly be sensed in their blurb. But, with the benefit of hindsight, given the current petrol tanker men´s strike over pay and the fact that most petrol stations in the Algarve have now run out of gas , perhaps that was just as well . It would not have done for the AWWs to have run out of fuel.on their way home and to have had to walk, would it ?  

In the old days, veteran AWWs used to come prepared for a drop or two of rain.

It just remains for me to append the comment I made on John's plagiarised AWW Blog which can be found  HERE:-

I was going to attempt a virtual blog for the WAGS first refusal of the season, but it would have implied that we were getting softer and more conscious of the economics of flashing along the A22 willy nilly, killing polar bears as we pierced the ozone layer. However this one of John's may do as well (appropriately edited). A timely reminder of the Good Old Days, was this photo of Myriam from February 2006, Apres le Deluge.

On February 21st 2006 Title was: 

Myriam modelling the Mark VII River crossing equipment!

The observant will notice that we were already up to the Mark VII River crossing gear (I believe the Mark VIII Beta model was about to be released), so who knows what version we would be up to now, if the WAGS still crossed rivers except by properly constructed bridges.

Which brings me on to the Philosophical point I made in my Blog of October the 18th 2006 - 
A Walk that Wasn't:-
Can a Blog exist without a Walk? - OR can a Walk exist without a Blog? 
I am still waiting for a satisfactory answer, but John has provided some fine evidence!

And for the older hands, a couple of pics of the early days when we used to cross raging torrents fearlessly and often take the leap of faith/

Franco-Scottish Bridge-Building

Doing it with style

Makes Abbey Road look tame!

What else indeed...!

and finally applicable to most Gentle Men

WAGS 10.04.2019: Castelejo to Coastguard House

 After this week's digitally and aerially photo-recorded walk, I was actively considering renaming our group the WAPS rather than WAGS, on account of the excessive number of photographs (and very good ones) submitted to the Blog.

       I think you may guess that my intention with the acronym is Western Algarve Photographic Society, as we seem to be taking more artistic photos en route than actually indulging in Geriatric Strolling.

    However when I said the acronym to myself, I realised the PC danger that it might be pronounced, or still worse, spell-corrected, as WOPS, which, though it might not be particularly pejorative to any individual in our WAGS (at least I don't think so), could be construed as an offensive term by some Italian Americans or even Italians.  HOWEVER, as my etymological dictionary tells me, the widely circulated origin of the word, particularly used by Italian American Politicians to make political capital, refers to folk etymology for the word “wop,” a common term of disparagement for Americans of Italian descent, that in the early 1920s many Italians tried to enter the United States illegally. These would-be immigrants were rounded up by U.S. officials and sent back to Italy with documents labelled W.O.P. which supposedly stood for “Without Papers” referring to the papers needed for legal immigration. This is in fact erroneous.
   
You’ll find a lot of etymological bologna if you google the word “wop.” especially the above.   Oh no it is not!

“Wop,” which originated in the United States, has been a derogatory term for an Italian since 1908. But it’s not an acronym and it has nothing to do with immigration documents.

The word comes from guappo, a word in Sicilian and Neapolitan dialects that means a swaggering thug. It’s ultimately derived from the Latin vappa, or “sour wine,” a word the Romans used figuratively for a worthless guy. Come to think of it - there may be some relevance after all,

Luckily no-one has so far taken out a Court injunction over this 'Advisory Poster' at Cafe ZigZag, and at least none of the WAGS were forcibly removed.


   Having sorted that out, and for the reasons enunciated (well you can't even compare a woman to a horse let alone a cow or a female dog in these ultra-sensitive days) deciding to stick with our WAGS acronym, I found myself with a photo-rich blog to prepare, having had 60+ photos sent to me by  5 of the 10 walkers, without even looking at my own 30 photos plus track pix and stats. And don't get me started on different sizes, formats, edited versions or methods of sending said photos. They all required my personal attention to prepare them to be published in this blog.  But after all we do have a talented group of photographers, and at least two of them have proper cameras and not just smart phones. Now to the Walk - theoretically the purpose of our meetings and the justification for this Blog.

L-R: Janet Paul Ingrid Maria.Yves, Myriam, Rod, Antony, Hazel and John

       

 After our coffee, we convoyed up to the Trilho Ambiental Car Park, and began the ritual of the Starter Photo, while I was deciding where we would actually go, as following Rod's advice, it doesn't do to make a plan too early in case circumstances change. It was a sunny day, but with enough of a cool breeze to keep the windproof outer garments on.  I was feeling fairly robust, despite having forsworn the last two walks for large FEB's on our trip to UK, so I decided to consider a nostalgic re-run of the last big hill of the first day of the RTC if we had started from Carrapateira. All the WAGS and 2 or 3 of the AWW might understand what I mean by that!

 Hopefully the track picture will expand when clicked to reveal the route more clearly.  The final decision to proceed along the track shown was taken when we reached the most northerly part of the route, which is a good miradour with views over Castelejo beach  to the North and the Coastguard House and cliffs to the SW.

 First item of note along the Trilho Ambiental was this species of processionary caterpillar, who had broken with the tradition of inhabiting and destroying pine trees, and were getting stuck into the medronha bushes.

 Looking across the valley to the road down to Castelejo.

 Don't ask why everyone except Rod and Janet have decided to shrink, but this is just before the descent to Castelejo begins. 









Here I decided to lead the group down to the beach and up the RTC 'Middle way' to the Coastguard House. Not strictly within WAGS criteria, but all felt capable and there were no strong objections.

Bottom of the descent where the valley runs to Castelejo Beach

Hazel at Sea Level

 The Leader and the two that followed the authorised path up.

Seems like a lot of walkers but we met a German group going up to where the descent started.

Halfway up to the Coastguard House the two factions reunited. A good day for this climb with the wind pushing from behind.

Looking into the abyss.

The Coastguard House - much abused since the effort to restore it over 10 years ago

 The Wings of an Angel!

Inside had been vandalised

 A bizarre sentiment, but what a location for the views

 "....and we started over there!"

 "Careful Maria - there may be lip-readers around!"

 We moved on towards the Torre d'Aspe and Antony got his new toy out

 An amazingly stable drone even in the stiff breeze we had. The drone flew over us, at speeds of up to about 60 kph, and with a huge range.  Several of the ladies were forced to hold their water for fear of a fly past!

 Traditional Group shot at the Torre. You may notice that 3 of our number opted for a short cut.

The Three shortcutters

 Antonio de Montana surpassed himself with this shot of the Alien Spacecraft among the spring flowers.

In flagrante delicto!

 Garmin Stats

 Rod's ViewRanger track

 and walk profile and expanded stats.

 A short drive back to Cafe ZigZag, whose newish management not only provided Myriam with a Prato de Dia

 but also some passable bifanas 

Photographer and Director

and TM's

 and a cheese and tomato sandwich for the vegans.

Of course Antonio, although restricted to half a TM with his Dad, had his artistic juices flowing-

and produced the 'food shot' of the day. Note the carefully arranged mustard packet to draw the eye towards the bifana!

There were many more photos and apologies if I haven't included your best work. I thought there might be a tightly edited vid from Antonio's Mavic 2, but I guess he is learning a lesson. Its easy to acquire miles of video, but takes longer to edit it. A bit like Life!

WAGS 03.04.2019: Pincho Peregrination

At Quinta do Refugio, Sonia´s early morning coffee and biscuits had Chris, Yves and John purring contentedly, and the colours of the irises in her garden had Hazel and Ingrid ooh-ing and aah-ing, before the Starters assembled for their photo and the walk kicked off reasonably promptly.

 The Track

The Statistics
Total distance: 9.19 kms. Total time: 3 hrs 28 mins.Moving time: 2 hrs 24 mins. Therefore, a very healthy amount of stop time.Average moving speed: a gentle 3.7 kph.Ascent: 348 metres.

The Leader´s Report“On the 3.of April a group of 8 WAGS walkers (Antje, Chris & Sasha, Hazel, John, Yves, Janet, Ingrid and Hilke ) arrived at Quinta do Refugio for coffee and for what I hoped a not too difficult walk. It was rather chilly and windy, but we warmed up at the first long hill. We then continued on to the trig point Álamos and then down to Vale dos Montinhos to fotograf the pigs and pigletts.”

 (Your blogger took some really splendid photos here, Hazel up on the trig, warning notices on the gateposts of dos Montinhos (“Do Not Bite The Dog!”), and lots of those oh so cute little pigs, only to realise later on that modern digital cameras do demand that  you have a memory card in the blessed thing if you want to actually capture the scene. It was his own memory that was at fault; there was no card in the camera. So his photos are now in his mind´s eye only. But thank goodness, we do have a picture of the pigs, thanks to Antje.)

 “ I led this walk I think 7 or 8 years ago and was surprised how much steeper the hills have grown and how much longer the walk seems to be. We then continued further south to find the path down to the valley of Quinta Escocia. Thinking of shortening the route, I took a right turn onto a firebreak clearing. A great mistake, it ended after a while and we had to return and find another way down."

 " Checking later at home on Google Earth I realized that, continuing  straight, we would have been on the right path down that I intended to take. My apologies."

 " In the valley we returned back to Pincho where Janet and Chris rested at the Solar do Pincho and the rest walked the road back to Quinta do Refugio. Hilke and Ingrid went home and the rest met at the Barbaro in Bensafrim for bifanas and tostas mistas."

 (The bifanas were massive and provided a perfect photo opportunity as both Yves and Chris struggled to bring them under control but – no card, no photos.) Luckily, Yves and Antje were up to the technical challengew olf modern photography. Without their pics, this little blog would have been a colourless damp squib. Peter´s apologies for the wrong turning are quite unnecessary. Yes, we had to retrace our steps for a little bit, but the length of the walk overall was perfect, while the drama of Ingrid´s struggle through the deepest undergrowth, shouting “ Peter, Peter, where are you?”  when she thought that her leader had abandoned her in the swamp, was not to be missed.

It was a proper walk.

                                     Chris sampled the new Sagres product,

Antje sampled her little black bag bottle.

                                   
Sonia joined us and shared a tosta with Hazel, and .....

John had a whole, massive tosta to himself. Very good value.