WAGS 02.05.2018: Pincho from Peter's Place

Some floral grandeur to start. Some of the beautiful roses in Sonia and Peter's garden.

Before we even reached Quinta de Refugio, the Happy Clappies had wished Hazel a Happy Birthday in the Pincho Cafe carpark, complete with original Portuguese lyrics

A rare visit to the Pincho area for the WAGS, Peter's local area, but Rod took the lead.  He even managed to come up with some additional colour commentary, composed and despatched while catching his EasyJet flight to UK on Friday.  Here is his account, colourfully embellished by some photos of the countryside and the WAGS.

John 'power-posing'* at the front with behind, from L-R Thyl, Peter, Rod, Myriam, Hazel, Paul Ingrid, Janette

* He is in good company! See HERE

            Paul & Myriam, John & Hazel, Ingrid, Janette, Peter,  Thyl, Rod were the ingredients for this week's WAGS walk. We met up at the restaurant in the mighty metropolis of Pincho where we might have had coffee had it been open.

That it wasn't  had been fortuitously observed by local native Peter who managed to persuade Sonia to most generously offer to provide what was undoubtedly much superior coffee. 

Coffee at the Quinta

This and some time spent admiring  Sonia's wonderfully colourful garden meant a slightly late start but by 10.20 we were on our way climbing up to the ridge north of the Schroeder estate.....noting the exemplary husbandry of Peter's pine trees.

A rose by any other name.......

The weather threatened rain for much of the time as we descended to the valley on the far side but it never actually did. 

Along this our trail, last used some 5 or 6 years ago, headed up what was an open track  but was now a private gated property bearing the name of Quinta Goncalves. Our local native  once again to the rescue announced he was well acquainted with the absent owner so in we went.

The rear of the property turned out to have a licensed medronho still, which made it even more lamentable that the owner was absent

Entrance to the licensed distillery

It's official!

 

. Through lack of use the track from thereon had become somewhat overgrown but still ended up where intended....which happened to be on the route of the original Algarve Way.

WAGS don't like wet feet................!

............unlike Anke

Another descent was followed by a long plod up to the ridge now decorated by a string of wind turbines.

Sky still threatening!

Worm's eye view of a wind turbine.

 After following this for a while we headed south again opting for what was a fairly steep and rough route down. This hit the road west of Pincho where we had the option of a loop further south.

Steeper than it looks

 Having achieved about 9k at this point we decided honour was done and we returned along the road  to the restaurant. At this point it may be observed from attached stats that we were almost exactly on WAGS guidelines. The restaurant turned out to still be closed so after collecting a couple of cars used to ferry us to Peter's house at the beginning we diverted to Bensafrim  to our now  customary Barbaro's with their most agreeable level of fare.

" I used to be this tall!!"

Lebensraum!!

Little to add apart from the track and stats, except that we kept out a vigilant eye for genetically modified cistus plants. They are large and bright this year, but the best we could spot was a couple of 7-spotters.

The stats from Garmin first, showed that the distance and total climb were less than last week, although to me they certainly felt further.  This was probably due to the long-researched phenomenon 'Leader's Delusion Syndrome', whereby if you are leading a walk you underestimate its length, elevation and difficulty, compared to if you are following and have no idea where you are going.

Next we have the ViewRanger track and stats supplied by Rod, while yet enjoying his TM at Barbaro.

Scroll sideways to reveal all. 

And for completeness a Google Earth Track pic.

Finally, as a treat, the whole outing summed up in a short film, set to very annoying music, but nonetheless quicker than reading the foregoing blog!

THE FILM OF THE WALK

"I like long walks - especially when they are taken by people that annoy me."

                                                                         Noel Coward

WAGS 25.04.2018: Liberation Day at Vila do Bispo

A seascape with downwardly mobile WAGS to begin

A return to the West Coast, fond memories for Yves and an invigorating walk on well-trodden paths.
The meeting arrangements were complicated by the fact that it was Liberation Day (Cafes open or not?) but a timely recce on Sunday found that although our usual Cafe ZigZag venue would be closed for Annual Holidays, an alternative, appropriately named Cantinho dos Amigos would be open.
Eventually we gathered and stoked up on good cheap coffee, and sat and admired the other walkers trailing past on a Lib Day walk organised by the Vila do Bispo Camara.

Participants: Paul, Myriam, Hedley, Janette, Rod, Yves, Ingrid, Antje, Chris and Sasha

Nice to see Hedley back for a very short visit and glad that he found the time to join us despite his self-admitted lack of fitness.

We lingered a while, prompt starting times not being an issue for WAGS, and eventually grouped for the starter photograph by the Sculpture Stones near the Trilho Ambiente at 1023 or so. The Camara walk was passing this point, and we managed to obtain the services of a young lady  with a professional looking camera to use my phone to take the starter photo. Not being used to the complexities of my OnePlus 5 she also managed to take a selfie before the shot above. If you recognise her again from the photo below, I can recommend her as a top starter photo taker.

Our photographer

 She also took a photo of us with her camera for the Vila do Bispo Facebook page for their event, which you can see, like and/or comment on HERE (not all cooperated) and you will find us under All Photos in the 11th row down.

    Anyway we set off round the Trilho Ambiente initially, and I managed to steer the group clear of the first refreshment station for the Camara Walkers.

A bit of geocaching maintenance on the way round:-

 Those trousers look baggy - must be losing weight!!

 Along the shady Trilho.

At the end of the Trilho we came to the crossroads to the Miradouro, and alas there was another refreshment station there - this time I couldn't prevent the WAGS from availing themselves of free oranges and water intended for the athletes of Vila do Bispo.

Some even tried wooing the ladies in the reflective vests with floral grandeur!

Eventually these embryo relationships were broken up and we continued on to the Miradouro. Last time we were at the Miradouro, just over 4 years ago, as the AWW, on a rare lead by Myriam, there was rather a lot of traffic!

Happily this all ended happily, but perhaps if it had all gone the other way, we might have been spared some of the worst jokes ever endured by a walking group.

This time there were some good photos:-

Chris  decided this was far enough for the day and left at this point.

There was even entertainment on the descent by the local para-sailers, who were struggling with a gusty onshore wind.

Even some Gallic courtesy on the way down

Some para-sailers got airborne by the time we reached the bottom.

Across the beach and we regrouped at the Cordoama car park. Being a holiday the cafe was closed!

Chris was waiting and thinking deep thoughts in the sun in case there were casualties, and Hedley also decided to call it a day here.

Interesting colour combinations!

The remaining 7 set off for the only climb of the day, past the Barranco de Garcia and as we turned up to the right we heard the sound of trail bikes and several gaudily-clad daredevils descended an extremely steep slope.

After some egging on by sadistic WAGS, one was encouraged to ride back up!

He almost made it, but had to walk his bike back down after it ran out of power.

Once at top of climb, apart from some discussion of which of 3 tracks to chooose, the walk back to the main road and the start was fairly uneventful.

Of the 3 ViewRanger users, the winner was Yves with a total distance of 11 km.

Scroll sideways for full details

My ViewRanger stopped itself after 19 minutes and was useless. Rod neglected to switch his off completely after arriving at the cars at the end, and so recorded an extra couple of km back to Cantinho dos Amigos in Vila do Bispo.

The Garmin succeeded, though as ever was more encouraging with its stats, 11.66 km.

Likewise scroll to see all the map.

Garmin stats:-

and elevation

which was all pretty much as promised.

We drove back to the cafe in fairly good time.

Antje demonstrating why the others wear sunglasses!

The cafe produced some nice bifanas and tostas and also Myriam's luxury Prato de Dia, filet de frango no forno. The chips went down well as I sacrificed myself to help. 

Nice to get back to the rugged part of the west coast as WAGS without over exerting ourselves. The ice plants were out in the most vivid colours.

Remember:-

"No matter how slow you go, you are still lapping everyone on the couch!"

WAGS 18.04.2018; Poço Frito, or What´s In A Name

Despite my best endeavours to send would-be WAGS on a wild goose chase to Poço Frio, which I think is somewhere to the north-west of Coimbra, seven not-so-easily foooled stalwarts appeared  in Poço Frito on a bright morning perfect for a stroll. Two or three other would-be walkers missed out, but not because of my misleading directions.

Two starter photographs were taken, partly because there was nowhere convenient to balance the camera, but also so as to have plenty of opportunity to admire Tony´s shiny Roller.

Those present being:- Yves, Ingrid, Rod, Myriam, Janette, Paul, Tony and JohnH.

Plus Tony´s two dogs who shall be nameless a) because I can´t remember their names and b) to protect the one who went AWOL some way into the walk from any unwelcome publicity.

There was a slow start while certain tracking devices got synchronised but we finally got under way by 10.20 a.m.

The initial part of the walk enabled us to ruminate on some empty real estate lots and then to gaze over the Amendoeira golf course. Shortly afterwards, we passed a suspicious looking run-down allotment in the undergrowth of which we could see some curious little black animals scuttling about. Their mixture of canine and porcine characteristics led to speculation that this was some sort of cross-breeding establishment, posssibly Korean-owned. Indeed, the plump little beasts gave every indication of being bred for the pot. Whether they were pogs or digs is a question the zoologists are still out on. Be that as it may, Tony´s pair of pure canines showed absolutely no interest in them.

A bit later, we cut across country, under the direction of our local guide (Rod) and then found ourselves inside a thriving market garden. Yves´ instinct for survival enabled him to find and open a gate to let us out.

Yves does the gate trick

Back on track we were just in time to see one of Tony´s hounds disappear into the bush, going like a rocket after a rabbit, not to re-emerge. After a great deal of fruitless whistling and looking around, Tony was just about getting resigned to staying there, on his own, to find it when said absconder calmly reappeared -  sans rabbit, of course.

I then moved smartly off to get things back up to speed but there then developed what seemed to be a sort of “welcome- back” reception for the dog which carried on for some time, and no-body followed me so I had to stop, sit, and wait.

Just a- sittin´ and a-waitin`

Ah, here they come

This is a Tilley Hat advert

and another Tilley Hat advert

and a third

We were by now a wee bit behind schedule, so the assistance of the local guide was availed of again in order to find a cross-country short cut.

If the Ladies were only to realise the beneficial good looks of the Tilley hat, this could have been another pleasing advert.

It was towards the end that Ingrid lodged her complaint of the week.

À  propos de je ne sais quoi, she remarked that she was fed up with walking past palatial villas with glimpses of nubile blonde goddesses sunbathing by the pool; she would like to see a young blond god or two for a change. Future leaders, please arrange.

We made our way back down to Poço Frito, through the largely unsold plots of the Caravela urbanisation, pausing only to criticise some extra-ordinary exterior staircase designs on the few properties that were being worked on, and then we settled down in the new venue of Café Martins -  for a road side bar, quite a clean and pleasant spot.

Substantial bifanas in pão caseiro were served, the effort required to break the rather forbidding crusts reminding Paul of the Father William poem but, once through them, the fresh, soft interiors were perfection. Whether they match up to the best that Lagos can serve, I have yet to learn.

Will he eat them both?

Wi-fi- connection and password duly sorted, the mobile phome brigade were soon at work, several catching up with photos and news of Hazel´s and Rose´s ongoing progress along the Pilgrim Way to Campostela de Santiago (Whoops – better get that the right way round otherwise the Harpies will be on my back) Santiago de Campostela.

One picture of one of Hazel´s meals was admired but, despite her having described it as a “codillo” – roast forearm of pig, the WAGS gourmet pundits ruled that she had got it wrong and that what she had had was actually “cordeiro“ - leg of lamb.

Well, being an experimental new user of WhatsApp, I contacted Hazel to give her the experts´ views. Well, it´s not unprecedented that experts get it wrong – after all, the Master Chef judges screwed up recently when pontificating that the skin on chicken rendang should be crispy.The brou-ha-ha following that faux-pas has involved thousands including even the Malaysian Prime minister and the British High Commissioner to Malaysia and still rumbles on.

Anyway, Hazel does know the difference between her pork and lamb, so she WhatsApped back again to say she had got the name of the dish – in writing – from the waiter and “he must know what he is talking about. Google says “codillo” is Spanish for knuckle of pork. Is “cordeiro” Spanish or Portuguese, or both? I don´t know. But “cordeiro” is not pork.

Hope my use of WhatsApp has not threatened diplomatic relations. Treat technology  with caution.

And that language topic, in a roundabout way, reminds me of a bit of speculation Yves and I had during the walk.

Why should Poço Frito be Frito? How can a well be described as “fried”? Or is “Frito” an Algarvean dialetical form of “Frio”? Much more understandable surely for a well to be known as cold thna fried.

Ditto Poço Barreto. There´s a possible link with the word “barrete” – cap, beret,  or bonnet, but why should a well have a titfer? There is a word “barrento” meaning “muddy”. much more reasonable for a well to be known as “muddy”. Is “barreto” a dialectical form of “barrento”?

(Sorry, my European friends. “Titfer” is cockney rhyming slang for “Hat”. Hat rhymes with “Tit for Tat” – meaning retribution or exchange. Tit for Tat abbreviates to Titfer. Claro?)

And now to the stats. I am always amazed by the fact that man landed on the moon using a guidance computer with only 64 kbs of memory power. Yet we wander around the Algarve with,I guess, far more cumulative computer power than that in our various gadgets and still can´t agree. And we haven´t even left the ground!

Paul´s distance: 9.10 kms. Paul´s total time:- 2 hrs 52 mins

Rod´s distance:- 8.51 kms Rod´s total time:-  2 hrs 46 mins.

Speed uphill greater than speed downhill and speed on the flat – congratulations.

My distance:- 8.22 kms  My total time:- 2 hrs 38 mins. and that´s official.

With such variations, it´s a minor miracle that we three ended up in the same bar the same day.

Let´s conclude with an extract from that poem which came to Paul´s mind as he tackled his bifanas.

“You are old,” said the youth, “and your jaws are too weak
For anything tougher than suet;
Yet you finished the goose, with the bones and the beak –
Pray, how did you manage to do it?”

“In my youth,” said his father, “I took to the law,
And argued each case with my wife;
And the muscular strength, which it gave to my jaw,
Has lasted the rest of my life.”

(From Father William.- Lewis Carroll)

For additional photos, my thanks to Yves, and also to someone going by the moniker of Severiano Heman ????– Who he, man? I wasn´t aware that we had an interloper on the walk.

WAGS 11.04.2018: Bravura - (Cropped version) by Rod

We were actually in the Algarve for this walk, but having arrived home at 0130am on the morning of the walk we decided to forego the delights of the Bravura after weeks of rain for the pleasures of the marital bed - for sleeping of course! We did however join the valiant walkers for a quick bifana at the end to catch up on scuttlebutt, and pre-empt having to lead a walk next Wednesday. The time honoured method of nominating a leader from those who weren't there was observed, and many thanks John for volunteering.
     Again, the walk was light on photographic majesty, despite Antje admitting she knew how to use the camera on her phone, so here are the ViewRanger stats and the Leader's brief summary to complete the record.  I am confident that with John leading next week and hopefully Myriam and myself participating, you can anticipate a photo-rich blog full of wit, observation and shrewd comment.

Weatherwise a threatening day....cold wind and the odd shower but a lot better than the day  before!

Nevertheless Ingrid, Janet, Peter, Terry & Jill, Chris & Antje, Yves and Rod turned up......Tony and Frank were going to but didn't.  The cafe at Bravura was, as to be expected,  closed ( well the door was open and 3 staff were there but disinclined to serve anything before 10.00). In the event dear Janet...ever thoughtful...turned up with a large flask of coffee and biscuits.

Thus fortified we set off along the waterside track round the lake. Well some of it was track and some was water...huge puddles and flowing rivulets. Somehow nobody fell in! Just as we had ascended to the plateau above we were struck by a short sharp shower....fortunately the only one during the walk. Although contemplating an extra loop the leader opted for a shorter version...perhaps in compensation for Terry's bumper edtion the previous week.....which barely reached WAGS guidelines.

We repaired to our usual Odeaxere  cafe where we were greeted by Paul and Myriam who obviously couldn't wait to show off their latest Salomon and Merrell footware..(bit on the bright side perhaps!)....or maybe couldn't wait to tuck into genuine tostas once again.

WAGS 04.04.2018: Monchique - stretching the parameters!

Fortunately for us, having heard some rumblings and then viewed the stats, we were still in Cornwall, pounding the streets round DIY and furniture shops. Terry had volunteered his services as leader, and was apparently still struggling with the concept of 3hrs and 10km of flat congenial walking and talking.
   He did use ViewRanger (recorded by Yves) for the route map and stats, and I append them with his customary short and to the point report. 
   Sadly again, the photographers failed to come good and the one photo Terry sent of an empty road and the end cafe was not up to the standard of this professional publication, but needs must and here it is with the route map, stats and report.

The end is nigh!!

Wags Wed Walk.  It was a bright but a bit chilly but no rain forecast for the eight wags Rod, Thyl, Frank, Yves, Ingrid Janette Jill Terry, and Java. It was nearly 10.30 before we got away Frank was having a senior moment trying to find the cafe (sorry no pic) so under way gently climbing up quiet road and tracks stopping to look at the view (sorry no pic) trees beginning to leaf must be getting warmer, pace was gentle, stopping a lot to regroup. Blue sky & sun now time to take the odd layer off we gained the VA  track below the summit of Foia and turned back to Monchique (sorry no pic) all arrived back some in better condition than others Yves with still a bad chest and Rod best described as walking wounded but still walking(sorry no pic) you may have noticed how much we miss you both for you camera skills. Yves was the only one with the stats but they are in feet not km but as you are in the UK be no problem,

WAGS 28.03.2018: Bensafrim, Bárbaro and bifanas.

Myriam and I were en route to UK by road, staying in Leon in fact, when this walk took place, and I thought I was going to have a break from creative blogging, but a day or two later the missive below arrived from Rod who was overcoming a nagging upper thigh pain to keep things going on the walks.
      I did get my break, as I had no useful computer to post this, but saved it until now, back in Lagos, where I have a full electronic facility.
      This is mainly for record purposes rather than literary and aesthetic merit, and photographic enhancement is notably absent.
The report, track and stats:-

Magnificent day when Ingrid, Janet, Frank, Peter, Tony, Terry & Jill and Rod,  plus assorted hounds, met up at the Bensafrim Market Square Cafe for an only slightly tardy 10.15 start. 

Sadly no one  was ready or willing to take pics so all will have to be left to imagination. In the event this was a great pity since rarely have we had so many foto opportunities...and only a few of these were of  artistic mode. 

That the riverbeds were full and flowing after recent rains soon became apparent as we found the mighty river flowing through Bensafrim threatened to dampen feet and ardour before we had hardly started!

As we approached the entrance to Jinny Harman's equine establishment out zoomed a white van bearing the effervescent Paulo the Brazilian blacksmith  who used to attend to the pedicure of Rod's horse. As a matter of but scant interest to most readers he also claims to be an accomplished bagpipe player...or perhaps rather a "gaitero"  as the instruments are a wee bit different!  This necessitated a prolonged pause while Rod  and Paulo  caught up on stable scandal. At this point three young belles on steeds emerging from the driveway so excited Peter that he tripped and fell flat on his face....it was his knee that suffered the damage but a hastily produced tourniquet and plaster rapidly stemmed the blood loss and we were on our way.

It was clear that there was too much water in the river to contemplate a crossing  so we were obliged to remain on the west bank. Well most of us did anyway until Shelley, Frank's hound, way out of his depth, became attached to a trailing bramble on the far bank and was obviously and noisily  fraught.  Frank started disrobing to go to the rescue but hardly had he removed a boot, when Tony, fully clothed and shod , plunged through the raging torrent to the other side and returned clutching the obviously grateful Shelley. We are not yet aware of what award Frank  bestowed on Tony but he should certainly be mentioned in Kennel Club dispatches.

The rest of the walk, of but modest length, was completed uneventfully. 

We repaired to the Barbero Cafe, still enthusiastically run by the same people who took it over shortly before  our previous visit. It was generally agreed that the standard of tostas, bifanas and service was right up amongst the top.