WAGS 30.10.2019: For the record Rod´s Messines

One girl on one knee scarcely meets the Patella criteria

Wed Walk 30 Oct. The foto says it all!! In spite of, or perhaps better,  because of that we had a pleasant and gentle walk near the top end of B de Funcho. No events this week to disturb the peace and tranquility of a  relaxed 7 km stroll. 

It was encouraging to see and have a chat with a Proteccao Civil gang who were doing sterling fire protection work along the roadside. But as they said they can only do a 5m strip along the road and too many landowners were still doing nothing.

No map from me as the good waiter who took the group foto left my phone in video mode  and in my excitement I never checked...soon out of battery!  Hazel sent some pics which I will forward in Email mode. The Joao de Deus tostas were quite adequate but on not top spot.       Jim B has offered a walk in the Estombar area....details to follow.

WAGS 23.10.2019: For the record- Benasafrim

Herewith a few emails with details of last weeks walk. If the professionals want to turn this into a blog feel free of course. I suppose I should educate myself into doing it myself but.......!

Ingrid warmed herself and everybody else by performing the hula-hula

Present: Tony W (plus dogs), Jim B, John & Hazel, Maria, Ingrid, Janet, Rod, Frank.

The walk was proposed subject to a quorum being present. Since it happened we must have had a quorum although  no definition of that was agreed.
We lamented the absence of Paul and Myriam, travelling yet again, as were  Terry and Jill. We sympathised with Yves, who has uncomfortably found out that those who live in glass houses shouldn´t pass stones,  and with Antje who now knows, if she didn´t before, what a pain in the neck is......speedy recovery to both and hope you join us again soon.
The day dawned somewhat gloomily but  things brightened up as the walk progressed....well the weather did if not everything else.
We set off from the Bensafrim Market Square café well within 30 minutes after the appointed hour, on a not particularly original (well some of it had to be of course!) circular route to the west and north of the village.

Everything started off uneventfully enough but perhaps that lulled us into inattentiveness. The demise of a chicken at the hands, well the jaws rather,  of one of the dogs was the first  misfortune.

After about 5k Hazel, still suffering from some podiatry  requiring asiatic affliction of her foot, opted for an early return to base and Janet decided to keep her company. So then we were seven.  Then, following a not particularly well chosen traverse of a hillside along a path no longer there, Jim came a bit of a cropper. Blood loss was contained and all limbs diagnosed whole so he manfully, of course, marched on.  Hardly was he back to normal when Tony developed some back related leg problems.  He accepted Maria´s offer of assistance with such alacrity that for a moment we suspected this was an ulterior motivated problem....how disrespectful have the WAGS become with each other these days!
(hope no lasting effects, Tony!)

Damsel in distress ?

Eventually we all managed to get back to Bárbero´s ….still in business... where tostas and liquids set us back rather less than half the amount we were ripped of at Galé last week.

The Track

WAGS 16.10.2019 - Salgados and Sand

John clearly preferred doing a demanding AWW 20 km walk than an easy stroll, a (potentially) good lunch and WRITING A BLOG for the WAGS and so he sent his semi ambulatory envoy Hazel to break the news to me.
   That is why I am here late Friday afternoon, with no aide-memoire from the Leader, trying to marshal my thoughts and a large selection of pix from Yves, Hazel, myself and Myriam, while being remorselessly barracked about my packing duties for our flight to UK tomorrow.
    I will not have a PC to do this blog justice while I am in UK for about 20 days, so all I can manage is this excuse and a set of pictures which are worth, at the very least, a thousand words per, including some faces which would sink a thousand ships.
   Hopefully through the miracle of the post blog edits, (and a note from the Leader) I will be able to amend and recount the tale of how a group of seasoned Expatriate Algarvians were ripped off by the The Galeao Beach Restaurant (there I've named and shamed them), and how we will never darken their door again. Here are the pix - provide your own colour commentary for the time being!

The Pix>

Rod (Leader), Hilke, Jim, Myriam, Terry, Dina, Jill, Ingrid, Hazel and Yves.

Photographer sans remote, Paul (not pictured)

No Starter photo but a halfway along the route photo 

The track - almost 10 km!

One version of the stats - makes it look quite hilly!!

The Official Garmin version, which had us climbing ( and descending )47 m.!

The Blogger/Photgrapher was left at the beginning and not given time to fire up his gadgets!

At the lagoon at the Armacao de Pera end. Hazel was flying one wing low at the point she took this!

The Loneliness of the Short Distance blogger........

.......not his best side!

David Attenborough - eat your heart out - The Birds of Salgados

Discretion is essential for bird watching!

Stock photo

A One-legged man hops along the Boardwalk.....

......followed by a couple of rare birds!

Another virtual starter photo 3/4 of the way round!

Rogue Trader in the background - Remember that face!

Hazel's version of the Royal Wave

Terry Jill and Becky were banished outside but got the best view!!

The Face that Ate a Thousand Chips!

And finally, a bit of artistic licence from Yves. We didn't see any of these, but he assured me they were there sometimes.

Looks like a Moorhen to me!

Finally finally, before I burst in to print on the alleged overcharging by Galeao, can you all swear on whatever you prefer for that purpose, that you all paid for what you consumed, and that the additional bill which Rod and I shared was a figment of the Galeao's head waiter's fancy.

WAGS 09.10.2019: New Season; Keeping It Going

Just in case you were worried that there might be no WAGS walk in the absence of Paul and, worse still, no blog in the absence of Paul, Yves and JohnH, lo and behold, Ingrid springs to the rescue with a succinct report and photos to prove it

Hi All,
Here some pictures of our walk, Rod, Jim, Peter, Janet, Dina, and me.

We waited for Frank till 10,20 am. but no show hope all is well. Had apologies from Terry & Jill who had urgent errands to take care of, John Hope assisting a friend in need, Hazel had a painful heel and went to see the doctor, Hilke had a bad cold and did not want to spread the germs, and last but not least Yves was waiting for a delivery of a new washing machine…

So off we took 20 minutes late, beautiful weather and I may say we all enjoyed a good walk at a comfortable pace. We did 10km.
Back at Cafe Chapim we enjoyed a very tasty tosta mixta and a cool drink.

Thanks to all who came.
Ingrid

New car, new computer, new washing machine….what ever next?

WAGS 2018 - 2019 Stats and State of the Season Notes

The WAGS season 2018-2019 started on 26.09 2018 and finished on 26.06.2019, a pleasing symmetry of exactly 9 months.

Total number of walking Wednesdays was 39, and we had an official Boxing Day Wednesday off, but we made up for it by doing an extra walk on 22nd January (Tuesday) which was part of a 2 day event marking our Patron Saint, Sao Vicente's day.

   In sum four or more WAGS participated in 36 walks during the season. Of those that can be considered to be proper WAGS there were  24.  On 4 days there were no walks but but on 3 of those days there were blogs

   WAGS walked a total distance of 365.91 km during the season, and accomplished this in 97 hrs and 24 minutes. However there were extra kms and extra hours walked as the Blogger on the two St Vincent's day walks was new to the job and omitted the stats.

  Sadly there is no record of the number of pre-walk coffees drunk, nor post walk prato do dia, bifanas, tostas mista nor other consumables, but let us say it was just enough.


Here is a brief summary of participation by WAGS and a couple of guests though not all made the list due to space constraints. Emma and Garry, my Geocaching friends from Stratford upon Avon, who joined the second last walk of the season, fall into this category

Now for those that revel in stats, here is the Alibi sheet. You can check your participation on any given day, and it will stand up in Court as an alibi during the hours of the pre-walk, the walk and the post walk indulgence.

KEY: 'x' means walked all or part of a walk
          'XL' means led the walk
          The remainder is fairly self explanatory.
          If you have time on your hands you may approximate how many km you personally walked and how long it took you by extracting your personal stats from the Alibi sheets.

To ascertain where the walk was on those dates you will have to refer to the blog index, which is at  

https://w-a-g-s.blogspot.com/   at the RHS at the top of the first page.




And there goes the season.

DISCLAIMER: The Chief Blogger's calculations and pronouncements above are final as he has spent far longer doing it than intended, and required help with technical difficulties from a friend David Foot, a spreadsheet Wizard.
    Anyone who feels aggrieved by the facts represented above can................!!!