WAGS 30.11.2016: No charge for the loo madam!

Billed as  'A gentle reintroduction (for us) after our indolent month in UK,' apparently it wasn't gentle enough for Chris and Antje who had only just returned from near starvation but healthy treatments in India, and had been advised to take it easy.

   Originally we had 10 brave souls, considering the weather forecast, but at the last minute all Hopes were dashed as it required all of them to deal with matters arising from a no fault traffic incident the previous day, and Tony Webster had aggravated an old war wound by trying to kick start his Skoda.

 And so we were a very select 6, - Myriam, Ingrid, Hilke, Rod , Hedley and myself and of course Misty for security.   And as we all knew each other we didn't need a starter photo as we ambled out of Casa de Pasto Rodrigues at about 1030 with very grey skies to the west and frequent rumblings, which could not be ascribed to poor digestion.

View of the track

   Tracks were good, weather got a bit worse and then a bit better after we had donned our rain gear - or some of us had donned our raingear! I extracted my raingear sack from my bag to find that Myriam had replaced my perfectly good poncho with an old yellow anorak of hers which was neither waterproof nor commodious enough even for my svelte frame.

    The best part was that the whole walk was downhill apart from one short sharp climb up from Praia de Barranco, which Old RTC Hands will know well. It was almost like an MC Escher painting.

      Along the way out to the coast there were a lot of camper vans, mainly manned by Euro surfer dudes, and when we hit the coast we saw that the modified carpark was full of these vans and their occupants.

  We took a wrong turn into the bush and witnessed their personal hygiene arrangements.  Not a great by-product of the next free veggy generation, but since one of our topics for the walk was space diapers there was some discussion how this could be applied to free shitters in vans.

    There was some instruction on how to use the outdoor loos!

Brightening up (Thanks to photo editing)

Seascape: Praia de Barranco

On the way back we took in this enormous and rather exciting to some, Menhir.

There was even some floral grandeur on the way!

   Rare and exotic Algarve shrubbery

Before the heavens opened again we reached the sanctity of Casa de Pasto Rodrigues and struck lucky as the lunch of the day was roast pork, and having ordered out staple bifanas, we found great hunks of pulled pork inside rather than the usual thin and chewy slices.

Stats were as shown on the GPS, fairly respectable for a comeback walk.

       No appropriate quote this time, but an idea for a T shirt

Answers for what should be on the other side in comments please!!

WAGS 2016 11 23: Poetic Licence and Then Some

A walk from Bensafrim.

Rod advertised this as a joint AWW/WAGS walk, having a 9.30 am start, with a +/- 15 km distance, and the option of a less-than-10 km route for the WAGs. His publicity certainly worked because by 9.15 am there were more walkers assembling in Bensafrim´s market square than there were local inhabitants. There were two or three market stalls offering winter clothing but they were devoid of customers.

Hedley made his first appearance of the season, setting the bar for sartorial strolling splendour at a very high level. One doubts that Paul´s new season´s gear can possibly be up to the challenge. 

Decathalon´s Finest

Despite the numbers, the group were remarkably well-disciplined as they assembled for the starter picture, listening intently to the Leader´s “Don´t Straggle” Lecture as they did so.

I have little idea of all their names, but of the waggish persuasion, there were:- Rod, Hazel, Rose, Hedley, Peter, JohnH, as well as Ingrid who sounded distinctly dubious about the suden influx of new blood to the AWWs.

This is the Leader´s report:-

23/11 AWW  (and some WAGS!)​ Walk​

Quite the most striking aspect of this week's walk was the astounding number of people that turned up...27 assorted folk!   So many indeed that having lost my written aide memoire ( I have a new one of those every day now) I can't possibly remember who was there....well I didn't  even know half of them. Anyway John H and Gill 's pics seem to have taken in the group one way or another so I am sure you will be able to identify them for yourselves.
If this is typical of today's AWW numbers we will be competing with Julie Statham before long!
Whilst far too many for my liking ( not that that has any particular bearing on the matter any longer) I have to say it was a quite remarkably orderly and disciplined group. ...straggling, to some extent inevitable, was minimal, nobody (as far as I was aware ) got lost,  and moans and groans  (at least audible to me ) were indeed rare.
We set off, almost on time indeed, on a crisp but mostly sunny morning, from Bensafrim ' s market square heading in a westerly direction. The pre-​walk description having been deliberately rather vague left plenty of discretion as to  the  precise  route but in any event we covered  a range of hills, valleys and ridges of the lower Serra de Espinha  do C​ã​o with its  wild unbroken countryside and great views and vistas. ​   ​

Memorable events there were really almost none. ..nobody fell in, out  or down and nobody got stung  (although we had to retrace our steps at one point to avoid some active beehives ).The final distance of some 18k ( somewhat less for a couple of WAGS ...Peter and Hedley. .who peeled of early ) was slightly (sic) in excess of that advertised but did take in the obligatory trig point and a slightly (sic) elongated tailend.
Bensafrim ' s cafés are not really equipped to handle such an invasion but the Café Nacional did pretty well and found a back room which they opened up to get us out of their way...although  a few WAGS​, in the know,​ disappeared off to seek the charms of Gloria in her nearby hideaway. 
Until the next time.

 

Gill Lamont agreed to be guinea pig for the traditional trig shot and, for good measure, she photographed the groundlings.

 

At about 14 km, when we were within a comfortable distance of home, all downhill as the saying goes, and when we were just beginning to smell the beer, Rod had a sudden rush of blood to the head, influenced no doubt by all these new fit young recruits to the AWW, turned sharply to the right and threw in an unexpected diversion, with hills to boot, which must have added an extra 2 km to the tally.

Statistics

Distance:18 Kms

Time: 4 hrs 58 minutes

Ascent: 535 metres  

15 kms plus or minus – fair enough  - but to stretch that to 18 kms is poetic licence indeed! 

The Cafetaria do Mercado, with typical apathy as far as potential sales and profits are concerned, had of course already closed by the time we got back, so we had to repair down the long high street (adding another km there and back) to the Café Nacional which for some reason was exceptionally busy and crowded and which became even more jam-packed as the AWWs piled in. Not wanting to wait too long for a drink, Rod and JohnH nipped round the corner to the much quieter Gloria´s Bar where they were later joined at what became a rather exclusive WAGs-only table by Ingrid and Hazel. It was heartening to see that most of the regular AWW lot did look in at Gloria´s afterwards to pay their respectful thanks for the walk to the Leader as he sat ensconced at the top table.

WAGS 2016 11 16: Let Down by the Leader: Life Belts and Life Jackets Lacking

 

A walk from Retiro dos Pescadores in Pedreiras.

JohnH, Hazel, Maria, Rod, Tony and Peter, fresh from his spell in bed with new Monia

A sparkling morning, great for a stroll. We started along the canal near the Retiro dos Pescadores. The water looked very inviting.

Too inviting, because very soon Mistie had dived in, only to find she couildn´t scramble out again – the concrete bank to the canal being too steep. Rod had to sprawl down to grab her collar to heave her out, very nearly going in head first himself. Whereupon Tony´s two dogs took it in turn to dive in as well, with the same result and near disaster. How the Leader had had the thoughtlessness to lead the group along this perilous track without warning the dog owners in advance of the risks and without providing proper safety equipment, we will leave to him to sort out with his conscience. And he also screwed up in his role as paparazzo, failing to get any pictures of Rod and Tony teetering on the brink of the canal.

After the canal episode, there was no more excitement, at least not until we had settled down for refreshments back at the Retiro when Hazel and Maria found to their delight that there was wild boar stew with beans on the menu.

Total distance: 8.04 km. Total Time: 2 hrs 30 mins.

Moving time: 1 hr 59 mins. Average Moving Speed: 4.1 kph.

Total Ascents: 316 metres.

 

Just what the doctor ordered, and, once more, Myriam commented from afar:-

Boa Tarde from a rainy Padstow in Cornwall.

Sorry for myself not being there to witness the excitement! Life jackets should be added to the list of essential items for walking/hiking!!

No photos of the dog owners sprawled on the ground?

Myriam xx

 

Which gives us a chance to show a picture of the famous Padstow lifeboat:-

WAGS 2016 11 09: Monchique, But It Didn´t Rain Much

 

Not only yet another minimalist blog, but a miniscule turn-out too. The Leader, Ingrid, embraced this minimalist concept with such enthusiasm that she submitted a NIL report.

A discussion about chestnuts, I believe.

Monchique from the Convento

I thought that this shop sign was advertising cheap beans, but a far more experienced estrangeiro ( or should that be estrangeira )  told me that the establishment is called “Ugly Cockroach”. One way to attract custom, I suppose.

Stats:-

Distance: 9.63 kms

Total Time: 3 hrs 52 min

Total Ascent: 453 metres

WAGS 2016 11 02: Barragem do Arade and Remexido

 

Another minimalist blog, mainly pictorial, for the record.

A leisurely start, of course

We met, and ended up,  at João de Deus Bar in Messines, then took a scenic drive to the Barragem do Arade bridge where we started the walk.

Not a long one but varied and with a few sharp hills including one, needless to say, with a trig point. The pics tell the story well enough. 

For the interest of those on the walk, and anyone else interested in local Algarve history and fables, this link throws some different light on the somewhat curious sign which was the subject of much discussion and that appears in one of the fotos below. Perhaps Remexido, a chap with strong local connections clearly, in fact took refuge in that little stone structure appearing in another pic.!​ 

http://www.algarveprimeiro.com/d/remexido/200-33

Cheers, Rod

Casa Remexido ????

Two traditional trig shots.

Distance: 7.25 km

Total time: 2 hrs 51 m

Moving time: 2 hrs 06 m

Average moving: 3.4 kph

Ascent: 288 metres

And Myriam commented from afar:-

Sorry for myself to have missed this walk!

Yes, Remexido was a pioneer of guerrilla warfare. Perhaps Chairman Mao had learned from him!!

It's raining and cold in Cornwall today.
We had been lucky with the weather in Cornwall for the past week, no rain and quite mild.  But it's raining today!! And the forecast is for more rain!!

Best to you all
Myriam xx

WAGS Cultural Tour - Lagos 19.10.2016 ( Then there were three )

Those observant WAGS with an eye for language and syntax will have noticed that in the sub-title for this blog I only used 6 different letters out of 18 used, which is exactly twice the number of participants in this educational yet energetic walk.
      I don't know if it was my casual use of the word 'cultural' in the email or WhatsApp call circular, or whether 'semi-rural' was the obstacle, but in the end the excuses came flooding in from recent hospitalisations, family visiting, having to report back to the AWW about our activities, returning to UK, or not wanting to walk without dogs.  The result was that only3 of us showed at Cafe Bairro for a caffeine sharpener at the crack of 10 am on the given date.

Thus the starter photo was unusual with only 2 of the 3 in the photo (absence of Gorilla Pod) and they studiously ignoring each other!

However we set off briskly just before 1030, and soon one of the major street art pieces hove into view.

Skeleton with a camera, and the WAGS Art Appreciation Society

I won't bore you in this blog with details of the discussions of meaning, criticism of brush or spray can technique and other fine details covered. I will just show the views seen on the way round, the names by which I know the paintings, and a summary of our efforts.

 A quick stop to discuss the history of the Ermida e Tanques de S. Joao Batista, which has now been restored by the local Romanians and is used as a focal point for their sunday religious meetings.

The next piece was by Woodman, who depicts what can only be a WAG taking a break after a hard Wednesday WAGging.

And then we came to the rural part of the walk.  What looks like water in the centre of the picture is banks of solar voltaic panels set up in the hopes of some investment income by a private individual.

  And now the Adventure part of the walk - a tunnel. Myriam went first in case of peril to the two larger framed members of the tour.

  

   There was light at the end of the tunnel as Rod emerges into the sun.

 Soon we came across the allegorical 'Vertical Bus' which symbolism caused many theories to be advanced.

Over halfway now and the other two WAGS were so engrossed in their phones that they failed to notice the satirical wall painting beneath the flyover. 

Further on, a commissioned wall painting of Lord Baden Powell on the end of the Scout House of the 173rd Lagos Troop.   A short discussion was stimulated about the difference in media and compensation culture since those innocent days, which quickly spread to Jimmy Saville and Sir Cliff!

A piece new for this year by a Dutch Artist  Daan Bottlek, who gives a unique interpretation of Newton's Cradle, or is it a Scottish pub queue?

    On to Rua Lancarote de Freitas near the Cultural Centre where there is the greatest concentrations of street art. This one of Snails is by Roa a very famous street artist. 

 A type of Gordian Knot and some tiles incorporating Picasso's likeness.
       

The Crouching Woman. If only the building had been higher she could have been more comfortable.

The Fish is apparently a significant detail from the above Crouching Woman.

Lady with a tear in her eye.

Mr Frog on the wall of the public allotments.

A rather gorgeous warrior queen on the wall of a Strip Club.

A rather damaged and faded but once spectacular allegory of peasants going to war and fading away.

A quality painting of a Smoker. Maybe the Artist as an Old Man.

Finally to the LAC HQ, the Old Gaol, where the artists were all given spaces this year. Two works by different Artists done recently. The falling man was done by 7 overlapping stencils, and the fierce dog by even more smaller stencils.

Inside the toilet facing the commode. Use your imagination for the translation.

 In the main room of the Gaol, a picture by Portuguese Artist Third above.

This painting by another Porto artist, Mots (real name Diogo Ruas) painted all 4 walls and the ceiling of one of the rooms at the jail – here is a detail from his painting which is perhaps redolent of M C Escher. 

Next, here is a creation on 3 walls of the old jail’s exercise yard. It is by M-City (Mariusz Waras from Poland) . It depicts workers fleeing from burning offshore oilrigs, with a reference to local virgin olive oil – highly topical in the light of crazy plans to drill for oil off the Algarve.

 And a piece of photographic art by me of a Fig Thief inside the courtyard, no doubt due to get sentenced.

 And last of all, a tongue in cheek piece by Dann Bottlek, the Dutch Artist, titled by him and inside a stairwell in the Gaol.

From here it was a short walk down the hill to Cafe Bairro and the long anticipated lunch. Myriam and I had Ensopada de Lulas for €4,00 and Rod had an enormous tosta mista for less.

The tale of my Garmin  GPS read:-  

  ......  making it look very respectable, but Komoot and Rod's cutprice Samsung made it only 9.3 km.  Go with the Garmin!!

   We all love walking in the country, surrounded by venomous snakes, vicious aggressive bees and all manner of strange odours not to mention impassable streams, mud and an unsympathetic sun, but urban walks should not be overlooked. There is usually something of interest to observe even though there may not be a theme, the underfoot is level,  shade and coffee bars abound and there are plenty of dropout options.  Think of your area. There must be a 10km walk where you can introduce other WAGS to curiosities. Think about it!

The history of modern art is also the history of the progressive loss of art's audience. Art has increasingly become the concern of the artist and the bafflement of the public.

• Henry Geldzahler
• on
• art