The Grand Old Duke of Salir certainly marched us up to the Top of the Hill, and we slid and slithered down again!
Terry on his Throne!
His Leader's report, which arrived by first E-post Thursday was a model of Accuracy, Brevity and Clarity, but rather too much Brevity, so I will have to present his take on the walk first and then recount the persiflage and badinage intermingled with pictorial panoply that is such a feature of our Wednesday Walks:
Terry's Report
Well what can I say? 18 walkers taking a chance with me in the hills and valleys around Salir which most managed to find eventually, but enough said on that subject, so we had a 10.30ish start. It was a wonderful morning for walking, clear sky with a cooling breeze, I had wanted to try the dried river bed for some time as its a lovely valley not walked at all as you do not get the opportunity once the rains come. Then the climb up to the ruined village for lunch stop followed by a gentle climb to the ridge with fine views all round, more up and downs till the last good climb to the trig at the top of Negros, well worth the effort for the views and of course the geocache, another one for the list, a blast down to the valley floor again and back into Salir for a well earned drink.
I thank you all for coming, I had a good day in the valleys and mountains and hope you all did too.
The Official Start Photo at 10 am (who is missing?!!)
Let's not be coy - the morning didn't start well! Despite Terry generously allowing an extra half hour to reach the venue, and the missing trio having at least 60 years combined residence in the Algarve, they apparently couldn't find Salir, and ended up researching Barranco de Velho. By the time they arrived at The Associação Equestre at 1025 am, the Senior Member loudly proclaimed "Why did you wait - I wouldn't have waited for me!" Well to look on the positive side, we all had a chance for another bracing coffee in the chill morning air. The bright sun was an illusion as you can see by the dress!
David brought Rosie along for her inaugural walk, but she was only allowed to stay for the first hour in view of her youth.
Leader: Terry A.
Present: Hilke, Ian S., Maria, Rod, Hazel, Dina, Vitor, David, Thyl, Paul, Myriam, Ian W., Antje, Chris, Yves, John.
Also Rans: Mike, Janet, Tina
Dogs: Maddy, Tiggy, Sambo, Rosie, Nandi
Stats: Total Distance: 16 km; Moving Time: 3 hrs 55 min; Total Time: 4 hrs 35 min; Moving Avg.: 4.1 km/hr; Overall Avg.: 3.4 km/hr; Total Ascent: 577 m.; Max Elevation: 481m
Track of the walk (expandable version here )
We were lulled in to a false sense of security by the first couple of hours which was not only fairly level, but for a long period where we followed the dry river bed of Ribeira do Rio Seco, slightly downhill!
This was a lovely old caminho
Mike wielded the Team Secateurs to good effect at one stage
All hands to the Tilley!
After the dried river bed. there was a slight climb past the Cruz Alta resort, which doesn't seem to have advanced much since our last visit, and which took us up to a useful lunch spot, with plenty of seating, and even a table for me!
This was about the 9 km point, and with only an estimated 7 km to go, we were all feeling good. However, Grand Duke Terry had some post prandial calorie burning in mind. The first hill was a warm up for the second, which was 'quite enough thankyou', but when Terry pointed out our intended trig point for the day, Cerro dos Negros there were some murmurs of disbelief!
Hazel cracks the second hill!
And when they were halfway up!
Although the GPS only counted it as 150 vertical metres, it was unanimously agreed that it was at least three times that in real terms! It was some measure of the improved fitness of the AWW that there were no complaints to be heard as we ascended the challenging slope. Or perhaps it was because no-one had the breath to speak!!
I was spurred on by the discovery from my GPS that there was a Geocache near the top which was on my 'To do' list, and as Mike expounded, it was really cost-effective to do it during a Wednesday Walk. He had done it himself in September, and had managed to find an even steeper way to reach the top, but luckily the coordinates were accurate and I didn't need any assistance to locate it.
Geocachers with the find!
Half of Team Divi arrived at the summit, so she also claimed the find!
Funnily enough on the web page relating to this cache, the owner discusses why the hill is called 'Cerro dos Negros'. Among the options were:- The top is often in cloud and presents a dark picture; The rich owner used to use black slaves to gather firewood near the summit; and (my favourite): you have to work like a black to get to the top!! (from the old non-PC aphorism!)
Thyl made his usual offer to take T.O.T.P.P, but a predatory paparazzi, took a candid shot of his preparation, and captured a rare photo of the legendary adventurer!
The official photo was duly taken, but Myriam has opined that Thyl's parallax, composition and organisational skills need some development before he can be relied on as the sole photographer at these historic moments.
From then on it was mostly downhill, and as it was quite steep and the surface was broken, the group strung out considerably.
At the junction with the 124 on the way back into Salir, our leader dutifully waited for the rearguard, and since those at the front had the scent of a beer they made their way back by various routes up the road into the town. I must admit I was one of those, and the last part of the route on the track picture is of course the way I went and not Terry's official route which stayed off the tarmac longer. Despite his pronouncements on his walk on the 15th vis à vis "Stay behind the leader at all times", Rod, too, left the leader in his wake and almost beat Ian S. to the bar!
Unfortunately, when we returned to the bar, Myriam was totally engrossed with distributing T-shirts, and collecting breakfast money for the RTC, and neglected to take her usual aprés-walk pix. I thought she was taking them so I concentrated on the beer and the vigorous discussion on the arrangements for the Christmas lunch. None of the other photographers saw anything worth recording, so the occasion will pass into history unrecorded!
In the absence of these, for your edification a picture extracted, regardless of copyright, from a local paper, of our Senior Member actively reducing his carbon footprint, and minimising his cost-per-cache figures by enormous amounts.
The logicians among you might ask "Why doesn't he cycle to Meia Praia or Mexhiloeira Grande and get the train from there?" but why get in the way of a good story!
Getting older is like riding a bicycle, if you don't keep pedaling, you'll fall. Pepper, Claude D.
Upscale people are fixated with food simply because they are now able to eat so much of it without getting fat, and the reason they don't get fat is that they maintain a profligate level of calorie expenditure. The very same people whose evenings begin with melted goats cheese... get up at dawn to run, break for a mid-morning aerobics class, and watch the evening news while racing on a stationary bicycle. Ehrenreich, Barbara
Plus your Cultural Post-Script
First, a visit to the opera.
Last week it was a scene from Lucia Di Lammermoor. This week, one from Cavalleria Rusticana
and then, a trip to the movies, a double bill with
"Tina and the Swamp Thing !!!"
And "Two Little Lambs Gone Astray"
2 comments:
I was a bit disappointed not to find my name on the list of participants. I admit I haven't been walking too often lately because of Uli's health, but this time I was there as you can see from one of the photos at the trig point. I am sitting next to Ian.
I was not quite sure if Myriam meant it seriously when she said that some people were angry about publishing their photo on the blog. I think it is great fun to see us all in various precarious or exhausted conditions even if we don't look our best. So carry on the way you have done so far. I always enjoy the blog immensely. thank you.
Apologies and the record has been amended to show Hilke's attendance!!
She actually appeared in less photos than Thyl this week, and I couldn't spot her in the start photo, which was what threw me!
You've got to be in it to win it!!
Post a Comment