Algarve Way 2009: Day 2 - 18.03.2009

“It’s a bit longer than yesterday……..” David L.

We dispensed with the start photograph, as we had taken an end photograph after Day 1 at Soudes, and incredibly no-one had dropped out, following benedictions from St. Patrick.

There we all were back at the windmill with the ‘rustique’ sculptures randomly strewn around. This is a photo of David briefing the group, stressing the requirement not to embarrass him again by going off-piste and losing the pack……….

…… although it looks like Hilke has taken charge, enlarging on her success as a co-leader with Hedley last week!

Day 2 Track (click to enlarge)

Leader: David

Cistus Fodder: Mike, Paul , Myriam , Ian S., Tina , Chris , Antje, Andrew,  Lindsey , Ingrid , Alex , Hilke , Ian W.  John O’, Terry M.

Scout. Maddy

Stats: Total distance: 29.8; Moving Time 6 hr 14 min.; Total Time: 7 hrs 22 min.; Moving Average: 4.8 km/hr; Overall Avg. 4.0 km/hr; Total Ascent 876 m. Max Elevation: 350 m.

A new development in this walk was that the Leader (traditionally the Blog reporter) being also the Assistant Chief Blogger, realising that he might have an awful lot of writing to do over the next 5 weeks, especially as the CB is fleeing to UK after week 3, posited to the assembled multitude that it would be ‘nice’ to have a different perspective on each of the walks, and to that end would someone volunteer to write the Day 2 Blog. I have to concede that there was not a flurry of upraised hands, but after an embarrassed silence, Ian W. bravely volunteered for the task, and it is his text that appears below.  I really hope that for the forthcoming Algarve Way walks we can have some willing would-be bloggers write up the day’s events. It can’t be that difficult otherwise the current incumbents would not be able to do it! The difficulty is in posting it after it has been written!

On the Road again…

Here is Ian W.’s report:-

Before we left Soudes we made sure that John O' and Terry were in the middle of the pack. Losing one walker may be viewed as a misfortune, losing two looks like carelessness. (Oscar Wilde, nearly) The wind from yesterday had died down a bit and the sky was Algarve blue. As we approached Casa Nova we laboured through a ploughed field with grass high enough to hide the ground.

But there were no twisted ankles and we moved easily along the road to Zambujal.

A fat black pig with lots of offspring, some of which were not black ( would dad mind?) presented a photo opportunity before we stopped at Fonte Zambujal just before entering the village of Zambujal.

Here, the well was tested in front of the camera and the water found to be as fresh as ever. We continued to the deserted (nearly?) village of Mesquita, with its fully functional bread oven and well.

Alex at the wheel!

Everybody agreed that it was a des vill, which had lots of possibilities, including a very fine weathercock sitting proudly overlooking the village. A group photo was taken using Paul's gorilla pod.

All 16 in the pic.

We sped along now, all the aches and pains from the first day banished, but John O' was beginning to imitate a lobster.

Applying the Thermidor sauce

Many of the fair sex were becoming worried and there were lots of comments about sun tan lotion. Arriving at Vaqueiros we stopped at the Casa de Pasta Teixeira for lunch, the fine cafe which the Irish group lunched at last year no longer being open.

Unfortunately it seemed that in Vaqueiros, lunchtime is the best time to have a bonfire, and not just Paul and Myriam had smoked sandwiches. Talking about sandwiches, those of us who bought the Estalagem packed lunch, certainly had lots of bread to eat. 4 sandwiches made from bread slices the size of doorsteps with a piece of ham like meat or cheese inside so thin it was nearly transparent. Before leaving most of us tried the very clean loo, which was an eastern or Asian toilet in the case of the Gents. John O' was heard to say that nearly every female member of the walking group had been rubbing their hands all over his body, while we were stopped for lunch. Perhaps it had something to to with sun tan oil, who knows.

The ladies discuss whether to go to confession!

We walked on down a river valley with a pine plantation, but no blue car, which had disappeared, to reach the wide expanse of the Odeleite river.

A short rest in the shade

At this point we started the long pull up to the summit above the river. The views were truly spectacular as we climbed, with the river visible on both sides of the hill at the shoulder and the river snaking around the mountain.

Over the top and down to the village of Azinhosa, near which Chris spotted a mongoose and Mike disturbed a small snake as we crossed a stream. Through the village of Azinhosa we climbed a small hill, hoping it was the last, but were disappointed in that respect. Finally we ascended the last hill and as the village of Monte de Ribeira appeared we made our way down, straggling along behind Ian S, to the cafe Paraiso de Serra and a cool drink. We were not put off by the gaggle of Dutch campervanners who had taken all the available chairs.

Tina and Alex were happy to sit in the shade on the concrete patio, while all the early arriving men hogged the available seats. Marguerite, meanwhile, had made a shopping excursion to Spain and brought back some enormous strawberries, which disappeared quickly, washed down by beer and other drinks.

It turned out that we walked 29.8km and not the 27km we thought we were doing, ( David claimed it was the first time the walk was GPS'd ) but it was all worth it, and we basked in the satisfaction of having successfully completed our first week.

CB’s Comment:

Thanks Ian, a good report about a relatively incident-free second day.

I think we should make mention of the waymarking efforts that David and Terry A. have done for this whole route. While setting it up, and even on a few Wednesday Walks, David was often seen carrying his Waymarking Kit, which was a Tupperware box containing brushes, stencils and at least two colours of paint. With this, and according to a pre-determined yet seemingly random schedule, he anointed various rocks, trees and other mostly inanimate objects along the route of the Algarve way with our Group emblem, the Cistus flower. The result was much more discreet and eco-friendly than the official V.A. markers, and this can be demonstrated when he finally ran out of alternate objects to mark and used one of theirs.

The most common option was on the near vertical face of a rock, but these often found themselves concealed by nature………

…..as on this occasion when Mike’s Team Secateurs were wielded to useful effect.

On this day we also came across a rare attempt at forgery!

The real one was on one of the stones laying face down, but pointed in the opposite direction!! The mystery was compounded when David denied having done the one shown, saying that if he had done it, his artistic integrity would have made him insert the yellow centre!

The photo competition is from a shot at the end of the day when we returned to Soudes to pick up the cars.

The question is not ‘Why has Tina got her dancing shoes on?’ but ‘Who is the mystery walker with the non-standard headgear?

A couple of the odd sculptures can be seen in the background by the windmill. Was she the artist?

Finally to explain David’s estimate of ‘about 27 km’ against the unassailable GPS reading of 29.8 km….

“In complex situations, we may rely too heavily on planning and forecasting and underestimate the importance of random factors in the environment. That reliance can also lead to delusions of control.”   Einhorn, Hillel J.