WW meet Almargem extra Pic after objection sustained!

I received the following comment from 'Disgusted of Odiaxere', and to demonstrate editorial impartiality and fairness above and beyond etc. I publish it below and in full!.

Sir,

I refer to AWW Blogspot of 31/10/06 and am writing to note that editorial standards appear to be slipping.

On this occasion the Blogspot does not record who was present, though there is pictorial record of some who did so. Neither Andrew nor Mike receive a mention in despatches. On this occasion AWW representation is of some significance because it reflects AWW support for the activities of Almargem in formally establishing the Via Algarviana.

In fact AWW was represented by 7 walkers; and this could have been 8 had one member not been distracted by the fleshpots of Salir. This represents nearly 15% of those attending the occasion.

May I suggest that the Assistant Editor should, in future, maintain a firm grip on the cellar key until she has vetted that blog editorial standards are maintained at the level to which we have become accustomed.

Disgusted, Odiáxere


Far be it from me to suggest that there is an element of envy in the fact that Ian S. got more column inches for failing to attend! To rectify matters, I have posted a photo of the two neglected WW's at lunch - Andrew contemplating the profundity of the Universe and wondering if he has the strength to stand up with only a bottle of water to provide essential vitamins; - and Mike 'in flagrante delicto' soliciting the telephone number of a young attractive German Lady walker, with motives at which we can only shudder! No doubt the defence will be that he was attempting to recruit more WW's, but as you can see there are witnesses on both sides of him, whom I am sure are prepared to back me up!

For the record, the WW's present on this walk were: Paul; Myriam; Mike; David; Terry; Andrew; Lindsey (and almost - Ian S.)

WW meet Almargem 29.10.2006

Salir Huntin' and Fishin' Club - journey's end!

After we had been walking for about an hour, I received a phone call from Ian S. claiming that he had spent hours waiting at this Café for us to meet him, while everyone else was waiting for him at the agreed place (7 to 1). We had of course to check the veracity of this appalling excuse, so after the walk we visited. The landlady did indeed confirm that a 'stout' estrangeiro, had in fact been there earlier, and had preferred to sit tight nursing several 'canecas' and ignore her advice that we were probably waiting at the cafe in the next street!! Marguerite has expressed the intention to equip him with a mobile phone in the future! 

WW meet Almargem 29.10.2006

Myriam looks happy to be relieved of her photographic duties during yet another impromptu refreshment break, while David and Terry seem impatient to move on!! 

WW meet Almargem 29.10.2006

Lindsey skips lightly across the raging torrent using the 'two-stick Alpine technique' while David (no sticks) looks on in admiration and trepidation!!  

WW meet Almargem - 29.10.2006

The local hunters stray unusually far from their transport while the 'Cistus' Waymark goes unappreciated 

WW meet Almargem 29.10.2006

The group reach the windmill a short distance NW of Barranco do Velha before the long descent begins 

WW meet Almargem - VIa Algarviana promo. Barranco do Velho - Salir. 29102006

The Men behind the 'Official' Via Algarviana', João Ministro (R) and Joaquim Mealha Costa (L) address the troops before the walk from Barranco do Velha to Salir.

The Bamboo Diagram for this stage of the Algarve Way can be found here.

As the first, under Maurice's leadership, to set out to define a walking route across the Algarve, the Algarve Wednesday Walkers, have an enormous interest in following the progress of the local Outdoor groups, Almargem and InLoco to formalise the (now) well-funded Via Algarviana. There was a reasonable turnout of WW's, with one of the originals, Myriam, who has completed the walk in both directions in 1998 and 1999, well to the fore.
Another first was that the WW's who met at Salir to arrange transport were LATE to the meeting, the majority of the Almargem Walkers being ready for the official departure as we arrived. A full enquiry has been held, and the total blame for this has been laid at the door of one Ian S., who spurned a lift from the well-informed Chief Blogger to make his own way to Salir, and did not appear at the selected RV (the cafe by the Supermarket) to proceed with the rest of the party. Desperate phone calls having been made, we set off at 0905 hours for Barranco do Velho arriving with barely enough time for the CB and Myriam to avail themselves of the facilities of the only open cafe before rushing to the churchyard for the inaugural address.
The walk itself was fairly routine and largely followed the (new) Algarve way pioneered by Terry and David, with a few small deviations which may yet be incorporated into David's masterwork. We certainly spotted enough 'Cistus' Waymarks along the way, indeed they were the only waymarks we encountered as Almargem have not yet got round to erecting their own, of which some 800 have been ordered.
A map of the track we followed can be accessed here
The pace was rather more leisurely than our usual, but with the much larger numbers involved and the 'disco' footwear of some of the more fashionable participants it was to be expected. Total distance was 13.3 km and we accomplished this in about 3 hours walking time, and about 4hrs 20 total.
I feel that we have strengthened the 'bridges' between ourselves and Almargem, and João Ministro was very welcoming, and expressed the desire to meet again to discuss various aspects of the route.

Alt (Blackleg) WW 25.10.2006

Paddy 'Pantsdown'. I think that taking his status as occasional leader of the "Paddy's Walk" to this shameful example of parody was a bit excessive on this 'unauthorised' impromptu walk undertaken when, after much agonising and self-flagellation, Ian W. announced the cancellation of the Official Wednesday Walk on Picota! Are there no depths to which he will not stoop to ensure his 15 minutes of fame in this Blog? I congratulate John on his 'paparazzi' skills and forwarding the photo under plain brown cover to me at the first opportunity. 

Alt. WW 25.10.2006 Somewhere near Silves!

Hazel has obviously seen something funny, though she doesn't even have her reading glasses on! Maybe it was relief at discovering it wasn't a 'Blackleg Walk' !

After Ian Wilson prudently cancelled the trek through equatorial Monchique, Hazel was not to be denied her exercise. Ian Scott STOUTLY agreed to be the guide and John, a bit more reluctantly, went along. Many elements of a good mini-walk were there; rain; wind; sun; arguments about which way to go; hills, some of them even down; and, of course, the obligatory sartorial moment.

AWW that W. - 25.10.2006 the rain gauge

Ian W's pic of a rain gauge designed for collecting non-vertical rain. It is showing a fair amount of content, though the photographer does not state when it was last emptied. 

Another WW that Wasn't!! 25.10.2006

View from Ian W's perspective on 25.10.2006

I cannot remember when we last had two Wednesdays in a row cancelled. Let us hope that our annual quota of rain falls before the RTC in December, as that would not be pleasant in the current conditions. Given the forecast and the winds and rain that went on in the night, it was probably a wise decision. Here's to the sunny days!
Ian (the putative leader) comments below:-

The WW was cancelled today because of inclement weather, although it was in danger of dying a death anyway because of a gum tree down across the Henley - Welch´s driveway, a sick Xana, and no doubt sound reasons for others deciding not to walk when there is a howling gale and cats and dogs falling from the skies. Last night 46 mm. of rain fell in the Monchique area, and as I write it is continuing. The wind blew down my rain gauge ( see pic No. 1)and kept us awake during the night. In a gap in the weather I managed to get a picture of Picota where we would be walking this morning (see pic No.2)
Let´s hope the weather allows walking next week.
Ian W. 

WW18102006 Storm approaching Luz

The intrepid photoblogger snapped this and just made it back into the car before the rain hit.

Stop Press:- Rod has time on his hands this week, owing to the inclement weather and has contributed the passage below to this week's Unofficial Blog!

(Pirate)AWW Blog 18/10/06

Claps of thunder in the night, spot of mud, what are we coming to?!

The evidence that four stalwarts braved the elements and took to the heights of the Serra de Silves is unfortunately only circumstantial; photographic support being unavailable. It is up to you to believe or not that Lindsey, Andrew, Hazel and Rod….and Pookie, defied the decision of our dear leader ( you can’t do that sort of thing in Pyongyang of course) to stay in bed, ( his efforts to suggest the phone call from the Acor trig-point at 10.30 that woke him up was faked are quite shameful!) and enjoyed an invigorating 4 hours of wild skies, bright sun and splendid views over the Barragens de Arade and Funcho, ( the latter surprisingly full for the time of year). You will doubtless be sorry to hear that we only got soaked once!

Sadly, Mario, the chap who ran the bar restaurant at Arade has been beaten by bureaucracy and vindictive landowners and abandoned it, and the Café da Rainha down the road was closed for some unapparent reason…...so no post walk drinks and no, unfortunately, even modest contribution to the kitty!

WW18102006 - The Walk that Wasn't

View near Ponte de Piedade at around 0930 hrs.

The Walk that Wasn't!

After last Wednesday's slightly abbreviated walk, it was my turn this week, and the intention was to do a version of the walk from Ponte de Piedade through Luz inland and back along the coast. The weather forecasts had been threatening rain and 45 mph winds for some days, and the decision had to be made early, taking into account the sensibilities and liability to sulking if they got their hair wet, of the Walkers that had told me they were coming.
Myriam and I went out on Tuesday for a check of the course, and found that it was drying, though it was fairly easy to build up a set of 10cm mud stilts in certain places along the route. I opined that if it didn't rain again we would go for it.
However, it did and we didn't!! I must admit that my decision to cancel was slightly coloured by having been woken up at 3 in the morning by an enormous clap of thunder and torrential rain, and thereafter not recovering the quality of sleep so essential to making difficult decisions first thing.
The phone call system seemed to work well and by about 0815 all had checked in and accepted the sad news of the cancellation manfully (or womanfully).
Myriam and I had to walk the dogs anyway, so we drove to the start just about 0900 hrs, and had some satisfaction in seeing an incipient rain system approaching from the SW. No stragglers turned up., so we drove out to the Obelisk (trig point) above Luz, and recorded the second photo above, just before the heavens opened. I did feel a certain sense of vindication, although thereafter, while there were strong winds there were only a few light showers.
At around 1030, while I was digesting a rather better breakfast than is usual on a Wednesday, I received a call from Rod, rather breathless and with what I hope was only wind noise, claiming to be (unofficially) walking in the sunshine round the Barragem, with certain unnamed companions. I await the blog contribution and evidential photos!
Which brings me on to the final philosophical point - Can a Blog exist without a Walk? - OR can a Walk exist without a Blog? You have just read some compelling evidence!!

WW 11.10.2006 - It's quite sunny really!!

The last two contestants in the wet shirt competition approach Café Bravo!! Our leader, Antje trying to maintain the illusion that it is sunny, by sporting a fine pair of sunglasses! 

"He Clasps the Bag with Crooked Hands..."

To continue last week's Poetic Theme with a (mis)quote from Tennyson. Funny how the same person acts out all these purple passages!!
The full quote is :-
He clasps the crag with crookèd hands;
Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ringed with the azure world, he stands.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson 1809-92: 'The Eagle' (1851)  

WW11.10.2006 The 'New' Hotel'

About as close as you can get without trespassing! 

WWWW 11.10.2006

Doesn't look like rain over there - does it?

Leader: Antje (moral support - Chris)
Present: Myriam; Paul; Rod; Ian S.; David L.; John; Hazel; Gack; Peter; Janet; Carol, (Janet's sister); Tony (Janet's brother-in-law.)
Tiggy; Pooky; Brontus

I am indebted to John for the rather succinct title above the picture; When we arrived at Café Bravo in Carrapateira after what (for the Algarve) was a torrential downpour, and which had caused a fairly unanimous decision to cut out the headland loop, and head straight for the cars, he remarked that it should be titled -"Wednesday Walkers' Whittle Wimpout" -. Hence the extra 'W's - and who am I to argue, as I was a distant second to Myriam in racing to the Café for sanctuary. Morale was restored by early beers/coffees/w.h.y. taken with our sandwiches under the capacious awnings of the café.
However the statistics do not lie, and even allowing for standard GPS reduction, we had only covered 11 km in 2 hrs 30 minutes walking time! This gave us a moving average of 4.5 km/hr, which is quite respectable, and also pointed at the lack of serious climbing. There must be a long one coming along soon to redress the balance, and to aid preparation for the RTC 2006 on 6/7th December.
I had mistakenly thought that we were going to do a close version of Ian C-S's walk which starts with a brisk walk up to the Tercenas TP, and involved a steep gorse scramble uphill, and had brought last year's Bamboo Diagram for update and amendment. When this didn't happen, I decided to record the 'Track' of the walk on the GPS and attempt to upload it onto a photo of the map of the area. You can view the result here.
The track we followed (or more accurately my right wrist followed) is the thin red line superimposed on the map. The picture can be magnified with the little symbol at the top right and then dragged to view. I was quite impressed with this, although in the absence of up to date paths on the map, it might not be as helpful with retracing the route as the Bamboo diagrams, or the track which is saved in my GPS.
The day had started with a thickish mist in the Lagos area which didn't begin to dispel until we were heading up north from Vila do Bispo. Then brilliant sunshine for the start, with no real indication of the clouds and rain which would move in, although Myriam claimed that the Portuguese radio weather report had predicted the same. It was actually quite warm along the first valley, and as we climbed up towards the 'new' hotel, which guards it's privacy jealously with numerous 'propriedade privado' signs, and a large dog kennel round the back where the dogs were taken to be watered. The breeze increased slightly as we reached the highpoint of the walk at 120 m. The west looked very grey, and as we were leaving Praia d'Amado, the rain started, and for the first time this season, out came the pacamacs, ponchos and plastic bin-liners - or not - if you had not followed your Boy Scout Training closely!
Luckily we had not started on the headland loop which would have been at least an extra hour, and Myriam led the charge to the Café, closely followed by myself, as I had the car keys.
Some of us had dry clothes, but it didn't matter as it soon stopped and I had wisely chosen the trousers with 'Dot Matrix' technology for enhanced drying!. Driving home, the roads near Lagos were almost dry, and Antje and Chris made it to the airport in good time for a pick-up, and Myriam and I took Xana to the vet, as she had been rather under the weather - and I bet you had been wondering why she wasn't on the walk!!

Show me the Way to go home- Maurice's arrow.

We came across this slightly faded blue arrow recalling the trailblazing efforts of Maurice on the way down from Picota towards Alferce.  

The apple scrumpers!

The strong urge to 'live off the land' has taken an irresistible grip on certain of our walkers, as this latest in the 'Famous Scrumpers' series of photos proves! Unfortunately soon after this we met the owner of the purloined apples which led to much hasty swallowing and fumbling in clothing to conceal the offending fruit! 

Après Walk - WW 04102006

Happy Birthday Maurice - and thanks for the drink!

WW 4th October 2006 Alferce - Picota - and back!

"Like Stout Cortes ....."

For once I am innocent - John beat me to it with this picture and the caption for which he provided the quote in full .
"..like stout Cortes when with eagle eyes He stared at the Pacific - and all his men Looked at each other with a wild surmise - Silent upon the peak in Darien." [John Keats] ..."
I checked my Chambers and he does have an etymological 'get out'! although the principal meaning does have a certain gritty realism - but I am not the one to bring up that subject!

stout adj (stouter, stoutest) 1 a said of someone: well-built; on the fat side; b said of the stem of a plant, etc: thick. 2 hard-wearing; robust. 3 courageous; steadfastly reliable. noun dark beer that has a strong malt flavour.
ETYMOLOGY: 14c: from French estout, Dutch, meaning 'proud'.

Leader: Rod.
Present: Paul; Myriam; Ian S.; Charles; Antje; John; Hazel; Lindsay; Andrew; Janet.
Xana; Pooky; Tiggy.

At last - a walk with a cafe open at the start to imbibe the 'necessary'. A short drive (for everyone except Antje - and Rod who had to chase her back from the Monchique direction) to Monte Velho to cross the road and start the long but pleasant ascent to Picota.
The weather was pretty well perfect for climbing, cool without being overly windy, and we made what we would consider 'reasonable' progress averaging 3.5 km/hr to the top. Charles, who is back from HK specifically to supply Rod with the latest Sony Digital camera, is like the proverbial 'butcher's dog' and could have bounded up and back in the time it took us to draw breath at the impressive large standing rock formation about halfway up the climb.
This was not the ideal walk for the 'Bamboo Diagrammer' as there are no discernible paths for large sections and the instruction is to follow the bare rocks up the ridge - and the red blobs which appear to have been renewed recently by the German walk leader who leaves his marks all over Picota.
We reached the top of Picota after about 2 hours walking- almost 7 km and 780 metres in height.
It seemed like a good time for lunch, and as Charles did not need any, I lent him my precious Garmin Foretrex 101 GPS and the coordinates to the Picota geocache which was not too far away, and he went off happily to break his Geocaching virginity. The result can be seen here.
Then it was a feeling of 'uv ajèd' as we retraced our steps down the ridge. After leaving the rocky ridge, we encountered more tarmac than had been there on previous occasions, so much so that in view of the potential traffic hazard, Rod felt moved to escort an elderly praying mantis to the verge. This insectarian act of kindness was regrettably not recorded by the Official Photographer, so our submissions to the RSPCI Bravery Award will have to wait for a future occasion.
And so we reached the cars without further incident of note (that I can recall - I am waiting impatiently for a few words from Our Leader!)
At the post-walk drinks, a glass was raised to Maurice, whose birthday had been on Monday, and who had generously offered to buy all the walkers attending this walk, a drink. We had seen a few of his 'blue blobs and a blue arrow on the way down - Faded but not Forgotten!!