WW 01.11.2006 Ponte de Piedade -W and return

No Hand Rails - the group negotiate the cliff face!

The track of this walk can be found here.

Walk: Ponte Piedade to W. of Luz and return: 21.5 km -5+ hours.
Leader: Paul
Present: Myriam; Lindsey; Rod; Mike; David; Elaine; Stan; Caroline; Gack; Jim.
Archie; Oscar.


We welcomed back Stan and Elaine, after their summer exile in UK and also their neighbour Caroline, for the first time this season. They get a mention, even though they profess not to read the blog, and ergo I would be unlikely to attract a complaint of failing to do so - unlike some other hyper-sensitive walkers! Jim also turned out for the first time for eons, as part of his preparation for the RTC '06, although he certainly appears to be as fit as ever.
A pessimistic forecast from the satellite weather stations for rain all day, but undaunted we set out in grey and humid conditions for a 'once round the lighthouse' and then off to the section above the beach where there once was a garden which fell to the sea. The owner of the affected property has done some slope stabilisation, and created some steps which wind precariously behind a sandstone pillar, but we negotiated them safely without loss (pic above) and were rewarded with magnificent coastal views in both directions.
We took the inland route through the building site which once was Porte de Mòs, and next to the Boa Vista Golf Course before reaching the heights above Luz. It is a sad fact that this walk has become increasingly urbanised, and with plans to cover the Ponte de Piedade headland with concrete, and it may be one of the last times that we bother to do this walk.
We descended the back end of the Luz escarpment, with only a few minor slips, and traipsed through the promenade where a few die hard tourists were determined to get good use out of their swim wear. The cliff path out to the west of Luz is more built-up than ever, but is an easy stroll. By about the 12km point we had reached the ex- president, Jorge Sampaio's pied-a terre, which was as usual unoccupied, so we took lunch on the hillside above.
The return route to Luz itself was inland, with small oasi(?) of rough ground and footpaths between the buildings, and ignoring the welcoming hostelries we plugged on amid a few spots of rain to take the climb to the Luz Obelisk via Route 1. After Porte de Mòs I opted for the non-vertigo route through the old-established villas up to the point where we had begun our cliff path walk, and we returned to Ponte de Piedade via the remainder of the cliff path.
We arrived at a few minutes after 3pm, a total of 5 hours walking time and just over 5 and a half hours elapsed time, having covered 21.5 fairly easy kilometres. The Proprietor of the Rising Sun Cafe, sensing that he was about to do some business just managed to get his chairs and tables cleared away and lock the door as we reached his patio.
This forced our hand, and the leader, who shall be blameless in this (as he wasn't paying for his drink anyway) accepted Caroline's suggestion to repair to a bar with a view, which turned out to be splendid, overlooking the bay and Meia Praia. After some language difficulties, until the barman admitted he was Filipino and not Portuguese, we posed as tourists, and found that our usual generous drink subscription barely covered the asking price!!