Believe it or not, John O´ was the first to arrive at Sta.Margarida but, when he looked out into the swirling mist, he asserted that he was only there for the coffee and the craick. After a rather sub-fusc Starter photo, he made the full 5 yards back to his car, saying that he walked for pleasure and that, if it was a matter of getting wet voluntarily, he would rather go for a swim in the Silves Municipal pool and off he went to do just that. Well, an Irishman knows wet rain when he sees it and, for the first 60 minutes of the walk, I guess that most of us thought that he had a very good point indeed.
“You´re not getting me out in that.”
John O’ waves the Starters off. (Click to enlarge.)
The Leader: Terry A.
Floundering Followers: David, Paul and Myriam, Rod, Terry M., Chris and Antje, Hilke, Tina, Maria, Hazel and John.
Water dogs: Tiggie, Misty, Rosie and (aptly named) Rusty.
The Track
The Statistics: provided by Paul and I quote
“No doubt you prefer your own, but here are mine & Myriam's independent stats:
TD 19.7 20.1
TT 5:35 5:45
MT 4:32 4:51
MA 4.4 4.1
OA 3.5 3.5
T.Asc 559 554
Max El. 432 430
Tilley Hats = '0' A first since Blogs began I think! I am writing to Mr Tilley separately on the subject of integrated rain covers.
Paul “
Well, I made the Total Distance 21.09 km, but what of it?
The Leader´s Report.
“From Sodden St Margarida To a Sunny Lunch Time To Sunny St Margarida Again
Well yes it was rather damp, ok it was a wet and misty morning when we gathered at the start
but all who said they were coming except Dina who phoned and said sorry but no walk in rain.
So coffee, photographs and chat over we strode off into the mist, the Leader not aware that
John O’ was not with us in person but maybe in spirit, so as he did not start it could not count as
as a loss percentage wise. The rain soon was easing as we moved through the valley on the route
of the AW with Maurice's old blue dots still hanging on in places as we climbed up and round the
escarpment, down the road to Cerro with the weather brightening up all the time, by the time
we had walked into the next valley at Vale we had blue skies and sun. By the time we had got to
the top of Picota at 350m for the trig pic it was sunny and warm but as we came off the ridge a little bit
of rain caught us. As we made our way through the valley of mature cork oaks heading for the cafe at
Sarnadas where, as the photographs show, lunch was taken complete with the fish and wine man
calling. After lunch we stayed on good tracks and sorry a bit too much tarmac but to avoid muddy paths
up to Rocha dos Soidos and down the difficult hidden path towards Alte where the intrepid Leader had
moments of hesitance, or were they senior moments, this path being rather muddy with that nice red
clingy stuff but we managed to find the way without losing height to join the road by the water tanks.
We only then had to contour round the back of Alte to the Sta. Margarida road and along to the café
where we sat in the sun and said "didn't we have a lovely time".
Thanks to all. Terry “
In line with my motto from The Preacher “Therefore let thy words be few”, I shall let the photos speak for themselves. Thanks to those who sent their pictures in, especially to David who has just discovered a new function in his camera´s software, that of writing captions. With any luck, as he pursues his studies of that software, he will be able to find that his camera will write the blog for us without any human intervention.
A senior moment for Paddington.
Maria acted superior at the trig shot
but Paul soon brought her down to earth.
A totally impromptu shot by Myriam……….
………matched by John Singer Sargent’s memorable painting (Thanks to David for the reference)
Lunch at Sarnadas…...
……with meals on wheels
On the way up to Rocha dos Soidos, Myriam discovered a buggy
and tried to make a get-away, only to be foiled by Antje and Rod.
And we departed, leaving Paul to enjoy the evening sun, even if without his customary Bohemia.
Don´t forget the Caption Competition.
I cannot see my beer. Who has taken it?
ReplyDeleteYes, it was a good and interesting walk. Terry is a very considerate leader. Several times we got the chance of having lunch at proper tables & chairs and hot coffee. Luxury!
ReplyDeleteLooking at that photo of the hunchbacks, I was unfortunately reminded of the famous painting of gas victims from the trenches - is it by Paul Nash? It covers almost the whole of one wall of the Imperial War Museum - a terrible image.
ReplyDeleteWell spotted David, John Singer Sargent's painting 'Gassed' can be seen at:-
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gassed.jpg
and has been one of Myriam's major influences, particularly after curry nights!!
Bonus points to David for artistic knowledge and to Paul for creativity.
ReplyDelete