AWW 13.04.2011: Aguas Still Belas

Summer approaching, temperature rising, and 9 a.m.rendezvous. Tina, just back from 4 days invigorating walking in Madeira, can scarcely have paused for breath at Lisbon Airport before rushing to join us.
 

The Starters
Leader: Rod.
Present: Tina, Celianne, Ian W., David L., Terry A., John and Hazel, Lindsey and Andrew, John O'N and the same old shillelagh, Peter S., Hilke, Antje, Neil Carruthers.
Dogs: Rosie, Harry, Tiggy, Rusty and Misty.

Statistics
Distance: 16 4 km.
Total time (inclusive of a very leisurely lunch): 5 hrs.
Leader´s Report
AGUAS STILL BELAS....DESPITE THE INVASÃO ESPANHOLA.
“Gathered at Silves Cemetery, those requiring caffeine at the Cafe do Castelo, on a warm, cloudless morning for a short drive up the S. Marcos road. Set off  up the fairly well known Valley of Aguas Belas; still fairly 'bela' despite the best efforts of Spanish interlopers destroying the greenery and replanting eucalyptus in vast swathes. The stream was still flowing....enough for some to still worry about getting their feet wet indeed....the flowers were in bloom, the birds were in song....all very uplifting.  

 
"As it was a warm day it seemed a good idea to get the mountainous part out of the way before it got too hot, so we plodded up through bare earth terracing to the western ridge above the valley and there paused for a breather.

An unidentifiable quadruped
"The track meandered along the ridge with a few undulations and splendid all-round views, but by then through more pleasant cistus, lavender and gorse clad hillsides.  The downside of all that were bees now very numerous and satiated with pollen....so needless to say a few stings were inevitable!Tina was first to suffer, and a few others bore their wounds stoically, but antihistamine was out in a flash and progress was resumed with barely a moment's pause!  

A Tilley design fault. Lindsey and her team of medics apply first aid.

Pause before the descent
"A smaller track along a side ridge took us to the top of a  hill which had not been visited, by us anyway,  for probably 10 or 12 years. The hill was originally identified by Maurice as being a real man's hill....well going up it anyway.  In fact in the event going down proved almost as arduous, steep and crumbling.....definitely not one to fall!  In the event nobody did....well not all the way down anyway.....but some took a lot longer than others!

Post-descent photo-shoot

Another “9”…the search for a perfect “10” goes on

Not an ancient Celtic symbol, but the Henley-Welch Potting Disk ™ (patent pending)
"We circled round up out of the end of the valley and up the other side before beginning to descend again. At that point the distant lament of... “Rosie!...Rosie!” was heard echoing round the hills,  and clearly she of that name had wandered off on one of her periodic solitary journeys.  David wandered off in pursuit. They were happily...well not sure about David ..or Rosie for that matter!.. reunited and re-joined us at the lunch stop.



Just in time for lunch
"The lunch stop was beside the babbling brook, with the song of nightingales in the background, the warm air redolent with the scent of cistus and lavender...what more of a rural springtime idyll could there be......or something like that.......and,well, until we arrived anyway!

"All that was left for us to do was to return down the valley with its numerous crossings of the 'aguas belas`, past the old medronho adega.....securely locked for some reason these days..can't have the Spaniards stealing medronho as well as eucalyptus indeed!
 
 
Andrew makes a dash for it
"And so back to the cars. The local bar of 'Stop and Stay' was sadly closed for 'obras' so we returned to Silves and propped up the 'Castelo' bar for a while. Not quite so rural.. surrounded as it is by Silves' new residential district... but served its purpose!"

Decent sized glassware

!!!! HEALTH WARNING !!!!
Those of a sensitive nature or those who suffer from Tilleyphobia should switch off now.
Be warned that this section contains hat photography.
You will have noticed that an earlier photo caption referred to a Tilley design fault. This was unluckily chanced upon by Celianne who was stung on the back of her head under her Tilley. Despite the absence abroad of our Tilley expert, Paul, our dedicated team of researchers have moved swiftly to identify the fault which can best be illustrated in photos A) and B) which follow:

A) Tilley LT5                                                B) Tilley LT5B
You will notice that both these models have large circular air holes and it is thought that it is through theses apertures that bees get in. Quite why they think that the hat itself looks like a beehive has yet to be conclusively established; volunteers to follow up that line of enquiry are a bit thin on the ground.
It is,however, quite  reassuring to find that some more recent Tilley models avoid this design fault while still affording reasonable ventilation, as seen in photo C):

C) Tilley LTM6
Now the Tilley makers boast about their products being made with something that they call Canadian persnicketiness. Be that as it may, not everybody wants to swan around with a bit of mesh in one`s titfer.Some may prefer a good old brass grommet or four. The answer for them will be that good old British product, something of a museum piece in comparison with a Tilley, the Norfolk Intrepid, see photos D) and E).

D) The Norfolk Intrepid

E) Gauzed grommets
As you can see, the British artisan, who has midges to worry about as much as bees, infills his grommet  with a bit of gauze.
END OF HEALTH WARNING