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

AWW 6.04.2011: Pedralva or Windy Wanderings on the West Coast

Bananas (Musa paradisiaca) were knocked off the No.1 spot this week by other fruit, namely the lemon (Citrus limonum) and the pomelo (Citrus maxima (Burm) Merrril).. Terry A started it all by announcing that he was on a forced diet of lemons. Apparently, Jill had gone out to buy 6 lemons but came back with 6 shopping bags. I said “How come? Lemon and Shopping Bag in Portuguese are totally different.” “No, you clown, 6 shopping bags full of lemons.” Lemon meringue pie and lemon curd sarnies then for Terry. Then, at the end of the walk, Frank distributed lemons and pomelos from his orchard. Many thanks, Frank. But I´m sure bananas will bounce back when Ingrid reappears.
Joint leader, Chris, was far from being the relaxed, laid-back supremo seen at Carrapateira five weeks ago: this week at Aldeia da Pedralva, there he was, chivvying us to get ready for the off, get your coffeee quick, line up for photo, no waiting for late arrivals or any such nonsense. Time and tide…you know.

The Starters
Walkers: Chris and Antje (Leaders), John and Hazel, John 'O, Ian W, Terry A, David L, Frank, Alex and holiday visitor Neil Carruthers ( a devoted follower of Maurice Clyde's Algarve walking guide)
Dogs: Tiggy, Maddie, Rosie, Shelley and Rusty makes five.

The Track
A Statistic or Two:
Distance: 16.97 km.
Total time: 4 hr. 25 min.
The Leaders´Report:
“True to form, weather conditions affected this new West Coast walk which by starting from Pedralva gave us the chance to follow a slightly different and less spoiled route to the coast. Strong winds from the East greeted us on arrival and we were glad that the resort had kindly agreed to open their snack bar  a little earlier than usual for our benefit. The walk started more or less on time at 9.30am and a cracking pace was set in order to beat the unfavourable tide at Muração beach.

Some local residents watched us leave
“Propelled by a strong tail wind we were carried towards Windmill Alley in no time at all. The first bee attack had delayed us slightly, the victim being Alex who may yet invest in the protection offered by a Tilley hat as a result. At this point it was noted that the track followed part of Mike Pease's Don Quixote windmill walk. The furious whirling of the wind turbines gave us a further incentive to keep up the pace, not least when we spotted one recently failed blade that had clearly sheered its connecting bolts.

Nearing Windmill Alley
“After we had crossed the main road, an early detour to Sagres was thankfully avoided by reference to the Almargem map, the leaders expertise with a GPS being questionable to say the least. Due to the gale force winds blowing off the land a decision was taken to avoid the narrow cliff edge path and ´to descend directly to the beach where we arrived in plenty of time to avoid having to wade through the surf in order to reach the gully.

On the road down, Neil observed some local fauna

and flora-wise David noticed an albino mutation of a blue gentian

The road down

Beating the tide at Muração
“ (Some strong hands helped the more decrepit of us up the gully..thanks, guys.) Then, after a stiff climb up the cliff, the Engineer's house was reached where lunch was taken in the lee of the building, whilst the wind howled around all corners.

Most of us sheltered……

……while Captain Whittle braved the upper deck.
“Starting the trek back into the teeth of a gale slowed progress a little but this had the advantage of the wind disrupting the honey bees flight paths which meant that we hardly noticed the hives. Apart that is from JohnO who´, whilst in deep discussion with Alex, sustained a sting on a part of his anatomy which he declined to disclose. His willingness to protect a damsel from further distress is to be applauded.

Was this when JohnO realised his stick was missing?
“His lack of concern when he realised that he had left his faithful blackthorn stick at the lunch spot evoked more sympathy than the aforementioned bee sting, the more so when it became apparent that he was not prepared to battle the same hazards again to retrieve it. One hopes that it will lie there undisturbed until the next RTC walk. (But see below) 

On the road home


Back in Pedralva
“A minor catastrophe was narrowly avoided when we arrived back at the start to find that the entire resort staff had clearly closed up for lunch but, when they had been roused by some spirited hammering on the door, we were all able to enjoy drinks on the sunny protected patio. The impact of tourist prices meant that the kitty barely covered the bill, but that was a small price to pay for the dedicated service and amenities available.”


These are two of Frank´s pomelos. The fruit is also known in English as the shaddock, and in Chinese as the yóuzi; now you know.
What is it about that particular stretch of the West Coast and JohnO´s walking stick? You will remember that on the first day of the RTC 2010 he had to go back for it at one stage. (You can revisit that epic at http://hopejh.wordpress.com/2010/12/17/rtc-2010-24th-and-25th-november/  ). In fact, Hazel had reminded him about that incident during this Wednesday before we went down to the beach, and then it happens again! But once more, the luck of the Irish was with him and all was well that ended well, as his own words tell us:
“Good Morning John. You may be interested in the following:-
BLOG FODDER or TALE OF THE LOST SHILELAIGH
Refreshed and stimulated by a post-walk beer, I advanced on the Engineer's house
to retrieve the lost shilelaigh.
Climbing Everestian heights through virgin undergrowth and after many hours (it seemed),
I came upon the mighty shilelaigh---- there she was perched on the Engineer's window sill
holding court with many Portuguese leprechauns.
After some persuasion and apologies we were eventually re-united.
All the best
John O' ”
(Video will not download, but if you fancy a touch of Irish shilelaigh song, or at least a Bing Crosby version, click on:
http://youtu.be/KNGudsHD_s4)

AWW 30.03.2011: Helioptropic Time or The Search for the Perfect 10

 

It is not often that that the Wednesday Walks test the mind as well as the lungs and limbs to the very limit. But Ian W´s walk managed just that; his sales pitch had said that “We will leave from the Foz at 9.00am (now that the clocks have changed).”  And so it was that at 8.40am Tina, Hedley and I sat coffee-less outside the Foz and puzzled over the logic behind his proposition that because the clocks had ben put forward by one hour we had to start half-an-hour earlier than usual. Even when she had explained that in Einstein´s theories the ideas of absolute time and space were superseded by the notion of space-time in special relativity and by dynamically curved space-time in general relativity, we remained baffled. Clearly, so too had the Foz staff who had failed to open at 8.30am (in Ian W´s space-time, that is). But the Leader was relentless and allowed no time extension for morning coffees. And there was still Heliotropism to come! Read on.
Seekers after knowledge
Leader: Ian W.
Survivors of the previous week´s trek: Dina and Tina.
Others: Val, Hazel, Hedley, Rod, Chris, Antje, Paul, and JohnH.
Dogs: Tiggy and Maddie.

The Track
The Statistics:
Total distance: 15 km
Total Time: 4 hrs 30 min.
Moving time: 3 hrs 40 min
Overall Avg.: 3.3 km/hr
Moving Avg.: 4.1 km/hr
Total Ascent: 511 m.
Max Elevation: 325 m
The Leader´s Report: The Cistus Count
Chapter One – Complaints Corner
“Eleven mostly complaining souls and 2 dogs (not complaining) gathered 
outside the Foz de Banho at shortly after 0900 hours. There was much 
to complain about. First of all, the leader had moved the start time 
forward by half an hour (or 1 1/2 hours in old time) which meant 
getting up earlier than usual. To add insult to injury, the Foz did 
not open until just before we set off and nobody was able to get a 
coffee, there being only time for the ladies to spend a few pennies. 
Nevertheless, there were still a few smiles in the obligatory pre-
start photo.”

The Starters
Chapter Two – The Softening-up Process
“ We moved quickly downhill, crossed the river and along 
the river bank, assailed by the sweet aroma of pig sh##. the first 
hill proved no problem with a number of walkers managing to walk and 
talk at the same time. Along the ridge, down into the valley along a 
new track for us to the first water crossing (in name only). Even Paul 
didn't bother to line up for a photo of somebody falling into the 
water.”

New Water Crossing
Chapter Three – Hilltorture and Horticulture


“We then commenced Killer Hill, which silenced everyone until we 
ran into the cistus ladanifer, which was in full bloom all the way up 
the hill. The game was to find a perfect 10, but as usual we failed. 
Some noticed cistus albiflorus in their hunt -it has no blotches at 
all- and mostly we found the standard 5 petals and blotches. However, 
Paul and Antje discovered a near perfect 9 and had the satisfaction of 
carrying the sticky exudate of fragrant resin with them for the rest 
of the walk. None of us realised at the time that the cistus ladanifer 
diverged from the cistaceae family during the Pleistocene Period 5 
million years ago after the opening of the Straits of Gibraltar, and 
has been decorating the hills of Southern Spain and Portugal ever 
since.”

Hush, botanists at work

Near-perfect Nine

Spot the phoney Tilley

Chapter Four – Along the Ridges and Valleys

“At the top of the hill we had a panoramic view of Foia, Picota 
and the south coast, but with poorer visibility than 2 weeks ago. We 
walked along a ridge and then descended to a stream,which the dogs lay 
in and some of us felt like joining them. We then trudged up a long 
slow hill before having lunch at the top.

It was during this long perambulation that Hedley marvelled at how flowers are heliotropic and, after he had explained what that meant to the less well informed, we 
wondered what the term for people seeking shade would be. Not anti-
heliotropic because we would have to seek shade opposite to the sun, 
not just any old shade. Enough rambling.”

Lunch in the shade
Chapter Five – Val and Chris Go Missing

The Missed Rendezvous – Where are they?
“We had lunch on a side road and then,after a short flat bit, climbed a steep hill to the summit of the 
walk, which John H´s Track describes as Green Hill, leaving Val and Chris 
to find us when we came down. They were not to be seen, but shortly 
afterwards we caught up with them to find that they had been rushing up 
and down the track since we last saw them. We then hot footed it to 
the Foz for a cold drink and a welcome rest.”

Here, Paul told one of his inimitable jokes (I mean, would any one really want to copy him?) and then launched into his Tilley Hat monologue – the Minor Mutiny will be relieved to learn that this time it lasted only 4 1/2 minutes – before he went on to rehearse his second Mastermind Specialist Topic, which is that of the comparative alchoholic strengths of British Midland and southern Portuguese beers. We wish him well in his endeavours in UK this month.
For those of us still puzzled by the failure of Val and Chris (two experienced walkers) to make the rendezvous at the bottom of Green Hill, the following extract may possibly serve to explain why they headed off in the completely opposite direction when they had actually seen us up on the hill top:
  “Just as Einstein's own Relativity Theory led Einstein to reject time, so Feynman’s Sum over Histories theory led him to describe time simply as a direction in space. Feynman’s theory states that the probability of an event is determined by summing together all the possible histories of that event. For example, for a particle moving from point A to B we imagine the particle traveling every possible path, curved paths, oscillating paths, squiggly paths, even backward in time and forward in time paths. Each path has an amplitude, and when summed the vast majority of all these amplitudes add up to zero, and all that remains is the comparably few histories that abide by the laws and forces of nature. Sum over Histories indicates the direction of our ordinary clock time is simply a path in space which is more probable than the more exotic directions time might have taken otherwise.”
Time can indeed be confusing; not so Heliotropism, which is quite simply explained:
“Heliotropic flowers track the sun's motion across the sky from East to West. During the night, the flowers may assume a random orientation, while at dawn they turn again towards the East where the sun rises. The motion is performed by motor cells in a flexible segment just below the flower, called a pulvinus. The motor cells are specialized in pumping potassium ions into nearby tissues, changing their turgor pressure. The segment flexes because the motor cells at the shadow side elongate due to a turgor rise. Heliotropism is a response to blue light.”
I´m very glad of that last quotation because, while rambling on like this, I had been wondering how I could possibly reintroduce a favourite topic in these blogs, that of Bananas. Now the segue is easy because the reason that bananas are good for one is, of course, that they are high in potassium. This blog has been quite a fan of bananas in the past as that mythical creature, the attentive reader, will have noticed. It was sad, therefore, to have read in the news recently that, when a banana was offered to a player in the course of a recent Scotland v. Brazil soccer match, that player took umbrage and accused the Scottish fans of insulting him. Now it is true that, because of security personnel, razor-wire fences and protective moats surrounding present-day football pitches, it is very difficult for a fan actually to present a player with a bit of fruit with due punctilio. No, he has to toss it. But Scottish people do not toss little bits of fruit; they toss cabers. The young Brazilian player may be forgiven for not knowing that. But to me the oddest part of the whole farago was that the Scottish Football Association waded in claiming that the tosser could not possibly have been a Scottish Soccer Fan (SSF) because SSFs are world-renowned for their “impeccable behaviour”.  The SSF may well be renowned, for example, for his good humour – good humour is actually a sine qua non for a SSF because, as the world knows, Scotland hasn´t won a seriously important football match since the world was young -  but for impeccability of manner ! I think not.
Anyway, as our Leader for the day said, enough rambling. What to finish with? Well, since we in the AWW value the banana – we have for example adopted the Ingrid Bonte Scale of Endurance which is based on it – a gesture of support for the fruit as a symbol of goodwill and good health is called for. Luckily, we can call up this bit of music recommended by Yves which manages to combine nutrition (the fruit itself), culture (“Rigoletto” by Verdi) and linguistics (it´s in French)…enough to challenge the intellect, n´est-ce pas?

Juanita Banana