No, no suggestion of anything wrong with the walk nor the breakfast; on the contrary. But more later. To the chase!
Here we are, first picture. It is scarcely 6.30 am, Maria is admiring her floral table decorations and Paul, desperately clutching a coffee, is wondering how the heck he got talked into getting up at such an unearthly hour.
Then - Drama at 6.40 am: Janet arrives - bootless. Her Birkenstock sandals pass muster with the Leader – after all they did 20 km plus on Ingrid´s route march – can they do it again?
Choices, choices !
but wiser counsels prevail. And immediately multi-talented Yves drops his Aristotle role and his camera and gives a convincing impersonation of Cristóbal Balenciaga as he slips an equally elegant yet more practical piece of walking gear onto those precious pins. What a career he could have had as Cordonnier à la Haute Société in the days before Jimmy Choo came on the scene.
Meanwhile,the kitchen thankfully remains in good hands and contributions to the breakfast menu are carefully stowed away.
Coffees are served with speed, efficiency and not inconsiderable charm.
The Starter photo is taken with a minimum of palaver and then, just as we are all ready for one of the promptest of 7 am starts in living memory, what happens but Hazel is summoned into the laundry room to instruct her home help on the workings of a newly acquired steam iron. The irony of this was not lost on some. Anyway, ten minutes later, we do set off. Sascha was top dog, but for the first stretch she was accompanied by two hounds of the neighbourhood, Zayra and Peixe.
The Track
An unremarkable 7.85 kms,taking 2 hrs 20 mins, no more than 188 metres ascent.
A certain amount of avocado scrumping took place on the first leg, but it was still too early for figs and plums.
Yves tries to capture a spider
After 3 and a bit kms we reached the crossroads where Chris, Maria and Hazel, together with the two local dogs, turned for home to prepare the meal. Apparently, making their way back through the avocado grove, this small group met the farmer himself but he proved to be completely friendly, and gave them lots of info about growing the fruit.
The reduced group of eight carried on eastwards. It became difficult for the Leader to both lead and keep up with the conversations –one always tries to blog the juicier bits. He had already missed the remarks about a well-known Portuguese lady with a particularly big mouth. And he failed to learn what the difference between a French kiss and an Australian one is – something below the belt possibly? But never mind; he was “congratulated” by Ingrid for not getting lost this time when we swung round at just the right moment on our way homewards. We passed through the strawberry fields which seemed somewhat neglected for once. Rod explained that the owner let them lie fallow one year in seven to improve production. The ladies expressed the opinion that that was quite a good way to deal with a man too. Aristotle was left speechless.
The rest of the walk was uneventful in comparison and we got back to Casa Esperança on the dot of 9.30 am, for pre-breakfast orange juice, tomato juice, and Bucks Fizzes.
And now we break for a short Commercial.
People have enquired about John´s tomato juice recipe. Here then is his Recipe for Disaster.
1/3 chilled Freshona Polpa de tomate com cebola e alho* - (available Lidl)
2/3 chilled water
Dunn´s River Hot Sauce - to taste - (available Jumbo/Pão d´açúcar)
Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce – to taste – (available ubique)
Stir and drink.
*essential
Why the name? Well, vodka and tomato juice is a Bloody Mary; vodka without the tomato juice is a Virgin Mary; so tomato juice without the vodka can´t be other than a (Bloody) Disaster.
End of Commercial
And so to the breakfast. Hazel says Grace to an attentive congregation and then we sit down to a pequeno-almoço with truly peripatetic ingredients: lots of fresh Portuguese fruit: bacon from Sargaçal: eggs from Algoz: sausages from Ireland: tomatoes from Silves: black pudding from Meia Praia: mushrooms from downtown Lagos: pão caseira from Montinho: baked beans from Heinz: coffee from Timor. Many thanks are due to all who brought provisions, and to Hazel and Maria for all the preparations and cooking.
For some reason, John´s plate received more attention than normal while Ingrid´s was spared photographic scrutiny for this once.
Hers are Birkenstocks; his are simply indescribable.
Historic AWW photos were studied
and AWW reminiscences exchanged.
The party came to a close at 12 noon, when the departing Paul could be overheard suggesting to Myriam “perhaps a spot of lunch on the way home?”
2 comments:
Paulo a Pe31 July 2016 at 10:19
A great breakfast and just enough walking to make it legal.
However, as much as I hate to take issue with your bloody disaster, I am afraid your definition of a Virgin Mary is the opposite of common vernacular usage. Please see: http://virgin-mary.urbanup.com/880287
Don't look at the first 3 tries the Urban Dictionary to define the term. Best left unread, but the spiced tomato without the vodka is the Virgin. The disaster was my giving you credit for squeezing the tomatoes and adding finely hand chopped celery and onions! Maybe it should have been a Virgin Maria, but that is something of a fantasy and extremely rare! It was a fine morning drink however, and I certainly had my share. Thanks again.
JohnH31 July 2016 at 11:34
You will never find celery in any recipe of mine !
I suspect that your vade-mecum The Urban Dictionary is an American publication totalling lacking a sense of humour (humor?).I make no claim to give a definition, but mine has a clear logical spirit in it,even if lacking vodka,
don´t you think? Now there´s an idea - I might try it with vodka one morning.
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