APAPS 10/18 The Good Man and Stop and Stay. 29.08.2018

Since the creator and CBO of this Blog has always maintained a certain tone, I thought perhaps as a stand in for this week, I would  start with a fancy quote.
Cuiusvis hominis est errare, nullius nisi insipientis errore perseverare
In effect, Men always make mistakes but it is only idiots that repeat them.  ( I am pretty confident that it applies to Women, Binary and Gender neutral types too!)  I wondered whether I might meet the classification as an idiot, as I have retired from Blogging several times, yet I publish the WAGS Blog and have been cajoled into contributing to this.   Now that things you read, said or thought over the full span of your life to date can be dissected, analysed and held against you, blogging is a risky business.
It can also create great wealth. A number of writers have found a niche to discuss on the Internet and monetise. There are young bloggers who are making millions out of unboxing gadgets and filming their  random thoughts. I like the feeling of superiority of being a non-commercial Blogger, with an extremely select audience, though I could use the money if anyone wants to sponsor me, or take out a targeted advert! 
The USP of the APAPS, as most of us worked out was The Breakfast.    This has  widely been (in APAPS circles) described as a proper English Breakfast, although far from the Full English or Full Fry-up as advertised by Greasy Spoons throughout UK. There are many regional varieties, depending on the contents and even the nomenclature of the consumers, but it is a subject far too wide for a weekly blog to discuss.  Suffice to say that of the several venues that John has chosen and briefed to prepare the nourishing finales to our walks, all have stepped up to the mark, toed the line and produced good VFM meals for even the most demanding (and there are several) of APAPS Members.

What I said - Ana’s offering at Para e Fica today.

Of course, despite being loosely classified as omnivores, there is a certain amount of selectivity exhibited. Janet and Myriam don’t want bacon, Ingrid only wants eggs, Paul wants extra grease, but in general, most opt for the Full Monty.
John insists on washing his down with a bottle of Sagres, sometimes tempered with Sprite, and there are almost as many different preferences for coffee as there are walkers.
And so we gathered at 0700 beneath a darkening sky. One notable absence was Rod who had (allegedly) lost his Exeat privileges because of a horse related incident. We may yet see some excuse in the comments to this Blog.
The Walk:  The traditional starter photo always attracts Troublemakers. Yves had heard that if you are really quick , you can appear in a photo twice!

He wasn’t really quick!!

John restored order and re-triggered his remote control, managing to catch all sexually separated,  looking at the camera with open eyes, and some even smiling.
L-R   Ingrid, Dina, Hazel, Jill, Janet; Paul Yves, John, Terry

Looking back at the parking area at the start – Half burnt, half spared.

The walk itself started at Herdade de Sao Bom Homem, which is the grandiose name for a patch of bare earth just off the M502 2km north of Silves Cemetery.
The clear sky and gilding dawn we had at Lagos was rapidly replaced by a bank of grey cloud entering from the East, blocking the sun and bringing a chilly easterly wind from the Russian Steppes.

“Awake! for Morning in the Bowl of Night
Has flung the Stone that puts the Stars to Flight:
And Lo! the Hunter of the East has caught
The Sultan's Turret in a Noose of Light”

― Omar Khayyám, Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám

Most of the ladies donned windbreakers, but alas I had been beguiled by the previous week’s weather, and neglected to bring mine, so put on just a brave face and made do with the 2011 RTC 10th Anniversary T-shirt and a ventilated gilet.
Straight into a steep and longish heart starter of a climb and decent views of the recent devastation and the ski slopes of Monchique.

Looking North to the cloud covered slopes of Monchique and Foia

The devastated vegetation to the east.

Yves took some action photos during the first climb, which made it look as if speed was involved!

Almost a blur!!

But we were granted a break at the top of the first hill.

And for the walk that was the hardest bit, apart from a lesser slope towards the end which was a surprise to me. The photos tell the story.

  The Tilley count was 5 + 1 dodgy replica, but that didn’t stop Hazel modelling Yves’ Kiss Me Quick hat  which would have been better to have perished in the fire…..

….or left with the desiccated remains of this walker!

The sun did come out, but not enough to persuade Ingrid and Hazel that jackets weren’t necessary.

Dina going for the extra T Shirt look.

Hills are best for warming up (towards the end).

Climbing the final slope towards Rest and Be Thankful, first we met a man with a Sha Pei dog, which he asked us to stop as there might have been an E-W conflict with Java, and luckily the dog understood even John’s Portuguese, although it might have been my pointy walking stick that did the trick!  A little further on,  we met Misty soon followed by Anthony and Charles Frew, coming the other way having decided to do a later version of our walk, but without the breakfast.

Of course we couldn't resist the Rowing Scene at the bench at Rest and Be Thankful, and Yves got the best photo, while resisting encouragement to 'Step back a little!'







Another take.

And in good time for Ana’s preparations we were back at the start, saving tracks and stats. Alas ViewRanger let me down again by pausing for two key parts of the walk, and the usually reliable backer-upper, Yves, forgot to start his, so we will have to be satisfied with a Google Earth/Garmin Track by me, with thanks to John for some cryptic annotations, and two sets of similar stats, lacking in the usual ViewRanger details and analysis.

 John’s SatMap count: 
Total Distance 7.10 kms; Total Time 2hrs 6 mins
Moving Time 1 hr 43 mins: Average Moving Speed 4.1 kph
Total Ascent 234 metres

Garmin Stats

A couple of curiosities before we get on to breakfast. First a caption competition from John – prize unspecified.

Caption Competition. Answer by comment or email to All. There may be a prize awarded worth Absolutely Nothing!

and then a ‘Spot the Error’ photo from Yves.

Please don’t leak this picture to ‘Foot Fetishist’s Monthly, as I don’t want to break the Internet.

Ana’s breakfast at Snack Bar Terinho Para e Fica was excellent and bacon-rich, for those that are not religiously obliged to eschew the meat of the pig.
I put the name of the Cafe in full above,  as on Google Maps it is simply annotated ‘Silves Cafe’, and Ana herself has no idea where they got that from. I have written an amendment to Mr Google to edit his map, so who knows? Perhaps some of you could figure out how to do that too and we can give Ana’s Cafe its rightful name as a show of thanks.

Ana’s Special

Chris and Antje, recently back from travel’s joined us for breakfast, without showing the least signs of guilt for not having burnt off the calories in advance.

New meaning to ‘sunny side’!

From the other end!

And a sobering note. Yves went round the back of the cafe and took this photo of how close the fire had come to ruining our post walk extravagance.

John reported that he had heard from Ana that she had lost her chickens in the fire and a dog had given birth to 5 still-born pups because of the stress and danger.

APAPS 18.9. 22.08.18: Pinheiro e Garrado; A Sobering Experience

It was 6.55 a.m. at Café Elias and we were still short of expected numbers, but just then a convoy of Mercedes swept up the lane and disgorged the missing 3, fresh from having had their coffee fix at  Café Prato Encherim, just in time for the Starter photo. Hazel seemed to be in two minds what sort of hat to wear.

The Starters: Paul, Dina, Terry, Hazel, Rod, Janet (eyes open), Antony, Jill, JohnH and Yves. Java self-effacing as always.

Tilley Count: 60%

The Track according to Paul which has all the information you will ever need:-.

(How does he get the Igreja do Poço Barreto in there?)

The Track according to JohnH.

The Official Statistics:

Total distance 6.8 kms. Total Time: 2 hours 6 mins. which was just about what it said on the tin.

Average speed: 3.2 kph. Total Ascent: 220 metres.

We set off pretty well on schedule and, after our ears had survived a cacophony of dog barking as we went through the village, we caught sight of the rising sun behind us.

Turning up the hill, we passed this horse whose enclosure must surely have been threatened by the recent fires

because scarcely 200 metres further up the hill, the first signs of fire damage appeared.

At the top, we paused to take in some idea of the extent of the devastation.

Some Via Algarviana route markers had survived unscathed;

others had not.

Conversation was muted for once as we thought about those who had suffered losses of property and livelihood, even as we marvelled at the vagiaries of fire and wind that had left occasional islands of greenery amidst a generally burnt-out expanse.

Some eucalyptus trees had escaped untouched;

others had been burnt right down into the roots.

The silvery ash of the eucalyptus leaves lent an almost wintery aspect to the scene.

After an hour and half- way round our route, Antony uised his supersmartphone to call up the music to Paul´s puzzle song Ya Mo B, but nobody danced. (Your Blogger remains baffled at the alleged relevance of the piece to APAPS.) Click on the links https://youtu.be/rBo2Kn8iBxA and http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=10412 if you must. And Myriam´s suggested topic of conversation “Chicken Diapers” failed to lighten the mood.JohnH mentioned that he had heard of donkeys wearing nappies on the car-free picturesque island of Lamu, off the Kenyan coast, but even that nugget of information didn´t spark wit or repartee.(More useless info: Lamu is near the Tana River Estuary where Ian Scott used to go shooting and where he developped his all-consuming passioin for duck meat, be it baked, broiled, stewed, BBQ´ ed, spit-roasted, hot or cold, you name it, he loves it.)

There was the occasional patch of brown and green as we went

but the predominant colourings were silver grey and black.

That nearly all the ground cover of previously impenetrable thickets had been razed meant that we could walk confidently through gullies where previously we would never have dared venture.

Janet, eyes wide-open.

Hazel ditto

Pause for contemplation

Browns and golds began to assert themselves as we made our way out.

Wasn´t this same old fella waiting at this same bus stop this same time last year. 

Back at Retiro dos Pescadores (which itself had had a close shave with the fires), Dona Fernanda cooked up her usual smashing breakfast, but her latest assistant Avelã, being new to the job, bustled about a lot but did not observe established APAPS protocol and failed to serve Yves with his breakfast first. Even Paul had to wait a bit.

Paul´s plate looks good enough

and in the end Yves had something to smile about. (On second thoughts, perhaps that bit of protocol has had its day.)

JohnH´s attempt at a Myriam-through-the-window shot

Smart phones at the ready, as always. The breakfast spread was rounded off with a generous supply of fruit from the proprietors – melon, figs and peaches.

And to close, a pictorial quotation of sorts:-

                                                                       (with apologies to A.A.Milne)

Post-script.

Those readers blessed with exceptional powers of recall will not have forgotten that, during APAPS 18.5 on 25th July in Pedreira, some of us made the acquaintance of 90 year-old Dona Maria Reis dos Campos Nunes, when our photographer emeritus Yves took this portrait.

He had now had the picture framed so, after breakfast, four of us went along the road to see her and to present her with the picture.

She was delighted with it and insisted on taking us into her house to see other photos of her in years past. She talked a great deal but only Dina will have gathered the full story. 

Post-post-script

We do not often, at editorial level, pander to our readers´ wishes but, since Paul has always had an eye for the absurd-  equine as well as human - and since he took the trouble to send in his horsey pics, we will now publish them, in response to his Comment: “ A great pity the horse disguised as a zebra, and the one wearing a D-Cup bra over its eyes, were left on the cutting room floor!!”
That we do condescend to admit his request has nothing at all to do with the fact that, next week, we will need him to step in to do the blog for 29th August. And we are advised that publuishing these pictures does not infringe on the creatures´ animal rights.

(Photo credits: Dina, Hazel, JohnH, Paul, Yves.)