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.)