APAPS 22.14: Then There Were Three

 There are two main types of walker. There are those who, to paraphrase the old Punch cartoon,

when asked about their style of walking, reply

“Well, sometimes I plods and thinks, and then again sometimes I just plods.”

But this type certainly do not talk a great deal while walking.

And then there is the second main type of walker, those who obviously look on the walks as an opportunity to have a good old chin-wag. And nothing wrong with that.

This last week, our walking numbers were very considerably reduced below the normal complement, and the Leader was a trifle concerned about the potential for silence during the walk, particularly given the absence of those stalwarts of the second main type, Janet and Yves. But he need not have feared, because Myriam was there to meet the challenge, which she did most valiantly. Virtually single-handedly, she kept the flow of conversation going for almost the whole of the two and three quarter hours, only put off her stride (so to speak) for 5 minutes or so when the Leader attempted to tell, uninterrupted, the story of how Geraldine aged about 11 had managed to fly unaccompanied from Edinburgh to Dubai without a passport. Even then there were interruptions.

Anyway, to be brief, there were just the three Starters at Herdade de São Bom Homem..

The paths and the views were familiar, of course, we have been there very often.

What was refreshing, however, was to see the greenery after the recent spell of rain.

The dams are, of course, not nearly full enough but the trees, washed of their covering of dust, and the revived grasses are freshly green.

Also good to see is the success of Silves Camera´s tree replanting efforts.

Myriam also took over Yves´ duties as official portrait photographer, and did a very good job too. 

There were hills to be tackled but we took things very gently  with lots of pauses for rest, as the average speed stat will tell you.

Myriam captured a shot of JohnH managing to stand balanced on one leg.

"Stans pede in uno"   (Horace, Satires 1 iv 10)

 

The trick is the two poles of course.

.And now two more of her portrait shots.

How she talked us into that one I am not sure; but with her patter and camera skills she should be able to get a job with one of those glossy society gossip magazines.

The Track and the Statistics

After the walk, we drove to Poço Baretto in just under 15 minutes, for a second visit to Café Victoria, arriving there at just on 10.30. There we found Maria, just off the plane from Istanbul, and Rod waiting to join us for breakfast.

Our choices were various, which puzzled the staff a bit..

Vegetarian breakfast without vegetarian sausages but plus black pudding.

(Does that still count as vegetarian ?)

Full English without egg yolk

Full English without bacon and plus a second egg

And the Full English with an extra egg yolk and black pudding.

There were coffees which I understand were acceptable, sauces and English mustard.

AND the draught Guinness had arrived !

The Guiness Caneca went down extremely well...

The breakfasts are not bad but, on the minus side, there is only white bread of the Bimbo type, no brown or integral bread, and the small Guinnesses were very small, not good value. General verdict - not a place to visit too often. 

Music to close. Last week, we had Moon River which Myriam said was one of her favourites. This week and continuing our atmospheric theme of sun, moon and stars, we have Hazel´s long time favourite, Stardust.. with Django Reinhardt (guitar) Coleman Hawkins (tenor sax) and Stèphane Grappelli (on piano for once), What a combination!

and, for good measure, a vocal version by Hoagy Carmichael who it was who wrote the tune in 1927, so Wikipedia tells us; the lyrics were added by somebody else two years later.

APAPS 22.13: Three Green Bottles and One Green Hat

 

For our breakfast walk location on APAPS 22.13, we chose to start from Poço Barreto railway station, somewhere we hadn´t been for a considerable period of time. Why we chose it on this occasion was because we wanted to investigate the newly opened Café Victoria nearby and its promise of a Full English Breakfast menu, cooked English style.

In its previous incarnation this café was called Café Sustelo. This  became one of the Covid Lockdown´s casualties and had remained closed and deserted for these last two years. Café Sustelo was of some historical interest, because it was here that Vitor and Dina first introduced a certain French photographer to the AWWs. Whether that was a Good or a Bad Thing, time will tell. Meanwhile, here are a couple of photos of that red-letter day, 23^rd May 2007 to be exact.

Starters 23.05.2007

Beating the Retreat

That walk was led by Ian Scott who, I recall, distinguished himself by leading us a kilometre or so along the main road before realising he had missed a vital side turning and he had to lead us back into the village to start again. Our walk this week luckily had no such misadventures and was relatively uneventful, although not entirely without incident.

Starters 21.09.2022

Only five starters, although numerous reinforcements were expected for the breakfast. We set off into the dawn light

and  a bit later enjoyed the sight of a magnificent group of trees

and generally ambled along looking at odd things here and there taking plenty of pauses.

Bling ?

An abandoned recipe book

Those who are familiar with the area behind Poço Barreto will know the rather shambolic building project that has being going on since time immemorial at a very slow pace. Every now and then a new window or door might appear, but seldom any sign of any occupants or building team.

But on this occasion we were surprised to find someone actually working on the site. So Myriam was quick to conduct one of her ad hoc interviews. Last week it had been a strawberry farmer who had had to face her inquisition. This week it was a cheerful Portuguese guy up on the roof who had a grilling. He, so I gather, told her that he was constructing a condominium with 11 en-suite apartments, and, in total, 16 casas de banho. The apartments are already available for purchase, so now is your opportunity. Just hope he´s got a good water supply and a good septic tank---with all those toilets to flush.

There he is

Janet did not seem particularly impressed by the development but Yves spotted some rare green glass flagons, possibly of decorative use, and asked if he could have them.

Permission was readily forthcoming as well as a sack to transport them. On the way back to base Yves offered one of them to Janet who accepted the offer.

The Track and the Statistics

We got back to Café Victoria at about 10 am where the staff seemed genuinely delighted to start preparing a variety of breakfast choices for a group of about ten.

Then the green bottle incident happened. There was time before our 10.30 breakfast for us to sit and have a quiet chat and a coffee, when JohnH, from where he was sitting, just happened to get a fleeting sight of some chancer nicking the green bottle which Yves had placed carefully by the boot of Janet´s car.

At this point, let´s go back to the Starter Photo. There in the right background, you can see Janet´s navy blue saloon parked next to JohnH´s rather more flashy sky blue Honda. The green dot shows where Yves had left the bottle at Janet´s boot. 

Somebody dumping lixo had spotted the bottle and, quick as a flash, had grabbed it. Alerted to the emergency, Yves rushed over shouting “That´s not lixo” but they didn´t understand English. They turned out to be French tourists, however, so use of the language of diplomacy helped smooth over a possibly awkward moment.

By this time, the Whittles, Rod, Paul, and TerryA plus carer had arrived (note the careful use of the Oxford comma there, just to be topical) and breakfast soon commenced.

The service was efficient and friendly. The verdict on the food was varied. Those who had black pudding with their F.E.B.were delighted; those who had toasties did not seem quite so impressed. Not sure what the verdict on the vegetarian breakfast was; some of the vegetarian sausages were smuggled back home. Was this because they were so good, or was it out of concern for Sacha?

Spinach, tomato and something Toastie

The Vegetarian Full English Breakfast

Hazel´s less than Full English Breakfast  - no bacon, extra egg.  

The common or garden Full English Breakfast

and the Full English Breakfast with black pudding!

Pity the draught Guinness had not yet been delivered.

Worth another visit????? Opinions please.

At the end, JohnH got lumbered with the bill. Not to pay, one hastens to add, but to calculate individual dues.

This involved more mental arithmetic than he had had to cope with for years and years!

And what about the green hat, you ask. Well, nearly half way home, JohnH´s mobile rang .It was Antje saying Hazel had left her green Tilley behind, so back we went. Had Rod saved it for Hazel, or was he too looking for a souvenir from the lixo?

This could be a worrying trend if Hazel continues to leave her Tilleys lying around. They are not that cheap. Apparently, there are circumstances where Tilley will replace lost Tilleys, but probably not where one just leaves them in a café. Tilley veterans have one piece of sound advice to offer

 “Always keep your Tilley on your head. Can´t go wrong.”

And to close, one more in our series of moon music.