APAPS 25 02: Well, That Fell (Felt?) A Bit Flat, Didn´t It.

 Well, it was a bit flat - the walk, I mean - just look at the Elevation Profile - an ascent range of 13 metres !

It was all deliberate, of course. A canal walk should be flat, especially after the recent hot weather. Our weather guru Rod informed us that the previous day he had recorded his hottest ever reading, 41.8*C. Nobody complained that there were no hills.

We will start with a touch of humour, thanks to Myriam.

Very true to life.

Be that as it may, five of us met at Mira Rio promptly at 7 am and sat for the Starter photo. 

It could be an entry for the Silves Miss Beautiful Knees 2025 Competition. 

Then there was some fig picking; to answer Antje´s question, there were some ripes ones.

The lady in green was our chef from Mira Rio.

Then we  made our way along the canal 

pausing at the look-out to chat to the lady fisherman down on the shore.

And then on the the peaceful surroundings of Clube Nautico.

Here Myriam recorded the art works to be found inside the Ladies` cloakroom.

She even investigated the men´s loo but found nothing so tasteful there.

We expanded our geographical knowledge thanks to the Clube´s directional signs. Whakatane is in North Island New Zealand, and Achterhoek is a region in the eastern Netherlands. I must remember to bring a sign from Scotland,  - Auchtermuchty or Auchtertool should do the trick. 

After a twenty minute rest at the Clube, we made our way back up to the canal for our return route. Some of us took the safe route by road but Rod risked life and limb and ventured across a miniscule plank of wood.

but in fact it proved to be stouter than it looked and bore the weight of two or three.

And so back along where we had come.

En route, Myriam took this fine picture of two horses

and there was something strange about her photo because when I looked at it later on my mobile, The individual horses were picked out and I was given information about what breed they were. The small chestnut one was described as a Norwegian Fjord horse or a Haflinger, and the other larger one as a Mangalarga Marchador. Maybe Rod can confirm that this odd information is accurate or not.

I tried the same trick on the Starter photo which had a dog in it and I was informed that it is an Ibizan Hound, particularly used for hunting rabbits. 

I then tried to find out what breeds the three Miss Beautiful Knees were, but came up with zero information on that score.

That was yesterday evening, and today I can´t get my mobile to play the same trick.

Back at base, we were met by a specially employed male model selling WAGS t-shirts. Caveat emptor !

The Track and The Statistics

The Breakfast

For the breakfast the five walkers were joined by Paul, Andy, Chris and Rachel.

Promptly at 10 am the food was brought out and good it was too.

Rod, who does not do cooked breakfasts, sat a little bit apart and watched us, contentedly one supposes, over a cup of coffee.

Rachel looked somewhat taken aback by the size of her meal but, with a little bit of encouragement from Chris and Hazel

and with the example of Paul wolfing his nosh down to follow,

she relied on her boarding school upbringing and determinedly cleared her plate.

More photographs followed

until Maria gestured to the paparazza "that´s enough of that, thank you."

and that was that.