APAPS 20.6: Safety First

The heading picture is what faced drivers heading east on the N269 towards Poço Frito at 7-15 am last Wednesday. Not designed for easy driving. Myriam very sensibly pulled in and waited for ten minutes. Safety is our motto of the moment.

There was a reasonable turn out of seven in the early morning sun at Café Martins

and without too much preliminary ado, they assembled for the Starter picture.

Although this walk was all over familiar ground, the Leader did make one small mistake which was seized on and for which he was teased unmercifully. Lucky that the followers did not notice the two or three other errors. Apart than that, not much to report, so this will be a mainly photographic record. 

At the clump of old oak trees which have figured before in this blog, Terry noticed that one of the limbs was drooping a bit

so he re-adjusted it. Hopefully, it will be good for a few more years now. But that was a risky move, Terry. Next time. please wear your safety helmet; those branches are heavy.

Yves got up to his usual little game of balancing ever more impossible rocks on other impossible rocks.

Shortly after this, Jim and Yves decided that they had had enough and headed off on a short cut towards the nearest tarmac, 

hoping no doubt to thumb a lift back to the Café, while the rest of us followed a more roundabout but uneventful way back to base where Hazel was patiently waiting for her breakfast. The Leader was just about to drive off down the road to look for Jim and Yves when, in a miracle of good timing, they arrived having indeed managed to thumb a lift in Paul´s khaki green jeep. 

Safety is our motto. but I don´t know about those brakes or was the van used to bring it to a stop?

The caption to the following picture (and I don´t know who wrote that caption) reads 

"I´m glad I got out of that alive".

The two passengers who emerged may have been a bit shaken but that didn´t stop others from wanting to have a go.

The Track and the Statistics.

The Breakfast

Adequate if a trifle disappointing would be this critic´s verdict.. The cook´s technique for frying eggs seems to involve an element of simultaneous scrambling. Paul´s photography presents the food in a different light.

Another disappointment at the meal was that it had been anticipated that Paul would unveil his very latest Tilley hat,

but he had forgotten to bring it and was wearing the same old same old. Janet and Ingrid will just have to contain their excitement for one more week

Coming back to the safety theme, Myriam gave a presentation on her new First Aid kit

while the enthralled audience marvelled at its contents.

There is some debate about whether mascara provide any safety benefits; meanwhile, away from the walking, Yves has been continuing his series of estátuas mascaradas pictures.

If there are any more statues near you which have not yet been masked, please let him know.

APAPS 20.5: Drama in the High Serra

 

 This week´s Blog starts with a P.S., a Post Scriptum to last week´s blog because Yves´ would-be comment included a photo, which the Blogger Comments box does not cater for. And if any of the current readership are offended by the appearance of yet another cricketing picture, when I had promised no more on that topic, I can only apologise by saying that Algoz takes precedence, alphabetically at least, over Belgium and by echoing Shakespeare´s words:-

“If we cricket fans have offended,

Think but this, and all is mended, -

That you have but slumber´d here,

While these visions did appear.

And this weak and idle theme,

No more yielding but a dream.”

And now to Yves´comment:- if  you remember, I had queried his particular interest in the Belgian Ladies cricket eleven.

Quote 

Prof Ferrer, aka Aris-total on occasions, here!

 May I point out that my interest in ladies’ cricket is purely due to strict compliance with my duties of ‘Custodian of Sporting Traditions Here and Elsewhere’?

 It falls to me, therefore, to ask whether said ladies did or still do observe the time-honoured friendly gesture of exchanging jerseys at the end of the match: photographic evidence is always a help in such circumstances as one cannot be in more than three separate locations at any one time… Can anyone in possession of such pictorial record help out? Please?

 For the sake of cricket reporting world-wide, I enclose a photograph of Algoz First XI batting away at wicked deliveries from Tunes Cobbled XI.

Connoisseurs will enjoy the finer details of pitch condition, improvised stumps and the relative positions of the (tennis) ball and the bat… Moi, I was just the snapper, your ’onor!  

 Yves

.PS: I would have included the above as a comment to your wonderful essay but Phat Phingers and Thick Thskull prevented it…  Perhaps you might fit it in? Thanks!

unquote 

  And now, having got that out of the way, we can move onto the Walk. The day before, it looked like numbers walking, as opposed to just eating, were going to be on the up, with as many as seven signing on . However,that evening Terry and Jill had to call off because the former had caught a bit too much sun – better not to risk it. So there were five Starters, including Myriam who, having lost her bearings the previous time at Pescadores, made sure that she was there first this time, her dead-reckoning functioning perfectly.

The Starters

The early morning stroll along the canal in the early morning sunlight was delightful, apart from a great chorus of barking dogs. 

But that din soon ceased and as we moved into the woods there was only the chatter of the ladies to be heard as they went along ahead at a considerable pace, oblivious of whether they were on the correct track or not.

Some strange ornithological observations were made.

Soon, however, a new noise became more and more persistent – the sound of chain saws and of falling trees. Some large scale logging was taking place as the eucalyptus crop was being harvested. 

Whole hillside were being stripped, with the likelihood that, for the next two or three years there will be little shade on these familiar tracks. Another side effect is that the heavy equipment being used to transport the logs has churned the tracks up so much that, as we had noticed at Aguas Belas the previous week, there is thick powdery earth everywhere, several inches deep.

Now, this stuff may be soft to walk on but don´t be deceived. The dust is treacherous because one cannot see what stones and rocks are hidden underneath. And this may be what caused Jim to stumble and fall like a ninepin face first into the dust.

This was the chance for Dr Ferrer to put the skills he acquired during his service with Médecins Sans Frontières into practice. Ably assisted by Maria, he quickly staunched the blood flow and applied ointment to Jim´s grazes. Then Colonel Ferrer´s mountain rescue experience, gained from his training with 15 Peloton de Gendarmerie de Haute Montaigne, kicked in as he guided a somewhat shaken Jim down the rocky tracks in the direction of home base. Suffice to say, they all got back in good time for breakfast.

Non-walkers, Chris, Antje, Paul and Hazel were there for the meal and Rod put in his usual avuncular appearance in time for for coffee. Breakfast was the usual high Pescadores standard, with Hazel and Maria providing much appreciated assistance.

Contact was made by phone with Terry who sounded cheerful enough and Myriam entertained us with anecdotes about Chinese singing birds and crickets (insects, not the game). Paul updated us with the latest news from his aviary of finches.

Pescadores provided us with figs fresh from their horta and Sensei Yves demonstrated his familiarity with the art of fruit and vegetable carving (Mukimono in Japanese or Thaeng yuak in Thai).

It is rumoured that he intends to take part in the IKA/Culinary Olympics Fruit and Vegetable Carving Competition. Yes, there really is such a thing. Watch this space.

 Is there no end to the man´s many talents?

Well, yes actually; he has not yet mastered how to Blog. Now there´s a challenge.

The Track and Statistics

For those who missed Myriam´s reminiscences about Chinese singing birds and clickets, try cricking on this rink for a view of Hong Kong in 1965.

https://m.facebook.com/watch/?v=2051538468466060&_rdr 

As well as singing birds and clickets, this video has a fascinating demonstration of the collect way to eat noodles with chop sticks, while the Hing Wen Restaurant menu looks economical enough for the APAPS. Fried rice at $1.80 for the humans, and "Grass Hoppe and Lizards" for the birds -  veritable bargains.

Post Publish Note from Paul:

John caught me by surprise with his speed of publishing that I missed sending him a short vid. of the World Cricket Championships, which is displayed below:

Any suggestions for a sport that the APAPS/WAGS might support or supplement their meagre pensions by indulging?  Caracois racing perhaps!

APAPS 20.4: Aguas Belas Remodelled

You may be wondering if your Blogger is losing the plot by publishing, for the second week running, a cricketing photograph at the top of the blog, but there is an explanation. Mid-way through this Wednesday´s walk, Yves mentioned that he had been greatly impressed by the research I had gone into on the subject of Belgium´s international (men´s ) cricket team, all of whom just happened to have Bangladeshi names. He wondered if I could do similar research into Belgium´s international women´s cricket. Well, I was a bit doubtful if any such thing as Belgian women´s cricket even existed. After all, Ingrid, usually a fount of all knowledge, seems to know nothing about the sport or its possible Flemish origins; but I said that I would do as I was asked. And lo and behold! it does exist. These ladies are more ethnically assorted than the men were, there being 3 Scottish or at least Celtic names among them, only one Asian sub-continental name and the rest a clutch of suitable Germanic names. That, in the photograph, there are 13 in the team might suggest that they could in fact be a rugby league team. Perhaps they don´t know that a cricket team is a called a cricket eleven for a reason. There is at least the evidence of a cricket bat, so we will give them the benefit of the doubt. Umpire´s call probably. I don´t wish to probe further into Yves´ particular interest in these young ladies – you don´t need so many people to play French cricket, do you? - so I will now drop the subject and turn to the walk.

 But just before I do, let me remind you that Paul a Pé added a comment on last week´s blog about another type of cricket as follows:- 

“Myriam of course is more familiar with another game of 'cricket(s)'. Indeed it is rum0ured that her family fortune is based on some judicious and skilful wagering on the game during the Tang Dynasty.” https://youtu.be/ST954vgfvhQ 

 so if you want to spend ten minutes or so studying the Chinese connection between insectology and gambling, click on that link.

The Walk

 When we were almost ready to start from Café Pára e Fica, we learned that for some reason Maria had decided to self-isolate and so had parked herself about a kilometre away from the rest of us. An envoy was despatched to assure her that it was actually quite safe to come out of quarantine and join the rest of us, which she did in time for the Starter photo.

And then we set off along the Aguas Belas track. Attentive readers of the recent Quarantine Diaries will probably remember in Week 4 thereof (08.04.2020) Rod and Antony reported on the large amount of work going on on re-landscaping this valley. And now we could see the results. Scarcely 200 metres from the entrance to the track, there were massive hills of eucalyptus chippings. If you need mulch for your garden, it´s there just for the taking.

Further along, the track had been reshaped and broadened; several undulations, dips and hollows had been smoothed over, and the famous Hazel´s Swimming Pool, where she boldly took a plunge one rainy day in March 2018 with the AWWS, exists no longer.

                                                       Hazel Went Swimming

 Indeed, some of the remodelling of the track has so interfered with the course of the seasonal Aguas Belas river that it will be interesting to see how the river flows when (or if) next it rains. And there is dust, dust everywhere: a very fine dust that showed up very clearly that a deer had been out for its morning constitutional just before we came along. And that fine dust will become an extremely muddy mud when (or if) it next rains. Eventually we left this dusty track and made our way up and over the ridge to the south, pausing fairly frequently during the long ascent to admire the scenery, i.e. catch our breath or to toss the occasional caber.

On the ridge, we had the usual good view of Silves castle, which never quite comes out in photographs as well as one thinks it should. Professor Ferrer explained it thus: the human brain can persuade the human eye to distinguish detail which the camera, which has no brain, cannot.

                                                Terry listens to the Professor

We turned west along the ridge and then decided to avoid the obvious route back to the start, in order to avoid some beehives and instead took a rather precipitous trail down a hillside. We have been up that way in the past but, as it´s very difficult to get the ground staff these days, so it was now very overgrown. Jill took a fall and Jim drew blood, but they both survived.

Maria performed the limbo and also survived.

The steepness of the descent can be judged from the elevation profile in the Track Section. Jim´s “Thank God, that´s over” was rather understated in the circumstances. The Track

The Breakfast

We got back to Pára e Fica with 10 minutes to spare before breakfast´was served. The food was OK, only one egg each this time which was perhaps a bit on the mean side, but there were lashings of bacon and buttered toast, and some truly delectable tomatoes. Terry and Jill did not stay to eat, but Chris, Antje and the newly walking-wounded Hazel did come to join us at the meal. Rod came for coffee, in a pair of chinos mercifully less flamboyant than the previous week. Before the meal, Chris and Antje had been for a short stroll along Aguas Belas and had been lucky enough to see a large red deer, maybe the same one whose tracks we had noted. Chris remarked that this was the event of the week as far as he was concerned - referring to seeing that deer, or having the breakfast, who knows?