AWW 2013-14: Trilho Histórico - 18th to 20th November 2014. Thoughts and Recollections

Porto Côvo where it all began

It had to happen, of course. We have had eleven years of late autumn walking along and around the west coast of the Algarve and the Alentejo with scarcely a shower, so we were due something different, and this year it happened. One very pleasant straightforward day and aborted walks on the following two days is the condensed version. If you want more, read on!

The Barmy Army on this trip consisted of:

Geoff and Sue, Pam and Nick, John and Hazel, Ken and Miriam, Jan and Otter, Eileen, Marian, Lynne, David, Ros, Manuela, Maria, and Dina.

All canines were confined to barracks.

The skirmishing party of the advance guard arrived in Porto Côvo around 1.00 on Monday, 17th November. David, Eileen and Lynne had decided to set out early in order to have some time in the very attractive seaside village before dusk, and we duly had a walk to the sea, a very pleasant lunch and a stroll round the shops still open on the almost deserted main street, before checking in to Residencia Zé Inácio. By that time the rest of the group overnighting in PC had begun to arrive. The weather was mild enough to allow people to sit outside the next door restaurant for drinks before dinner. Zé Inácio turned out to be comfortable enough, and I had the luxury of a balcony with a sea view. Apart from almost scalding myself in the unpredictable shower, I found it acceptable for a one-night stay. Everyone went to the Zé Inácio restaurant for the evening meal, and the seven already signed in were joined during the evening by Jan and Otter. Manuela was the last to arrive on Monday, having come all the way from Seville. Food and wine were generally declared good value, and the staff of the family-run establishment attentive and helpful. The prospect of a leisurely 10.00 a.m. start on Tuesday encouraged a relaxed feeling within the group.

The weather forecast for Tuesday was good, and it turned out to be excellent for walking, though the sun rarely achieved full power. Transport arrangements were very straightforward, as Ros, Marian and Dina were collected from Cercal do Alentejo- target of the day’s stage – and their cars were used to return the drivers to their vehicles at the end. The party was completed with the arrival of Pam and Nick, more or less straight off the plane from England.A good breakfast was taken, again in the restaurant next door to the accommodation, and everyone managed to provide themselves with lunch of some sort. Departure was made on time after John had made use of his gorilla pad to record the event.

The Starters - day 1

Taking the broad track a little way back from the coast rather than ploughing across the cliff-top sand, very good progress was made to the large Napoleonic-looking fort opposite Ilha do Pessegueiro, and the bulk of the group took a little time out to go down to the shore for a closer look at the island and the bay.

Ilha do Pessegueiro, the Napoleonic Fort, The Old Island Fort and the Praia

The rest of the day’s walk divided into two distinct phases: first came very easy level walking across the coastal plain, with sand underfoot for much of the way. Then the land began to undulate as the climb towards Cercal was undertaken, and beautiful woodland replaced the open fields. The sign-posting of the walk was proving to be excellent, and so it remained.

Lunch on the hill

A comparatively early lunch was taken, as some had risen very early to make the trip north, and then the walk to Cercal resumed without notable incident, passing the Herdade da Matinha and its inquisitive horses.

“ Lord, what fools these mortals be, Amanda.”

Just before we reached Cercal, we came across the only remotely historical artifact to be seen on the whole trip – to wit, a British Home Stores Wash-Hand Basin circa 1949, complete with a choice of desirable taps and the then-fashionable avocado trim.

Avocado trim, very much in vogue in days gone by

While the technically minded among us were admiring this piece, the girls enjoyed the poinsettias and Maria found out from the proud owner of said W-H-B why her little cottage was called Pousada do Sossego (The Inn of Peace), while her husband smiled benignly from within.

The ‘ferry’ cars were located outside the town cemetery – the largest I have ever seen in Portugal - where they had been parked for lack of a single space in the town centre. Drinks were then had in said centre before the drivers were taken back to Porto Côvo to collect the vehicles left there. Then it was on to our accommodation outside S Luis. Most of the group decamped to Corte da Preguiça, where a slightly bemused Sr. Jose had to become a traffic policeman as a convoy of cars descended upon his establishment, which is definitely not designed to take many vehicles. He found it hard to understand why these people who were supposed to be walkers were arriving by car. The confusion and congestion were not helped by the presence of the Ottermobile.

Once the motorised spaghetti was unravelled, and arrangements made for dinner, those staying at Naturarte left to find their own quarters. The parking area and first view of the latter is not inspiring (though vast in contrast to Preguiça, clearly visible just across the valley), but the interior of both bedrooms and communal areas certainly is, and our reception, with tea and home-baked cookies, was equally pleasing. Fitted out more in a central European style than anything Portuguese, it is a place of considerable comfort and very peaceful. It was designed and rebuilt from ruins by Sr. Rui, the owner, who is an architect.

Dinner was taken on Tuesday evening at Preguiça. Jose and cook Maria had prepared an excellent traditional Portuguese feast of spinach soup, followed by pork casserole and/or bacalhau rice, and an equally memorable sobremesa, except that I cannot at this moment remember what it was – I hope someone else can fill in this gap. Maybe the very good local wine has something to do with the quality of my memory here!

Dinner at Corte da Preguiça

After dinner an impromptu quartet of Manuela, Dina, Maria and Ros attempted to entertain us with a version of a romantic ballad about Porto Côvo, but without the music the very difficult piece proved too difficult for them.

We will leave it to Sr Rui Veloso, the singer on this clip, to let us know what we were missing:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTgqTXpZ2AU

Arrangements having been made for the morning, all departed for bed. The weather forecast was bad, so we were prepared. The rain began during the night and it came in very heavy showers. A lull around breakfast time ended as more persistent and quite heavy rain began to come down. Jan and Otter decided not to walk, but the rest, having considered the alternative of a day’s boredom, donned their wet weather gear and joined the convoy taking them back to Cercal for the return walk to S Luis.

The Starters - day 2

A reasonably prompt start was made, but then Geoff and Ken did their best to opt out of the day´s activities altogether by turning right from the cemetery instead of left. A search party had to go back to look for the pair, finding them, if rumour is to be credited, nursing macieiras in a cosy café. They rejoined us to a loud chorus of “Why Are We Waiting”. It was still raining when we eventually left the town, and it continued in varying strengths for the first part of the walk. Conditions underfoot were wet, in places very wet, but the first section, on relatively high ground, was reasonably good going. Descending the steep slope around the Minas de Rosalgar, it was obvious that very large quantities of water were leading the same way, and when we hit the valley floor we began to encounter areas of flooded track which slowed the pace. One of these sections did more than that for Sue who, trying avoid going over the tops of her boots in water, slipped on a narrow earth ledge and fell backwards into the pond, in close proximity to Nick ! Sadly there were no photographers to record the occurrence.

The obvious worry was around the state of the streams, and it was well-founded. Having walked alongside a racing torrent for some time, we reached a point where we had to cross to continue, and it was clearly impossible. Brief exploratory forays up and downstream revealed no crossing-point, and the decision was taken to abandon the walk and return to Cercal the way we had come.

Fast and deep - Impassable River no.1

Back on high ground, we hunkered down to lunch in a rather damp and chilly conditions.

But, in typical fashion, all rain had ceased by the time lunch was over, and the return walk took place – very quickly – in dry weather. We had, by the end, walked some 16 kilometres, almost as far as the previous day, but the prime objective, S Luís on foot, was not achieved.

Drinks and other refreshments were had once again in the centre of Cercal before a damp return to S Luís and base camps. After a brief rest, David, Ros and Nick went about placing transport at the end of the next stage in Odemira before returning to prepare for the evening meal at Naturarte. This proved to be just as memorable as the previous day, but in completely different style. A fish soup was followed by chicken breast with pine nuts, spinach, and cottage cheese, together with rice and salad, followed by a chocolate mousse – but not choc mousse as we know it, Jim, it was a wonderful creation. After dinner, those with stamina were entertained to a programme of guitar music by Rui, and those who attended were very complimentary about it.

Two happy diners at Naturarte, and that was after just the soup!

not choc mousse as we know it, Jim

False alarm – not the real thing

Rui – the real thing

Appreciative audience

And then the finale - Manuela in Fado mode

The weather forecast for the final day seemed a little better than for Wednesday, with a storm predicted for early morning and more rain later in the afternoon, but dry in between. Thirteen people girded up their loins for this third day. Ken and Miriam took heed of the advice of Miriam’s surgeon and decided the foot had been punished enough. Eileen had developed a cold and wisely called it a day, and Lynne also decided that honour was satisfied, given that we were about to walk 24 kilometres. Finally Manuela, with much work to do at home, also left us.

Some of the Starters –day 3

The predicted thunderstorm came around 08.00, and it was worthy of the name for about an hour. Then the rain stopped, and the group left from S Luis village just after 9, stepping out very smartly to make sure of reaching Odemira before nightfall. We had covered 3.5 miles in the first hour (moving average 5.2 km ), by Nick’s UK calibrated GPS, and were well on the way to repeat the feat in the second. The small guidebook to the walk talks rather vaguely about some bridges on this section, but there was certainly none to be seen when we arrived at the crossing of the R.do Torgal and found it a 30- metre brown torrent which we had no hope of crossing.

Wide and fast – Impassable River no.2

Cue repeat performance, as we retraced our steps to S Luis, thankfully without the steep hill-climb of the previous day. Once again we had covered a respectable AWW distance, but hardly in the way we intended.

Gentle walking country

In spite of the conditions and apart from Sue’s fall the previous day, we had sustained no injury at all until about a kilometre from the end, when Otter fell over a concrete-filled tyre and had to be ferried to the end by John in his car. We hope that no serious damage was done. Once Otter was returned to the fold, all departed for Odemira, where the majority left Pam and Nick to enjoy their sandwiches by the river, and opted for the large café across the street for duck soup and other local delicacies.

Some finishers at Odemira

Some (pre-soup) ducks on the banks of the Rio Mira

Odemira´s Oak Tree Roundabout where it all ended.

The group dispersed at intervals to make their way south. It began to rain again as I left Odemira, but soon it turned into a quite frightening rainstorm that lasted almost all the way to the motorway at Bensafrim. I cannot recall driving in such conditions for such a lengthy period of time.

So endeth a rather different AWW away-stay. Thanks to all for their good company, tolerance and quite remarkable stoicism in the face of such frustrating setbacks. The question now is, do we go for a repeat performance next year, to cover the ground properly, or do we look once more for pastures new? To be continued……….

(Text by David Littlewood; photo credits –Dina, Geoff, Sue, JohnH, and Ros)

Post-script - Tracks and statistics