WAGS 05 01 2022: All Fenced In, or Iron Rations at Vale Fuzeiros

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I don´t know what TripAdvisor has to say in general about the prospects of eating out in Vale Fuzeiros but one pities the poor inhabitants of that locality if they want to do so on Wednesdays, because everywhere is shut, as we our selves found out when Rod gave us a guided tour of its eateries last Wednesday. Not even a coffee to be had, as Rod reports here .

Despite Paul's apparent efforts to convert WAGS walks into another version of APAPS, covering the mid-day repast, by renaming it WADS.....reflecting clearly that Dining was the only part of the day's events in which he participates.... John, Hazel and Geraldine,Yves, Maria and Rod gathered at Cafe Silva for an actual walk. Well, outside Cafe Silva to be more accurate since, despite their website indicating to the contrary, they were firmly closed for their New Year recess,.so indeed was nearby Casa das Vinhas and so was the only other such establishment in Vale Fuzeiros, Cafe Grahla.

This prompted a quick re-routing of the planned walk with the revised final resting place (sorry about that designation...recent funeral overload I suppose) being João de Deus in Messines.



 So we parked the cars at the appropriate turn towards Messines, took the customary Starter photograph, and headed up the Vale Bravo road towards the Dam. This involved a bit of a puff up the ridge and then a long descent towards the lakeside.

No one knows why a picture of polar bears is displayed at Vale Bravo

Not even this old man of the rocks

Uneventful was this descent until we reached the bottom when we came upon the comprehensive  establishment of the new private hunting reserve.

Fences everywhere

Access denied now
Clearly they have no intention of encouraging anyone else to venture into their territory and we were forced to retrace our steps to the main track up to the intended circuit track. This was a steepish climb up but half way we passed the half-completed but long abandoned house of Matt (an old friend of Antony 's).



This necessitated a stop for Maria, Yves and Rod to nosey around to see what was happening ( not a lot in the event).





 John, Hazel and Geraldine opted out and plodded on.

Soon John and Hazel were miles ahead

Leaving us with some catching up to do

Once all together again we continued along the circular contour path...there are splendid views over the lake but spoiled for a while by the sight of some particularly ugly camp site which quite ruins an extensive stretch of lakeside. How do they get away with it !? !

Viewing the Eyesore




Geraldine enjoyed the weather


The track winds down to water level before turning upwards to reveal Henley-Welch Jr 's House on the skyline. Skirting this we began the long climb all the way back up to the ridge....over this and back down to the cars.

Some last minute scrumping

From there to João de Deus where the erstwhile hirsute Paul with his newly depilated chin was patiently waiting with the still mildly lame Myriam. Do I get the impression we might see them both on the hoof again soon? Well, steady on!

Colour co-ordination

Beardless in Gaza ?








Today was near the limits of WAGS guidelines  at 9.5k, 3hrs overall, 200m of climb and a moving average of 4kph...and finished off with an assortment of tostas, bifanas and omelettes from the friendly hands of João de Deus.

.Well, that concludes Rod´s report. And now for the Track and some Statistics.


If you like your statistics in concise format, here they are from JohnH´s GPS:-


and if you like them more fully analysed, here are some from Rod´s Outlander Professional  gizmo.



We will conclude with a picture of the previous night´s  Algarve sunset, for no other reason than that it is a good one, taken by Terry A if I´m not mistaken.


and a touch of music to close. As the man sings "I can´t stand fences."



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Comments

  1. Yves9 January 2022 at 17:06

    Hesitant start to the year but eventually good outing in brilliant sunshine! Geraldine seemed to enjoy it twice over: good for her!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Myriam10 January 2022 at 17:41

    Yes, it was a glorious day for walking. Pity I wasn't there!!
    But I will be joining you next week for my inauguration walk with a repaired little left toe!! My legs had been lazy for the past 2 months and they don't seem to be able to propel me uphill as well as they used to be! I hope the next walk will be an easy one!

    ReplyDelete
  3. John Hope12 January 2022 at 07:57

    Comment by Maria:-

    "Sem café. Very interesting start, but was a good walk. As usual good company good lunch thank you."

    ReplyDelete

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