Who would have thought ? 2025 marks 20 years of blogging our pedestrian activities in the Algarve. Much evolution - some might say degeneration - AWW (1997), WAGS 1 (2015),WAGS 2 (2019). Sideshows: APAPS, Lagos COWS -and who knows? By next year we may morph into WADS ! The Hard Core is numerically challenged and a tad softer, but Ever Onwards !
WAGS 08.02.2023: Meia Praia, or Mad Dogs and Englishmen and All That
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One has to take weather forecasts "with a bit of salt", as they say. My weather map had Lagos bathed in sunshine from 9.30 am onwards. Antje´s forecast differed. And we both got it wrong. Read on. Here is her report.
"The weather forecast had changed several times in the morning. When Maria texted at 8 am “Are we
walking?” it was supposed to stay dry until midday so the answer
was a definite “Yes.”
So seven of us were assembled at
Lagos station café by 10 am. Hazel, Maria, Rod, John, Myriam,
Paul, and Antje plus Sascha. Chris had to opt out.
"This way" said the Leader, but nobody was listening.
It began to rain and some struggled to get dressed
Eventually, after a bit of help, Rod emerged
We were in no danger of "ciclying"
The plan was to
explore the newly erected walkway from Lagos to Meia Praia
Beach.
We started at the beginning,
opposite Sopromar shipyard and followed the walk´s curvy line until
we were stopped by an uncompleted link just before Meia Praia
station.
Then the sun came out, briefly
A Fashion Statement !
After the uncompleted gap of 2
meters, there are numerous off-shoots of the walkway leading to the
beach at intervals.
Steps and ramps
And then the walkway follows on until it reaches
the wall which separates the village from the golf course.
But the heavens opened at this point, rain-gear was unpacked again
and donned and the general consensus was to turn back now, rather
than go on to the end. So we walked back along the beach.
Paul spotted a dying gull. Don´t know why it is so blue
The beach was deserted; wonder why?
Extracting sweeties from Hazel´s backpack
Offshore, a storm threatened
But the
rains stopped when we reached our starting point.
Blue skies at last
Neither of our technical gurus managed to switch their tracking devices on, but here is a reconstruction of the track
About 5.7 kms.
Lunch was had at
Tasca da Lota, just opposite the station.
Peixe-espada
Robalo
Bacalhau á bras
Salada polvo
Secretos de porco preto
Leader AND Treasurer
"Oi, Ref ! He pushed me,."
No harm done.
A pretty uneventful
walk, trying to keep track of Sascha who disappeared at frequent
intervals into the dunes was the biggest excitement for your leader.
But we walked, we talked and enjoyed a tasty lunch together.
This, at the end of the day, is what we come for.
Antje "
Thanks for leading, Antje. Now to close, two bits of music; the second one by Burt Bacharach who died just the other day, the first Harold Arlen´s Stormy Weather.
A good day for walking. Here is Antje, the Leader´s report On a sunny day seven of us met up for coffee at Lagos railway station cafe Waiting for Chris and Antje’s arrival were the prompt Maria, John, Myriam and Paul; Lesley soon joined us. We drove to Meia Praia station and walked from there on the road through the golf course to the lagoon. The Walking Wounded Does anybody understand these signs? Dung beetle ? Not like the African ones. "Wait for me !" Once at the lagoon, Chris, Paul and Myriam, the latter having just had surgery on her wrist, left us to return to enjoy a coffee at Bar Quim on the beach. We, the remaining four, then walked on to the end of the beach passing along the small lagoon which is divided from the oyster beds in the Alvor river outlet by a walkway (correct word? No. Causeway perhaps). The temperature was perfect with a cool wind offsetting the warmth of the sun. The views were wonderful and Lesley...
Minutes of the Inaugural Meeting of the WAGS Luncheon Club Held at Café Silva, Vale Fuzeiros, on Wednesday 2 nd April 2025 In attendance : Frew, R: Hope, J: Lo. M: Newton, M. Apologies: recorded as per WAGS WhatsApp. The Meeting opened at 09.30 hrs. A quorum was declared. Teas and coffees were taken. The meeting then sat watching the torrential rain and listening to the howling gale outside. At 10.30 hrs, more teas and coffees were taken. There was banter. The rain continued. No proposal about venturing outside for a walk was put forward. At 11.20 hrs, Lo, M. proposed staying at the Café for lunch; the proposal was carried nem. con . More teas and coffees were taken. Vismé, P. was summoned by telephone. At 11.55 hrs, Vismé, P. arrived and joined the meeting, which then adjourned to the dining salon. Lunch was served at an all-in cost of Euros 12 per head, the menu including the usual couvert, omelettes, feijoada de porco, vitela estufada, sobremesas, wine...
These blogs have, from their very outset, adhered to two inviolable principles – the first, always to avoid politics, and the second ( as Yves will doubtless testify), never to take the mickey out of the French. However, over these past few weeks, it has become impossible to resist the temptation to override those principles. First, there has been the example of M. Le Président Micron who keeps losing his Prime Ministers and then he loses France´s Napoleonic crown jewels. But we will not dwell on him. Then there was the sight of ex-Président M. N (for Napoleon) Sarkozy, marching off to La Bastille to the strains of La Marseillaise, convicted of trying to borrow money from a dictatorial Libyan called Gaddafi. (For heaven´s sake – no British high-up would ever dream of trying such a thing!) But was that a crime? If so, it illustrates the difference between British and French law. In Britain, one can do what one likes unless there is a law against it; in France, one can only do ...
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opposite Sopromar shipyard and followed the walk´s curvy line until
we were stopped by an uncompleted link just before Meia Praia
station.
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