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 1.03.2023: Zip It, or Hoje Não E Sábado
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When eight of us gathered at Pescadores for the slightly earlier than normal start time of 9.30 am, we noticed a rather eye-catching machine, a Polaris Sportsman 800, designed originally one imagines for off-road competitive stuff but in this case adapted for agricultural use, judging by the prosaic trailer attached to it.
.
Myriam looked a trifle apprehensive at first when she was introduced to it by Rod.
but had clearly relaxed by the time the Starter picture was taken.
We followed well-known routes into the hills,
although one stretch of track was impeded by a number of fallen tree trunks seemingly deliberately angled across the path to impede progress. This, of course, provided Yves with a photo-opportunity.
Camera Man at work
The Result
Then the hill rose inexorably in front of us. There really was no escape.
and some of is found the going quite a bit tougher than a year or two earlier.
We are still miles behind and three are already up on the ridge
A red bonnet was found, discarded in the effort to climb. I wonder what happened to it? Those first to the top had a long wait for the rest of us to catch up, but they were rewarded for their patience with some delicious biscuits produced by Hazel.
Hazel spotted (if "spotted" is the correct word to use in the circumstances ) a virgin cistus.
The rest of the walk was uneventful; the Leader threw in a piece of Grand Old Duke of Yorkery, i.e marching them along a path and then marching them back along same path just to fill in time, because (as he said) the plan was to get back to Pescadores at 12.30 precisely.
Paul was invited by WhatsApp to join us for lunch. The conversation, which was strictly private and which has of course now been unscrupulously leaked to the Press, went as follows:-
JH: "Paul can we reserve a place for you at lunch today?"
PV: "Sorry John, not this week, as I am enforcing my diet to get my beach body ready. I owe it to the ladies of Lagos who loiter on the beach hoping to catch sight of me!"
JH: "The ladies here say that you flatter yourself. The men say the flatter the better."
PV: "I bet it was only the flatter ladies who said that !"
How long will it be until the rest of us get the chance to see that finely toned "beach body"? Can´t wait !
Anyway, back to the serious stuff. The route homewards enabled us to appreciate the intricate terrace work in these hills; it´s just a pity that most of the greenery regenerating after fires and clearances is eucalyptus.
This next picture is a technical shot by Yves. His comment on it is
"the test of d.o.f. shows nicely how responsive the lens is in bright conditions: from 1m. to infinity is good going!"
Well, if he says so......
Maria makes use of the hilltop wash basin
The track and the Statistics
and we did get back at 12.30.
The the refreshments came in two instalments. First of all, drinks at Pescadores where we encountered an extremely talkative Camera employee, known of course to Maria, and where Myriam produced a magnificent box of birthday chocolates.
and then secondly, after Ingrid, Janet, Rod and Yves had left to do their own thing, lunch at Café Norinha where the remaining four where joined by Hilke,
There was carapau,
dourada,
and entremeada "com osso."
and large quantities of oranges were bought from the nearby fruit stall.
Now, readers who were not on this walk may possibly be wondering (or may be not) why this blog has as it´s title "Zip It, or Hoje Não E Sábado."
Well , at one stage in the walk, Myriam who was walking behind Rod called out
"Rod, your zip is undone!"
Rod, as any red-blooded male would do, immediately stopped to check the front of his Craghoppers trousers and found that all was in order. Myriam had in fact been referring to a zip in his backpack. And then Maria said
"Hoje não e Sábado "
and then told us about the old days in the Algarve before there were any supermarkets and when all the shops were closed on Saturdays; so this was a polite way of alerting a man to the fact that something was open that should be shut. Perhaps the younger generation don´t use the phrase because shops are open all weekend nowadays.
I once heard a similar sort of alert being used one evening when I was working as mess steward in the Officers Mess of a CCF Camp at Cultybraggan near Comrie in Perthshire, when the Commandant Colonel came in for his pre-dinner gin and tonics with his trousers noticeably open. The Adjutant was alive to the situation and quickly said "Sir, your medals are showing." Situation saved.
After all that, there is only one possible piece of closing music of which I will give you two examples.
The first is a rather over-sentimental and cloying version by Walt Disney:-
and the second an altogether more bracing version by the Muppets who knew that their young audience didn´t mind a bit of violence:-
At first I thought some of the photos near Pescadores had been over--edited or modified, but realised soon that it was the peculiar effect of the roof shade, and of course John would never do such a thing. On the subject of open zips, from my schooldays, I remember something about The horse is about to bolt' ie the stable door is open, or XYZ. eXamine Your Zip. In Hong Kong we said (for some unknown reason) "It's 2 o'clock in China" One of thr best I heard was when a man was seen to have his zip down another woman whispered to his wife that it was so but she replied 'Don't worry, A dead budgie never falls off its perch!'
Of course the photos taken at Pescadores are edited. The awning over their patio sheds a deep red light over everything so, with Photoshop, I try to remove the excess red. Easier said than done because removing a colour cast alters some of the other properties of the pictures. Try my best. Re the "dead budgie" one - the wife must have been Australian.
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The Walk At the appointed hour of 09.30 am, there were only three of us. Were the others overly concerned about getting wet in some rain? The skies above Para e Fica were blue. The Acu-weather forecast was positive. But then, five minutes later, both Lesley and Yves arrived, so we were able to have a reasonably respectable Starter pic and to set off by 10.05 am. The first part of the walk was steadily up hill. Mercifully, the pace was slow, partly because Hazel´s mobile had been playing up, not been receiving inward calls, and fixing this, which was accomplished on the hoof, thanks to a solution proposed by Maria, meant more frequent pauses than is usual, even on a WAGS walk. During these technical breaks, Lesley busied herself identifying bird calls on her mobile bird song App. She told us proudly that she had identified a Dartford Warbler. None of us were much the wiser at the time, but subsequently Wikepaedia research informs us that Dartford is a town in Kent whe...
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At first I thought some of the photos near Pescadores had been over--edited or modified, but realised soon that it was the peculiar effect of the roof shade, and of course John would never do such a thing.
ReplyDeleteOn the subject of open zips, from my schooldays, I remember something about The horse is about to bolt' ie the stable door is open, or XYZ. eXamine Your Zip. In Hong Kong we said (for some unknown reason) "It's 2 o'clock in China"
One of thr best I heard was when a man was seen to have his zip down another woman whispered to his wife that it was so but she replied 'Don't worry, A dead budgie never falls off its perch!'
Of course the photos taken at Pescadores are edited. The awning over their patio sheds a deep red light over everything so, with Photoshop, I try to remove the excess red. Easier said than done because removing a colour cast alters some of the other properties of the pictures. Try my best.
ReplyDeleteRe the "dead budgie" one - the wife must have been Australian.