WAGS 2023 05 24: Outnumbered; We Saw It Coming But Were Helpless

 The Track and The Statistics

You have all seen it before; a familiar track, so we do not really need to spend much time describing the walk itself.

But there were two things about this particular that are worthy of note. One was that the European complement was outnumbered by the Chinese, or to be more exact, JohnH was outnumbered ethnically and sexually by Hazel and Myriam. It was a close run thing, however, with Rod calling off only one hour before start with boiler room problems or something like that. But the walkover could have been even more overwhelming if Myriam´s two sisters had turned up for the walk. They didn´t , but they did  make up for their no show by  attending  the lunch.

The other thing of note was Myriam´s extra-colourful walking gear, which certainly distracted the onlooker from the sight of JohnH´s bare knees. She had some excuse for her startling and rather impractical appearance but I forget what that was. 

 

We will now shift into pictorial mode to cover the rest of the walk.

One broad brown dog.

 

Overnight rain had filled the river and the canal.

The last time we had seen this contraption, Chris D had been driving it.

A rare moment of peace and quiet for the Leader.

The Lunch

The good lady hostess at Mira Rio regretted that she was unable to provide us with lunch since she was having to cater for a fifty-strong bus load of Spanish tourists, but we had had early warning of this and were able to re-organise things so that we all met up at Café Norinha, "We all" being Paul, two of Myriam´s six or seven sisters, Louisa and Edelweiss, and Myriam´s son Armando in addition to the three walkers. So the Chinese numerical superiority was re-emphasised.

Sardines were had by some, carapao by others, and even dourada for the epicurean.

and Hazel helped serve the coffees.

And a family shot was taken before Armando was driven off into the sunset, or at least towards the more advanced civilisation that exists in Lisboa.

And for the closing music, Paul, remembering his youthful enthusiasms, fittingly suggested the Beverley Sisters