WAGS 2024 03 06: A Poço Frito Prowl, or Do You Really Know What Day It Is?

 It was only a small group of us who met at Café Martins this past Wednesday. Where are the others ? We waited for the 10.00 down train to Lagos to pass by......

and then gathered for the Starter picture.

The road out of Poço Frito is now the scene of ever more numerus new buildings.

And this is a scene that is becoming ever more frequent on WAGS walks, it seems that whenever the topic of conversation is at all serious, the walking stops and the discussion starts. Is this a sign of age?

We took the track to the right intending to avoid the tarmac and to cut through the orange groves but then found, to the Leader´s alarm, that the gate was closed.

                                                   "How do we get in?"

                                             "Quite easily, was the answer."

The gate wasn´t locked. So our stroll among the oranges went ahead as planned, and there was much discussion about oranges and their origins as we went, albeit with some pauses.

When we emerged, it was to find that Myriam stood higher than Rod.

A little later we passed a spread where a horse whisperer lady, known to Rod, kept her herd. One fine specimen caught the eye.

Then a merchandising stop as Myriam did a sales pitch for mobile phone lanyards.

Shortly after that, we came across a cairn which was in need of additional work. in the absence of our Master Builder, Maria did the necessary.

Careful now.

The Finished Article

We turned up the track by this cairn and found that, after a kilometre or so, we came to a dead end. Make a note; not that way again.

Hazel took advantage of the Spring-like weather to photograph flowers and butterflies.

..

At this time of the year, there is plenty of colour. 

And it was about this time that I noticed that my tracking gizmo was telling me that I was doing a hike on 3rd March 2024. I suggested to the machine that it was wrong and that the day was actually 6th March but it took no notice. So when I got home  I checked up on this on Google, as one does. Google confirmed to me that it was indeed 6th March but it also informed me that 6th March was National White Chocolate Cheese Cake Day as well as  National Frozen Food Day and, hardly unsurprisingly after that, National Dentists Day.

Who comes up with these things and what sort of authority do they have for taking possession of our days in this way. Can only be Americans who do this, especially American dentists. Can´t imaging the Brits doing anything so daft, can you? Any way , back to our walk.

Walking in this area, we have often noticed little white buildings and associated pipe works like this one.

To do with irrigation for agriculture, obviously. It had been assumed that they were part of the pipeline supply system coming from the barragems,

On this occasion, engineers from the water company were around and they were inside one of the buildings. Maria went to enquire.

It turned out that they are not part of the main pipeline system but that each one is a stand-alone borehole. The engineers were busy testing the quality of the water, calcium levels etc., and checking the depth of the water underground.

A few minutes later, Maria´s friend Luisa, whose house is nearby, came into view on her scooter.

Then back down into Poço Frito past even more more new building works.

Despite the many pauses en route, the Leader got the group back to base precisely at 13.00 hours, in time to forestall any complaints about delays by the three non-walkers, Antje, Chris and Paul , who were there to join in the lunch.

The Track and the Statistics

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 Not too bad in comparison to some recent outings. 

The Lunch

As usual, Café Martins provided a 5 choice Menu do Dia, and Maria had done an excellent job as always in booking our choices before we had set off earlier.

There was no soup on offer. Rod did not take this news at all well.

The Arroz de Pato was a popular choice.

The Leader chose the Vitela com Esparguete. He had thought he was going to get Veal with Asparagus (Espargos) but, hey, what do you expect for a mere €10?

The Caras de Bacalhau á Lagareiro (baked cod cheeks - is Lagareiro a regional  cooking style ?) loooked raher special.

And Rod had recovered his composure sufficiently so as to order an omelette.

Hazel was well-satisfied

and Antje cleaned her plate.

A good choice of desserts followed.

Closing Music

Still on the theme of Walking, this one is a bit different from last week´s teenie-bopper Helen Shapiro. 

We have all done it on occasion: Walking the Dog.