WAGS 2024 11 13: Café Martins and Old Virgin Territory

 The new compositional concept of these blogs, whereby there is less input from the blogger and more from guest columnists, seems to be making its mark.

Last week we had a contribution by Myriam, also known as Mimi. Then we had this piece from Paul:-

"If a picture is worth a thousand words then a very wordy Blog indeed. I made it 31,000 virtual words plus actual agreeable words from Myriam, Leslie and a few captions. However, to a reader who is familiar with both the intricacies of WAGS Walks and the subtleties' of Blog writing 'The Rescue ' left one or two unanswered questions! Well I won't ask them here but should anyone who is not walking actively have read the Blog, no doubt they will be overwhelmed with curiosity and enough questions to enquire personally of 'The Rescued'.
The photos are of a very high standard, so unless it is just my new found clarity of vision after my cataract ops, John's proper camera is doing a great job.
Well done Chief Blogger, Myriam and Leslie and let's see more guest writers on the new style blog."

to which I would add only that most of the photographs he refers to were by others, i.e. Antje, Hazel and Myriam; I should have given them credit in the Blog.

Then we had this from Maria:-

"Definitely, a great group of I’m part over the years thank you. Nice exciting walk thank you to the leader. Photos fantastic, beautiful. Colours are so clear we had all. ?￰ﾟﾚﾴ⛴?￰ﾟﾛﾬ? (Lots of emojis)

Lunch always good, most importantly, nice people. Thank you to you all.

Mimi, you have a job for a while xx"

And then this week we have Yves´s musings on the walk to amuse us or bemuse us, depending on how well (or if) you can follow them.

But first, The Starters

Yves, ChrisD, JohnH, Lesley, Myriam, Maria, Hazel and, after
a long time, Dina. 
Coffees downed, Lunches ordered, all prepared to take part in a walk described in the pre-walk blog as "Mostly flat."

Now, over to Yves, his commentary and (mostly) his photographs.

The Walk

" WAGS straying into Old Virgin Territory…

The day broke bright, fresh and sunny, as it tends to do quite often; not that the WAGS complain about it: far from being bored with more of the same, they positively relish re-charging their old batteries in the soothing and caressing beams of the ‘Roi-Soleil’, it says here…

And it came to pass that a hardy core of semi-retired walkers gathered at Café Martins to venture forth into ‘Near Virgin Territory’, namely a FLAT route vaguely circling the back of Café Martins. The notion of a FLAT route seemed to be dispelled almost at once with not ONE but THREE steep ascents in as many minutes! Some may argue that those ascents were quite short but steep they were! All 6 metres of them! Definitely not FLAT!

One ascent was longer but a bit less steep: FLAT, it was not!

That established, the group paused for a deserved rest on some FLAT ground where an astute observer pointed out to the lensman that the WAGAMINALS were indeed going along Two-by-Two:

As happens sometimes, a kind soul spotted a butterfly struggling somewhat to take-off in the fresh and cool air: the poor beast was duly comforted and returned to a gentler habitat… Not a word of thanks, however!

On we pressed but not too fast and not too fast as befits Seniors who do appreciate the views afforded by FLAT ground…

Some took the opportunity to rest their weary muscles in warming rays while others tried not to break their limbs or joints on stones and rocks hidden by the lush grass along the banks of our track; it had been raining a few days previously.

Artistic demands met, see below, it was time to gather the troop together and push further into the hinterland. That was when we discovered a talent kept secret for years: one WAG seemed to know how to ‘sex’ trees and he was prepared to share that knowledge with a captivated audience!

Chris explains his grafting techniques.

Others watched from a safe distance:

Safe enough it seemed: as safe as the prickly pears from the usual scrumpers! They know who they are! None of them ventured near to pick a prickly pear with a raw paw; they needed a claw but none of them had a claw, only raw paws! The prickly pears were very safe!

Still ambling on FLAT ground, the group came across a friendly looking pony

who / that (?) * enjoyed sharing a soft pear with a kind person…

Was the recent rain mentioned? As we came across a puddle on the track, a strange noise was heard and a splash was seen.

All that was left were a few dappled ripples on the surface: one WAG has disappeared.

A few moments later, the pungent smell of wet dog told us that the wet WAG had caught up to discuss the worth and taste or possible risks of partaking of ‘Pizza-mushrooms’; crusty things, they are and they were left well alone.

All this exertion: walking, talking, talking a bit more, resting, talking a lot more, not listening, talking even more in the hope that someone might listen… Listen? Most WAGS are now seriously aurally impaired: hearing is tricky, listening is stretching capacities a tad too far as that puts heavy demands on the WAGS’ already taxed thinking power (?)

Where were we? Ah yes: all this exertion caught up with some who upon espying a FLAT rock took a well-earned nap under the tender touch and the warm glow of ‘Le Roi Soleil’; that beggar gets everywhere, it seems…

And soon, under unfailing guidance from their Leader at the back, the WAGS returned to the Café for their lunch:

A good outing had been enjoyed by all; thank you, John!

*Note: the writer’s mother-tongue is not the King’s English and he had to weigh his relative pronouns very carefully lest he made some bad mistake: some ‘aminals’ can be more human than ‘umans’!

Are they ‘who’ or ‘that’?

Answers on a post-card to the usual address, thirst [Freudian slip] The First correct entry drawn out of the béret will earn the right to write the next Blog!

Au revoir…

Yves "

Obrigado, M. Yves Le Grenouille.

Word(s) of the Week

 A new occasional Blog item introduced at the request of Myriam. This week´s words are:-

Ganoderma and Basidiospore

both related to the strange fungus we spotted on our walk. Thanks to Myriam´s speedy research we find that

Ganoderma is a genus of polypore fungi in the family Ganodermataceae that includes about 80 species, many from tropical regions.[1] They have a high genetic diversity and are used in traditional Asian medicines. Ganoderma can be differentiated from other polypores because they have a double-walled basidiospore. They may be called shelf mushrooms or bracket fungi. Ganoderma are characterized by basidiocarps that are large, perennial, woody brackets also called "conks". They are lignicolous and leathery either with or without a stem. The fruit bodies typically grow in a fan-like or hoof-like form on the trunks of living or dead trees. They have double-walled, truncate spores with yellow to brown ornamented inner layers.

Here it is:-

Some incidental pictures

A photo of a person taking a photo.

And a photo of a person taking a photo of a person taking a photo

The photo taken by the person photoed taking a photo of a person taking a photo.

and a photo of the aforesaid photoed persons

The Track and the Statistics

You need to take the statistics with a bit of salt because the tracking gizmo ran out of juice towards the end, a bit like its operator.

Add another 1.1 km for the unrecorded bit of track, to make 7.1 km in all.

The Lunch

Just after this picture was taken Chris and Yves departed, leaving JohnH at the mercy of six ladies.

Luckily for him, they were too interested in the excellent Café Martins food to waste much time on him.

Arroz de Pat´, of course

Polvo a Lagareiro

Rojoes estufados molho tomate

and the trimmings......

Coffee with red wine: there´s no accounting for tastes

Contributions

Thanks to all who contributed, by words or photos, Yves, Myriam, Hazel, etc. We hope others will contribute in the future, it makes the blog so much easier. Regrettably Lesley has, so far, declined to doso, ; she is adamant, nay obstinate, in her refusal. Maybe she has taken too much to heart E B White´s remarks: "Only a person who is congenitally self-centered has the effrontery and the stamina to write columns." We will keep up the pressure on her none-the-less. Those who know what I will call her "serving suggestions" for Bacalhau á Bras know what wit the rest are missing. 

But that´s a story for another time.

And to close, Myriam has the last word:-

It was a good turn out, for walk and for lunch
Dina made her rare appearance. She was in top form, being able to talk non-stop all through! Good lungs, she has got!

Hilke was determined to get her Arroz do Pato, though she was not ready to join in the walk. She was the first to book the dish "online" as soon as the walk was announced!! She wasn't disappointed, neither were the other takers. Delicious! The portions were huge, several of us could not finish it!

Of course, we had had another jolly good banter at the table, which stretched well towards 15.00!!
We all went home lighter in spirit and ？heavier in stomach.
Thank you, John, for a good outing!