WAGS 2025 03 05: Real Estate Views and Kebab Pies

 

Hazel was worried after leading this walk that there was nothing to report, that it was just a boring walk. Not so. Not only did she lead the walk, she didn´t lose anyone; she got them back home before the rain really came down; she operated the tracking device for the very first time; she pre-booked the table for lunch; and, marvel of marvels, she sweet-talked the grumpy Casinhas management into opening the café up an hour early just for us and our starting coffees. Much to celebrate. No wonder Rod and Myriam were smiling before the start.

Here´s her report.

WAGS Walk 5^th March 2025

Braving the threatening rain, Antje, Lesley Maria, Myriam Rod, John and me met at Casinhas for coffee at 10. a.m. We then walked along the old familiar route up the dirt track to the turn past Mick Battley´s house. The avocado trees in the plantation are now all grown and are flowering, but there were strange creatures in the woods!

We kept on going up the path ignoring them.

We looked at a mixture of mansions, houses, cottages and shacks. 

Start with a caravan and roof it

or glue three containers together

pick a modest pad

or a grand mansion

Take your pick: what counts is the view.

We continued along the road past the Waltons to “Malcolm´s Corner” i.e.Tufos and then turned left and went past the House of Dreams rest home and into the orange groves. The whole area looked green and clean after the past several days of rain.

The Guava. Lesley´s first blog contribution - more to come, we know.

Here we spotted a large guava fruit tree – odd to see it in winter.

At the cross track, JohnH decided that he had had enough and parted from us promising to met us later at Casinhas. 

So we carried on uphill past the old Casa Estrella mansion house which now has a new French name which I can´t remember.

Then on and on and along the dirt track that led up to Rod´s palazzio, then past Alison the physio´s house and back into the orange groves. And it was at this point that we were caught by the rain. Those who had it put on their rain wear but some relied on umbrellas.

There´s the gate. Don´t know what´s on Rod´s back - looks a bit painful

It poured as we made our way through the oranges and then came up to a huge gate that that obviously been erected to prevent cars getting through, but it didn´t stop us squeezing past. We then sped up and were glad to miss the full torrential downpour that came later while we were enjoying our lunch inside Casinhas in the dry and among the happy gathering of friends where we were joined by Chris, Paul ,John Routledge and of course JohnH who was there already.

Hazel´s Track and Statistics

The Lunch

The lunchers joining at this  stage were Chris, JohnR and Paul.

Feijoada

Frango grelhado

Alheira

And Rod eschewed his usual soup in favour of an omelette

A fair selection of puds

Finally the Leader can smile

and a chance to contemplate matters over a glass of wine

And Myriam is presented with a silver teapot by her new toyboy, Luca.

Closing Music

Two versions of a Fats Waller classic

And to close finally, a bit of culinary news which brought some cheer to Scottish hearts (or stomachs) in a week-end with a depressing result from Twickenham where England had somewhat fortuitously scraped past Scotland by a single point - news which brought to mind that favourite Scottish Music Hall joke of years past:-

There were two men both wearing flat caps sitting in a local bus as it wound its way through the bye-ways of Fife from Kirkcaldy to Broughty Ferry. 

One says to the other: “Dae ye ken yon Pontius Pilate?”

The other replies: “Nah. Ah´m frae Bathgate.”

Anyway, Bathgate is a rather depressing wee town in the dreich no man´s land that is western West Lothian and in it is an equally depressing suburb called Boghall, a 1960´s style council estate. But the bright side of all this is that in this suburb there is a butchers shop called Boghall Butchers (Motto:”Say aye tae a pie !”) and Boghall Butchers have just won the “pie of pies” title at the2025 British Pie Awards. This annual competition is held at the Twickenham of British piedom, Melton Mowbray.

Their winning creation is a kebab pie, a doner kebab filling made from chicken, beef and a chilli marinade with a sweet chilli sauce, encased in short-crust pastry. No doubt, Chris and Antje will be making a beeline for Boghall next time they are in Scotland.

Watch this space. Next up, my annual report on the 2025 World Championship Scotch Pie Awards competition to be held in May.