WAGS 2026 01 14: Bensafrim - New Ways In And Out

 

We met at Bensafrim Market again, under the leadership of Rod.

 Myriam was immaculate in a mixture of Porsche Designer Wear and RFU World Cup Would-Be Winners Kit.

as she proudly showed off her latest smart watch. The rest of us were more drably attired as can be seen in the now customary Sedentary Starters pic.

Here is the Leader´s Report.

A small party of Myriam, John and Geraldine, Antje and Rod met up at the usual Bensafrim gathering point of The Market Square café on a cool but at least dry morning. 

We had, for a moment, thought Maria  had indeed been able to come,  with her new 2026 coiffeur...the legs were certainly up to it...but it turned out to be a local lass!

It is getting increasingly difficult to find original routes around these parts but in any event we set off in an easterly direction along the banks of the mighty Bensafrim River, now in almost full flow.

We stopped for a while in the village community area, imaginatively laid out by the local council. 

Rod interviewing a member of the local council

Particularly creative and original were the four or five sub-ground speaking tubes....

....presumably designed in Covid times so villagers could communicate whilst maintaining their prescribed distance from each other. Antje and Myriam tested them but it was difficult to ascertain whether they really worked since Antje and Myriam can usually be heard over some distance without aid. 

On we went, taking a short diversion to avoid the river crossing, past the old village lavadeira still in use.

For a change we then turned up through the suburb of Fronteira. 

Some odd architecture in Fronteira

This road winds gradually up north where it peters out and drops down to a valley. This section was  too wet and uninviting to continue so we retraced our steps to a track heading up eventually to the long East-West ridge well-known to us.

We reached a point where somebody or some entity had constructed a very substantial metal water tank supplying water from an unknown source to an unknown consumer. 

 Here we decided against continuing up to the ridge track but took  a smaller contour path heading back west.  

This eventually again petered out leaving us little choice but to head off across open grassland for a while. 

This did eventually meet a further track heading back down to the village again. We were obliged to face a further crossing of the turgid Bensafrim River. This seemed to have defeated some local van stuck half way across but we were aided by a somewhat rudimentary concrete bridge which, with some trepidation, all safely crossed.

Thanks for the help

This young man and his dog didn´t need any such help

 And so we wandered back through to the restaurant where Paul was already waiting, champing at the bit. So after a modest 5.5k walk, but enlivened by some undulating and off-piste sections, the remainder of the report must be handled by the professional culinary critics.

The Track and the Statistics

The Lunch

This was at Rota Algarviana, where the excellent choice of well-cooked food makes up for the somewhat slow service. Antje, who had threatened to stay for only one drink, decided to stay to eat, so there were six diners.

Dourada grelhada

Simple omelette

Fejão con arroz, carne, e batata doce

Cordonidas grelhadas

Sugestões de chef were Plumas porco preto, Lagartinhas porco preto and Secretos porco preto. Geraldine chose the Secretos.

Mushroom omelette