WAGs 2026 05 06: Whatafall or On A Hiding For Nothing At Cotifo

 

The Leader´s Report

A modest gathering of John & Hazel, Maria, Myriam and Rod convened at the café next door to the Fogo de Lenha restaurant in Odeáxere. before squeezing into Rod's capacious Duster for an unknown destination.  In the event we stopped just short of the dirt-road Bensafrim River crossing heading from Colinas Verdes towards Bensafrim.

The plan was to wander up the river valley as far as desired or deemed able with a possibility of a loop back over the hills.

The day was cool but sunny and the valley lush green and full of flowers. 

 

Myriam checks that Rod´s knees are fit for purpose

There are two arms of the river for much of the lower valley and this required a couple of river crossings.

 Nothing serious as the flow had almost dried up following the mighty torrents of a few months ago, so getting wet feet was  unlikely if one chose the right spot.  Most of us negotiated the first crossing, which was over quite a substantial assembly of stepping stones, without problem

 John, however, wasn´t paying attention and missed his footing at one point and subsided gently into the shallow waters...

Fire and Ambulance quickly came to his aid....

 minor injury to dignity perhaps but nothing apparent to body. 

It´s very simple, actually

The second river crossing was, in comparison, quite undramatic 

We continued to the point when it was agreed we should return... largely of course  lest we might be late for lunch. 

Time to go back

The path back,  along a mildly different track, took us past what from a distance could have been mistaken for a Portaloo. 

It might  well have partially served that purpose as well but closer up it became apparent that it was actually designed as a hide for bird and wild life observation. 

Upon eventually finding the way in, we found it was furnished with a particularly comfortable reclining chair wherein there was the obvious risk of nodding off and consequently missing the crucial moment. 

 From that minor bit of excitement it was but a short walk through flourishing wild olive trees and  pistachio shrubs back to the car.

Paul had been checking up by phone on our progress so he could arrive at the  restaurant  around the same time as us.  This indeed he did, so without more ado over to the  blogger and F&B journalist.

The Track and the Statistics

The Lunch

Paul was not happy with the chips served with his frango - not hot - and sent them back but consoled himself with a bottle of the café´s best red.

 The rest were content with their salad, carapaus and frango con arroz.

JohnH´s lagartos were very tasty.

Closing Music

Aficionados of Grand Opera have had it good for two weeks on the blog but this week they will have to take a step back. You see, during the walk, JohnH and Rod had examined a dead shrew, found lying on the track (no distressing images.)

This had inspired Myriam to philosophise on Shakespeare´s "Taming of the Shrew." JohnH could not match her erudition but began to quote from Kiss Me Kate, the Cole Porter musical stemming from the Shakespeare play, and he was surprised to find out that she did not know it. So here is one of the numbers from it.