WAGS 13 01 2021: Ice Cold in Bensafrim

 This WAGS outing was billed as a fairly routine effort, in effect doing one of Rod´s favourite Bensafrim circuits but in reverse.  When the Silves Bubble arrived the starting point, to their surprise they were greeted by Paul and Myriam, two dyed-in- the-wool Lagobrigenses . What were they doing there? Surely they weren´t going to join us ? One possibility was that Paul had come to show off his brand new SEAT FR, resplendent in Eclipse Orange, as I believe it is called. (Our professional cameramen missed a trick and forgot to photograph it.) But the real reason emerged that Hazel had inveigled them to turn out early in the morning so as to obtain some pieces of her Brandy Bombshell of a Christmas Cake. A bit late perhaps for Christmas Day but, since the Orthodox church celebrates it on 7^th January, perhaps we can stretch a point. Anyway, Paul was able to take the Starter pic, thus saving the Leader from his usual lot of technical jiggery-pokery.

       The Starters: Dina, Maria, Hazel, Myriam just collecting the cake, JohnH, Yves, and Rod.

We set off up a hill to where two mobile signal masks provide the good citizens of Bensafrim unrivalled broadband speed and were proceeding at a fairly steady relaxed sort of pace when Yves blotted his copybook by getting totally separated from the rest of the group. Out of sight he was, but not out of mind as far as Hazel and Maria were concerned and they went back to look for him, while the remaining three of us stood around impatiently as the minutes ticked away. He was duly ticked off when they found him, and rapped on the knuckles, and other parts of his anatomy for his lapse. And, as further punishment, he was sentenced to write the large part of the remainder of the blog.

The return of the Miscreant

Here is his Apologia, including a bit in what seems to be almost obligitary now-a-days, Latin, I don´t know if he does it just to annoy Ingrid and Terry Ames, but there it is.....over now to Yves, in his own words.

Ave!

 

Stet perambulae post-scriptum… Mea culpa!

 

Satisfecit?

 

Ranus Maximus

The sorry tale of the Phrogue that went the extra mile…

So it was that on a perfect day for this sort of things, a bubble of intrepid geriatrics set off for the hills with light hearts and sagging springs in their steps. Some quiet grumbles could be heard at the back about ‘starting a walk (sic) on a climb’ but pace-makers were adjusted, 1^st gear was engaged and the group pressed on personfully. [woke or wot?]

It soon came to pass that a derelict mill hove into view atop a bare hill;

the Leader was very pleased with his navigational exploit and arranged for an impromptu ‘didn’t I do well’ stop. He might even have instigated the building of a cairn that the troops took up with enthusiasm, ingenuity and a high degree of skill, balancing stones at improbable angles with considerable success! A Great pyramid it was not but then again, there was no dead pharaoh nearby to bury… Still, the hill was alive with the sound of banter and laughter as stone was rested upon stone: splendid fun!

Isso é um belo barrete que você tem

All too soon, the Leader moved the troops away from the hill top and down a track that was all but invisible to those inside the ruined mill, trying to record its fading splendour on an SD card with a view to flog it to Century 21, the well-known Realtor. Those folks (in truth, only one idiot!) heard a cheery ‘Ciao Yves!’ from Hazel who knows her Mediterranean Portuguese quite well and then silence reigned, only disturbed by the clicking of a camera shutter.

As the snapper emerged into the bright sunshine again, he found himself in magnificent isolation and master of the beautiful vistas all around: not a trace of the Bubble could be distinguished on the near, medium or far horizon! Undaunted, he set off down the main track at a fast pace in the belief that his companions were only hidden from view by a ridge in the terrain: Non!

‘Nil desperandum’ he thought and the fast pace became a jog but still not a sausage! ‘Pas une saucisse’, he mumbled to himself in foreign… Reality began to sink in: someone had goofed again! Establishing who had goofed and how, not an urgent priority was: finding the group was, however! The Leader might know how to find the café for the post-walk prandial!

A sensible but doomed attempt was made to contact the others by semaphore, then by heliograph and eventually by mobile phone: alas, the Leader was flying so high on transports of heady navigational success that he had switched his device to ‘aeroplane mode’ –whatever this may be- and was therefore out of reach… The Lost Soul spotted a possible figure on a ridge a kilometre away and called Dina, asking her to move left or right in an attempt to discern her location precisely: the distant ‘figure’ was not Dina (a deer, perhaps?) but she passed her phone to the Leader; when he stopped laughing, he explained that two people had been despatched to the old mill and would I please make my way back to it?

Ipso facto, the long climb back to the hill top was undertaken; it is amazing how far one travels when jogging downhill… Still, the Fool on the Hill was eventually reunited with his rescuers: none-too-happy Maria and Hazel. Attempts at light-hearted remarks were met with violence, however: Hazel, ever the lady, administered a couple of gentle slaps on the buttocks while Maria took a run at it from Raposeira, it felt like! The echo resounded from hill to hill down to Vila do Bispo the TV news reported that evening… To add more injury to injury, the present Mrs. examined the corpus delicti and inflicted a matching hematoma on the other buttock with great gusto! Standing up to watch Trump’s Impeachment procedure was dictated by pain rather than respect… Sic Gloria transit!

All was nearly forgotten when we sat down to presunto e pão caseiro washed down with Sagres: this might be the last supper for a while: watch this space!

Thank you Yves. This little map will show you where you went astray. The mistake was to have paid too much attention to that Harry Lauder song of last week´s blog  "Keep Right on to the End of the Road." You went right; we had gone left.

Later, Yves, in his other persona as H. C-B., took some artistic photos

and Maria, not to be outdone, took a tumble:-

Luckily, the rest of the walk went off without further incident. We were diverted to find some of the water in the ditches had turned to ice. But that didn´t delay us too much.

A Bubble under the ice

And when the Leader decided to take the risk of following a track which was unknown to him other that from Google Earth, it proved to be OK and passable, and we didn´t have to waste more time by backtracking. (The fact that we had Rod with us who knows every inch of the Algarve and he wasn´t uttering words of caution was a reassurance.)

Nearing home, we stopped to photograph an old Crock.

No, not  that one old Crock, but this one:-

In the end, we got back to base in a little of a bit under 4 hours, so we mightily relieved to find that the Berbera snack bar was still functioning. 

We discussed diets, cholesterol and such like things and tried unsuccessfully to remember the words of the old Jack Spratt rhyme. The words are:- 

Jack Sprat could eat no fat.

His wife could eat no lean.

And so between them both, you see,

They licked the platter clean.

Talking of food, as we now are, the Leader had got into the café ahead of the others and had ordered his food first but then had to sit patiently nursing his caneca and watching while all the later arrivals got their rations before him. 

First, out came the presunto e pão caseiro: 

then, out came the tostas mistas simples. 

And then, at last, at last, and finally, la pièce de résistance...........

Four  portions of toast, two types of cheese, the ham, with tomatoes, onions, oregano and thyme, all most elegantly served. All for me. Worth the wait.

The Track and the Statistics

Meanwhile, back in Lagos, the Lagobrigenses had been enjoying Hazel´s cake back at Gato. Given the quantity of brandy in it, just as well they waited until they were near home before tucking in.

Now, Lockdown looms.

We´ll meet again, don´t know exactly where, don´t know when.

And a closing thought, to ponder over during the next few weeks:-

"Speed and pace are often confused. One is distance over time, the other is time over distance."

Lagos Calling:

Well, John and Yves really caught me out with the story of their outing and the Silves Bubble`s adventures, which arrived complete and published at 1632 Hrs on Friday. It was a surprise because John had led the walk, and had Yves as a pressed collaborator, rather than Rod, who thinks before he writes, and does his domestic duties before sending the fruit of his labours on, usually late Sunday or Monday!

    In fact I hadn`t done much thinking, as the Lagos Bubble are still officially `Excused Boots`, for one half and for the one half of the other half, she was stationed close to the porcelain, preparing herself for a trip to the Hospital in the afternoon. (No tasteless comments here!) The other quarter, as John has related above,invited us to gather at Gato for the usual post walk congregation, despite the fact that our walk had only consisted of sauntering across the carpark in Bensafrim market.  It was not just a desire for company, nor merely to show off my car, but Hazel had seduced us with an offer of a slice of her luxurious gourmet Christmas cake. And was it luxuriously impregnated with John`s finest cooking brandy, - sumptuously as it turned out, when we scoffed it with our afternoon tea. Many thanks Hazel, we will meet you for cake any time!!

Crimble Crumble! Delicious and Heady!

    Luckily John had taken a couple of pix of our meeting after Myriam joined the starter photo, so we had pretty much nothing to add, apart from the pic you didn`t see, at Gato with Myriam unmasked.

Chris recounted the tale of the hardships they had undergone in Scotland, where they had probably walked further than our half of the Bubble. It seems they got back just in time because thanks to the Brazilian President`s denial, Covid has got a real grip in Brazil, and developed yet another variant, that Portugal are paying for in terms of being cut off from UK air corridor to Europe, by association, though no-one gets on a plane in Brazil bound for Portugal, who hasn`t been tested as negative. Although residents of Portugal are said to be exempt, it means that airlines from UK are cutting back on flights through lack of passengers. Really Portugal should have stopped flights from UK long ago as the infection rate there is far higher than here!

         Just for record I will publish the latest rules from the:-

Decree 3A/2021 REGULATING STATE OF EMERGENCY NOW PUBLISHED 15th - 30TH January 2021

The Decree law has now been published and the DRE translation is in the link below:

We have read through this and would draw your attention to the following Articles:

Article 4 - Duty to remain at home and exceptions

Article 5 - Working from home

Article 15 - Suspension of activities and establishments (Details of exceptions - what is open - Annex 11) and what is closed Annex 1

Article 21- Restaurants and the like

Article 28 Private vehicles.

Borders remain open and so do airports. Measure are very similar to those in place to the State of Emergency in March/April.

The important message now is to STAY AT HOME unless your journey is necessary and in accordance with the exemptions in the law. Our mind set should be to focus on the rules, NOT the exemptions. Our lifestyles will change as a result of this – if not, we are failing to comply with the measures.

The Covid-19 situation at present is far more serious than it was in in March and April and unless everyone strictly complies with the measures we will not beat this disease and the situation could get far worse, which has been forecast by experts.

Decree in informal English translation here: https://www.safecommunitiesportugal.com/decree-law-13th.../

Original Portuguese: https://dre.pt/application/conteudo/153959843

What is Open and What is Closed Download here:

https://www.safecommunitiesportugal.com/.../FACILITIES...

Article 4 Stay at Home Exceptions

https://www.safecommunitiesportugal.com/.../Decree-3A...

 And that is almost it.  While idly thinking of padding for this week`s blog post (and not realising I would have the Gift of a long decree by the Portuguese Government to fill the post} I wrote a piece of doggerel, demonstrating different spellings of pronunciations and different pronunciations of spellings, in the English language, which is designed to make it difficult for `furriners` to be sure of either when learning English!

Here goes:

Caught Short:

• I ought to mention that after I drank a waught of water, I thought I would be caught short at the port Tennis Court of a Fort, recently bought, during a much sought-after Sport event, and an extremely fraught sortie against a self-taught juggernaut of a man with a large wart. A taut match, hard fought, which came to naught though I thought he was rough and brought plenty of partisan support. I was distraught, and became overwrought at the thought of my consort’s reaction!

Just a whimsy, in fact it was by way of an excuse to introduce that master of linguistics, Officer Crabtree of `Allo` Allo fame, showing off his perfect Franglais.

Disclaimer: Can I make it absolutely clear that this has nothing to do with Yves, and is not meant to be insulting to (almost) our favourite nation!

Enjoy, and as it very much looks as if we will be unable to group and walk anywhere except our own back gardens for a couple of months, take your time.

   If anyone is interested in replacing our Wednesday saunterings, temporarily with a virtual Video Saunter, we can set up a short video conference on Zoom. If you don`t use it already, then Myriam will be delighted to advise on requirements and how to do it. All you need is a computer or a tablet, a download of the App or program, and ability to follow simple instructions. Please let Myriam or I know or do a little research .

     Above all, stay healthy and take as much care as possible. It is very serious!

By the way, Jyll had  a hip operation on Thursday at HPA. After two knees, she is one tough lady, and who knows, once she has a full set, she may be able to join us for a walk! We wish her a speedy recovery, and hope Mike is surviving on his home-made Trekking Stew for breakfast lunch and dinner while she is in the Hospital.