WAGS 14.10.2020: Porto de Mos

       

Currently we have a Rule of 10 for gatherings, ie only groups of 10 or less may get together, whether for walking, swinging or sitting in a coffee shop. You would think it would be enough, but this week alas it wasn't. There were 12 ready to venture off behind Antje into untrodden ways, well the cliff path from Porto de Mos to the Luz Obelisk. The first 10 to respond didn't include Rod or John, as Rod was probably pre-occupied with domestic duties, and John has stubbornly tried to stay in the late 90's early 2000's by refusing to join the WhatsApp group, hence not receiving messages until sometime after the others. Hazel could tell him, but she has just won her spurs, and is not walking yet and also probably tries to communicate with him via WhatsApp with the same lack of success.
  (STOP PRESS:  John has cautiously come out of the closet and been promoted to the WAGS WhatsApp group, where all the reasons for not joining were immediately made apparent by Myriam posting 7 messages in rapid succession, with the usual suspects joining in. May I reassure him that it is not always like that, and will quieten down and hopefully be restricted to vital WAGS info after a couple of days.)

   To all: Please don't forget that you can send a message to an individual if it is not relevant to the rest of the group.

       Anyway, despite that, I found out I had two parcels waiting at Direct Transport, and that they had temporarily given up doing a delivery to Lagos, so I had to go to Porches anyway, and Myriam decided to accompany me as long as I took a side trip to the Chinese Supermarket in Albufeira, for essential supplies, thereby killing two bats with one stone. 

      At the end of our trip we just made it in time to catch the 8 who had stayed for après-walk tucker at Cafe Bairro, although as soon as we arrived, Yves made off with undue haste.

To the meat of the matter Antje's walk and report: No starter pic until halfway round as there was a staggered start.

L-R: Terry, Jill, Antje, Chris, Yves Rod ; Squatting , Maria.

They were neither there nor back

Same as above - sub John for Yves. John remote was not employed, possibly no tripod or he couldn't be bothered to build one from walking sticks. And Myriam wasn't there to inveigle an innocent bystander into taking the pick - OR There were no available innocent bystanders

Antje writes:

According to the rules in force on Wednesday, no more than 10 were allowed to walk in a group. As there were 12 interested parties Paul and Myriam opted to go to pick up some goods from Direct Transport and do some shopping instead. Their offer to stand down was appreciated, especially as they were well within the first ten to put their name forward.
Final walkers therefore Rod, John, Maria, Terry and Jill, Gita and Thyl, Yves, Chris and Antje plus Becky and Sascha.

By Yves entitled 'John's in there'.   

There was no time stamp on the photo as they were all edited later that afternoon, but it looks as if Yves either ran up from the bottom to catch Rod and Antje starting up the hill, or he took the easy way out and parked at the top. As for John being 'in there'!, unless he is behind the bush taking advantage of its camouflage properties, I can't spot him.

I had asked for an earlier start as the previous week turned out to be very hot. Well, naturally it was cooler and a stiff breeze from the north made us look for an extra layer to put on.
Choosing to walk along the cliffs from Porto do Mos we had the choice of climbing up from The beach or joining the path at a higher point. Both options were used and we never managed our starter photo, as the "slower group" disappeared into the distance before we could join up. No problem as there was a trig point later on where a photo call was planned.

A beaming smile from Gita

Not long into the walk, Thyl felt he could no longer continue, as his big toe was very painful. So we had to say goodbye to him and Gita.
The walk then proceeded without any further interruptions.. Everybody enjoyed the clear blue skies, the
views all the way to Sagres and the company of friends.

(NB. The Remote Bloggers dilemma!.  Not having taken any pictures nor actually been on the walk, it is difficult to construct a narrative around photos from different sources, none of which were taken or seen by the Walk Leader. who composed the report. Therefore, of necessity, the blog will be rich with photos, but not necessarily in the right order. Here for example we had John's pix where he tried to pick out interesting shots along the way and then Yves artistic efforts, which don't always fit a narrative.)

The Leader

Maria and Rod pose with only a rickety wooden fence to prevent them tumbling to their doom.

Arty angle of the Obelisk - where did the graffiti go?

I see no ships

Count the WAGS

Luz from near the Obelisk

The two properties either side were forced to leave this public path between the Obelisk and the Golf Club road.

The track and stats according to Rod's ViewRanger. How he would have loved 'An extra loop'!

We returned to Cafe Barrio for refreshments.

Glutton or Gourmet? Last to order -First to eat as usual

Now that's what I call a Tosta Mista. Pao Caseira - a real belt strainer.

Some prefer the more refined version.. Pao de Forma bifana

Maria tackles a Big One - Size matters eh!

Prato do Dia was appreciated by Chris and the remainder had the usual toasties or bifanas, all of which were very tasty and pretty large.. I could not finish my toast but Yves kindly helped out. 

Paul and Myriam joined us as well. 10 again! (Actually 9 - Yves had left!)

What are the rules for next week? Only 5? Let's not hope so.  

Sadly Antje's 'not hope' was dashed and on Thursday the State of Calamity has resulted in permissible group activity being reduced to 5 persons. It looks like we will it 100,000 confirmed cases before next Wednesday with an extra 2,608 today. I hasten to add that most of these cases are in Lisbon, Porto and the mid-North of the country. Algarve seems to be relatively spared temporarily, but it is not helping the economy. This session will be 2 weeks until 29th when a fresh announcement will be made as to whether we will enter the State of Emergency with full lockdown as before. Fingers crossed and stay safe and observe the rules.

A Classic to keep your feet tapping while you are washing your hands!!