WAGS 18.11.2020: Our Bubbles runneth over!

 

My Favourite Bubble

Third week of Bubbles and we are going from strength to strength!  I hope this will be one of the last dissertations on various types of 'Bubble' by me, not just because I am running out of ideas - I'm not - but because hopefully the Lagos Bubble won't need quite so much padding to make it a decent read, now that we have completed the inaugural 4 person Bubble Walk. I am hoping Peter will be able to make it the regulation 5 at some stage, as to be fair, we are nor really burning up the countryside, nor troubling the many hills in the area unduly.

Now here I may have to stray into APAPS Territory, so apologies in advance to John for Treading on his Eggshells.

Above, the best Bubble I know, - short for Bubble and Squeak and to be found advertised on the chalk menu boards or on scraps of paper stuck in the windows, with cellotape, of the finest Greasy Spoons remaining in UK. Not for them the American and McDonald's driven 'Hash Browns' which should never feature on a Full English breakfast menu.

Fat Boys Cafe in Kingston upon Thames - one of my favourite breakfast joints in the UK..........

       

  

.....and their beautifully decorated window. You may be able to see the 'bubble' dishes.

      Those that use Trip Adviser may recall that the places reviewed are given a 1-5 Bubble rating by those that bother to review. Each review has to be taken on its merits and obviously there are altruistic reasons why places may be given a 1 or a 5 bubble rating.. In general I discount reviews from any reviewer who has done less than 20 previous reviews.' as if they only have one or two then they are not a serious reviewer and possibly post for other reasons.

   Fat Boys, has only averaged 4 Bubbles out of  5.   Older reviews, of which mine was one, have disappeared, and this could be because a new owner has taken over, as the signage looks much more classy than when I frequented the place quite a few years ago. "Oi'll give it foive!" anyway, in the words of the bubbly Janice Nicholls, who some of you may remember. I recall I rather fancied her at the time!!

Janice Nicholls' 1963 single "I'll Give It Five"

Janice was a regular feature of Thank Your Lucky Stars, and the Spin-a-Disc section, where a guest DJ and three teenagers reviewed three singles, is a very well remembered feature of the show. It was on this section that Janice Nicholls appeared. She was a former office clerk from the Midlands who became famous for the catchphrase "Oi'll give it foive" which she said with a strong Black Country accent.

   Now this is as far from our WAGS Bubbles as I am prepared to go, for the present. We have 3 active 'Bubbles', as you may have realised, Silves, Salir and Lagos.  All 3 went out on Wednesday, so I will start with Terry and his Salir Bubble.

The Salir Bubble walk consisted of Terry Jill, and Ingrid down from her mountain lair:

Terry's report was uncompromisingly short and sweet; if only more of us were that way inclined!

Myself, Jill & Ingrid met at our usual Cafe in Messiness for a 10 o’clock start, I was looking for a almost new walk in the large lump of countryside between the railroad and the road that leads to the Arade bridge. A lot of land cleaning has been made in that area plus new tracks, too much to tackle all at once so more to explore later. We made a good Wag type circuit, lovely warm morning for walking. Cafe now under new management, soon able to put a good Tosta Mista on the table. 

Take care keep safe  

Starter photo of Terry and Jill near the left turn, taken by Ingrid!

just look at what you can do with the old cistern

A good Tosta Mista on the table (with a Chef-y slate). 

Ingrid came good with a track map, stats and walk profile, from an app called 'All Trails', which I haven't used myself. Presentation is nice, but stats panel needs to be bigger. If you want details, please contact Ingrid.

   A very decent walk at 8.43 km in 2hrs 35 moving. the average pace is given as 18:27, which I guess means 18 minutes and 27 seconds per km. You do the maths!!

    The Lagos 4/5 Bubble turned out together for the first time this season, mainly by Antje agreeing to a later 10 am start at Ponte da Piedade car park,while Myriam and I agreed to an 

earlier start at 10 am at the same venue. Even so Antje tried to renege on the deal and  while Myriam was still luxuriating in her black silk sheets she sent a WhatsApp asking for a 0930 start. 'Impossible!' was the verdict from Myriam, who has her carefully planned routine time to result in our climbing in to the car at 0950 precisely to arrive at P. da P at 10. Being a skilled negotiator I promised to try and get on the way a little earlier, but Antje asked to meet at 0930 at our Cafe Bairro instead. I was the only one there at 0930, Myriam still finishing up and Chris, Antje and Sasha arrived at 0940. We had time for a coffee and then Myriam arrived and we headed for the start.

Two starter pics were necessary, not having John's kit nor a tripod. Sasha deliberately turned her back to the camera as she wanted to get on with it.

And so off we set round the board walk.

So we wouldn't get lost!!

It got very crowded after a few hundred metres when we were overtaken by a gaggle of young men in uniform kit. They were all wearing masks, but we never did discover whom they represented.

The good thing about boardwalks is they are mostly flat and there is always somewhere to lean and admire the view.

It didn't take long for Myriam to find a new BFF. Luckily they both had their masks on!!

Some spectacular scenery along this route.

One of the many lookout branches from the main route.

We ambled along looking for something of interest, but the best we could find was a young couple taking loving snaps of each other against the rugged coastline.

That was as interesting as I could make it!

At various points round our route, a local street artist had left his mark, 2 apparently in the form of a young boy squatting,.................. 

.  ............one, an even younger boy with his hands up...............

...................and this by a different artist

Antje and Myriam then found some mushrooms and bagged them up.

Ready meal!   This one was put in a rather nourishing but earthy soup with carrots, onions garlic and sweet potatoes, by yours truly,

The spoils were divided and we each had a meal out of them.

The trivial track and stats are hardly worth including but as is traditional, here they are:-

Despite our attempts at loops the whole thing only came to 3.12 km and took us almost 1 1/2 hours. This got us nicely back to Bairro before 12 to get a prime table outside.

The prato do dia was chicken with pasta, which didn't appeal to most, so we went for the generous bifanas and chips on offer.

A nourishing lunch!

And although it was not our usual walk, we all thoroughly enjoyed being out in the sunny and warm November sun.  As Antje commented, it was very easy to make me smile, with a pleasant walk, a bifana and chips and a full new bottle of Portuguese mustard.

Here with a bifana beneath the Bough, An abatonado, a mobile phone—and Thou Beside me chatting in the Bairro— And Bairro is Paradise enow.  (apologies to Omar Khayyam and Edward Fitzgerald)

And finally over to the Silves MegaBubble!!

The Silves Bubble gathered at a new eatery sussed out by Rod and Maria.

Here is Rod´s report.

John and Hazel, Maria, Yves joined me at the Casa de Pasto Parreirinha this bright, sunny and warm morning without them really knowing where they were going to be led. Upon being advised that we were off over the hills to the south of the N124 and the Cafe Oriq,there was an outcry from the ladies of the group who were under the assumption that they were off around the Odelouca Dam, an outcry so despairing indeed that our leader thought it should go to the vote. Well the two wise males were rather obviously going to sit firmly on the fence so our leader, unsurprisingly thinking life would be quieter, acquiesced and so off to the Odelouca Dam we indeed went.

                                                Pre-start synchronisation of gizmos

The route followed the high water contour track to the north which then forked up to a higher track with splendid views over the lake. The water level, whilst still a few meters from the top, had encouragingly risen some way from its summer low point.

                    The Leader remembers the valley as it was before the dam

                                        Look up at those electricity pylons

The track swung away from the lake following the route the Leader had taken Antony back in early lockdown days in March, until, at a particular fork he, the Leader, announced that as a price to pay for obliging him to give in to the demand for Odelouca, he now wanted to try out a different track. It became evident after a while that this was going to involve a lengthy and somewhat steep detour. Upon contemplating this Yves announced he had an important meeting upon which the future structure of his apartment block seemingly depended and under no circumstances should he be late. Even so, he did manage to indulge himself with his usual artistic and imaginative photography à la Henri Cartier Bresson (if I remember the name aright.)

Triumphal arch

                                 The artist names this one "Walter the Walrus"

                                    (I know he sees snakes in Silves but walruses in Odelouca is pushing a bit.)

Thus another U-turn had to be made. Continuing on our way, there hove into view the ridge and trig point which Antony and even our Leader had ascended in March. Yves`s meeting once again was used to excuse us from following this route  although it was clear nobody was unduly disappointed. So another route back was followed down the left side of the long return valley. It was evident this route had not recently been used by any agricultural traffic and after a while it became obvious why. A bulldozer and avalanche had obliterated the track on a steep bluff where there was a gully inlet so that it was now impassable. A sad example of what careless bulldozing and soil erosion does to the hillsides. A shorter return was necessary to save the future of Yves`s apartment block so we followed a lesser path up the gulley and after a short but steep scramble at the top we were reunited with the main track.

                                    J & H making heavy weather of the steep scramble

And so back to the cars. With horn blasting and stones flying Yves disappeared into the distance not to be seen again...indeed up to now it is not known whether he still has anywhere to live or not.

After musing on the fact that unlike recent walks we had met absolutely no one with whom to have any interesting if distracting chats, the remaining four retired to the Casa de Pasto Parreirinha to sample their comestibles. Three chose their dishes of the day, well received by all accounts....

                                            Bitoque and chips

                                             Omelette ....and chips 

whilst our Leader opted for a simple bifana...not the best he has ever had.

                                        No chips

 Friendly folk however and pleasant surroundings providing you can avoid the interior and enjoy the terrace area.

Thanks, Rod, for the walk and the report.

Well, the Odelouca Barragem was certainly looking fine in the November sunshine but, for those who recall the river valley that was there before the human activity that changed it all, here are some photos from the Archive.

These first two, from 18^th April 2007, remind us of the walks from Herdade de Para when Rod would lead us to an old farmhouse by the river where an old farmer friend of his had a regular supply of hooch which he was very happy to share with us..

Happy days.

That was the walk where today´s Birthday Girl, Ingrid, announced to anyone who cared to listen that she preferred doing it in the open air. I shall say no more.

Then some from 30^th May 2007 when we went to look at the progress of the earth works.

and there were some large electric pylons being wired up for action, and Yves (in the yellow baseball cap) was telling the technician how to do it properly,

Fast forward now to 18^th March 2009. Another walk down from Herdade de Para and a visit to the old farmhouse. But the old man had gone and there was no more hooch in the barrel, to Rod and Hedley´s obvious disappointment.

Then TerryA and Rod had a temporary disagreement about how to get to Foz de Carvelho.

and we had a final paddle in the Odelouca stream.

The following week, 25^th March 2009, a small group of us went up to see how the dam was taking shape.

And finally, photos from a walk on 21^st March 2012, when we could see the completed dam and the full expanse of water.

"No. Nostalgia, as his Uncle Joshua had said, ain’t what it used to be.
Which made it pretty complete. Nothing was what it used to be — not even nostalgia."

                                                                        (Peter de Vries: "The Tents of Wickedness.)