The Lazy Guide to improvement

Came across this in a circular,and it struck a chord. A quick fix is my dream -something for very little. No reason why we need to spend a lot of valuable time getting results.

Have a look at THIS

Via Algarviana / Algarve Way 20th Anniversary

     Ever since we had commemorated the 20th Anniversary of the AWW in 2016, Rod had been mulling the idea of a 20th Anniversary of the First continuous crossing of our Algarve Way, and inviting as many participants of that event (7) and of the reverse direction crossing in 1999 (5 core walkers + others).
      The idea slowly gathered steam, and we decided to offer a joint celebration with Almargem, who had been onboard and contributed greatly since Maurice Clyde had first begun pioneering the route, in about 1996. Almargem had done an enormous amount of work, and their final route known as Via Algarviana, differed quite considerably from our first two crossings, (which differed from each other due to lack of navigational precision in the 1990's) as they had political and legal considerations to take into account, as well as maintaining good relationships with the Camaras whose boundaries the route traverses.

The original 1998 Alcoutim to Cape St Vincent Crossers: Ian Angus, Maurice Clyde, Ian Cooper, Rod Frew, Mark Harman, Tony Webster and Myriam Lo

Of the original 7 crossers, 3 that still were fit made it to the reunion. Two were deceased and one in a hospice. Ian Angus was prevented from travelling by his wife's illness.

  Maurice's widow Esme was invited but sadly slipped and injured her back a couple of weeks before the event and could not travel. Ian Cooper's widow, Judy did come to the lunch as a welcome guest, as did Ginny Harman.

   Of the 1999 Cape St Vincent to Alcoutim Crossers, only 3 of the core walkers who completed the route made it to the ceremony, Myriam, myself and a Spanish walker, Paco from the Club de Senderismo, Dos Hermanas. Other walkers who did the full Monty were Maurice of course, and Neil McCabe a friend from Hong Kong days currently living in France.   Lindsey completed 8 of the 9 walking days, Simone Child did more than half, Maria also, Francisco, who had also walked some of the first crossing also did a couple of days as did Mercedes, another member of the Spanish Club, and David Silva, a Portuguese walker who occasionally slowed down to walk with us..

Myriam and Maurice were the only two to complete the crossing in both directions in 2 consecutive years.

Early Start: Lindsey, Paul, Myriam, Neil, Mercedes, Simone, Maurice.  Paco must have taken this photo, in the era before Gorilla pods and self timers..

Neil, Paul, Lindsey, David, Simone, Maurice and Paco.  Myriam must have taken this one.

The full story of how the Via Algarviana/Algarve Way came about, was meticulously set out by Rod in a planned Press Release.  This can be viewed HERE

   And so after several meetings with Almargem, and much strategic planning, a Memorial Plaque to Maurice, magically appeared, just the afternoon before the event, beside a bridge on the Algarve Way on the M502 about 1.5 km north of Silves cemetery. For those sufficiently interested to visit, the exact coordinates are N37 12.445" and W008 26.126"

Saturday 13th October was the appointed day for the ceremony, and we were joined by Luis Raposo, President of Almargem and his son, Miguel ; Luisa Luis, a Vereador of Silves Camara;  some other members of Almargem, Nicola' Christina and Edgar, and of course support from members of AWW who had known Maurice.  Also Paco and his family from Dos Hermanas, near Seville. It was particularly nice to see Vitor, Dina's husband on his first outing for a long time, Hedley and Joy who came over specially from UK, and also Gita and Thyl. Other AWWs were John and Hazel, and Maria.

Early arrivals for the ceremony, including two walkers from Russia (with green T shirts), who were attempting the full crossing, and were on the long leg to Monchique, when Rod, who had met them the day before, collared them for this photo.

The unveiling of Maurice's Plaque, Luisa, Paul (behind) Rod, Luis Raposo, Myriam, Tony, Francisco and Paco.

The 20 who took part in the walk after the unveiling.  You will notice that some of the most elegant walkers are sporting a unique  'Designed by Paul',  Via Algarviana/Algarve Way T-shirt.

Here it is from the Designer's Sketch Pad:-

The route was a relatively token, almost 7 km, out and back, improvised by Rod with a view to getting to the restaurant on time.

No absorbing stats available, thanks to the recalcitrance of modern technology, but it actually measured out at about 6.84 km in 2 hours.

We passed some pretty grim post-apocalyptic scenery on the way.

It did brighten up for a while - or is that the Google Photo Editor?

Maria, Gita, Tony and another old stick - an Algarve Way waymark post.

Almost back to the cars - the windmill on the hill in the background.

Once back at the cars, the survivors of both crossings who were present posed for a candid shot!

Paul, Paco, Myriam, Tony, Rod, Francisco and Shadow

Soon after this we set off for the Recanto dos Mouros in Silves, where Rod had arranged a top class meal for 32 of us. The 20 walkers were joined by those that couldn't make the walk for one reason or another, including Judy Cooper, Hazel, Terry and Jill, Hedley and Joy, Chris and Antje, Mike and Jyll, Susan and Charles, and Ginny.

Jyll Myriam and Mike

Rod and Judy Cooper

Red wine makes you philosophical! Tony, Vitor, and Francisco. 

      Paco's daughter Carmen, and Grandson Gonzalo

Mariluz, Paco,  Edgar, Christina, Nicola and Rod

 Maria, Dina Joy and Paul (even without the benefit of alcohol)

Hedley and Hazel

Antje and Chris

We did have a splendid meal,  Feijoada de Buzios,  Ensopada de Javali and Ensopada de Borrego, desserts, coffee and wine for the intemperate. After the meal Rod made his usual brief and to-the-point speech, thanking Almargem for all their influence and perseverance in legitimising the route, and a short account of the notable crossings on foot, on horseback and on bicycle together with the coincidence that we had met the two walkers from Russia in process of crossing.  He was followed by Luis Raposo who reiterated that Almargem would never have done this by themselves and thanked the AWW for all their work in getting the project started and pushing Almargem to carry out their role. Much mention was made of Maurice's role in bringing the two organisations together.

        I managed to restrain myself from jumping up and saying that we should do it all again. That would have been confusing ambition with ability!

“I love to walk. Walking is a spiritual journey and a reflection of living. Each of us must determine which path to take and how far to walk; we must find our own way, what is right for one may not be for another. There is no single right way to deal with late stage cancer, to live life or approach death, or to walk an old mission trail.” 

― Edie Littlefield Sundby, The Mission Walker:

As a curio, Myriam unearthed from her efficient and comprehensive filing system, Official Certificates of participation produced by Hedley for each walker on the two crossings. I wonder who else still has theirs, - framed or otherwise!

One of each can be viewed HERE  and HERE

On the second one on the bottom right you will see a logo which reads (vertically) OCDAW. This acronym was coined by Maurice some time in 1996 when his group morphed from Algarve Walkers to Os Caminheiros do Algarve/Walkers, which is a bit of a linguistic mishmash. He even had a circular badge made with these initials which Myriam still has somewhere. Happily this sobriquet was soon dropped when the group formally split into the Algarve Wednesday Walkers, (AWW) and the Algarve Saturday Strollers (don't even think acronym there!) although it was used in correspondence with Almargem until 1999.