Into Ponte da Lima

The next day of our Minho holiday was the longest (17km) but probably the flattest! Ascent through vineyards and then down to the river Lima and along an Ecovia into Ponte da Lima


A pleasant walk but on a very hot day, a cafe was advertised in the instructions but we were too early in the season and it was closed. Eventually we reached the town and walked though the wonderful Plane tree avenue pictured above to our destination for the evening Mercearia da Vila a hotel rather than a manor house in an old grocer's shop (that website is all in Portuguese!) We ate out that evening at Taberna Cadeia Velha close to the river and lovely views of the setting sun!

Men and Volunteering

I was at a (church) Readers lunch today at which I was the only male and during our discussion we talked about ratios of men and women as leaders/volunteers in church events. Last night I attended a service rota planning event where (apart from the vicar) I was again the only male. I've just checked our list of volunteers to do Bible readings and that's around 75% female, our church is fairly well gender balanced (a slight bias towards women).

I also thought back to last weekend when - as a followup event to Macc Pride at which I was a steward (again a volunteer role) - there was a pub afternoon for feedback and news. When I arrived there were around 15 women and me(!) a few more women arrived before there was just one other male! I've also inspected the rota for St Michael's which opened its doors that day to welcome folk who wanted a break from the noisyness of the event (and some children's activities). Yes you guessed, again all female!

So more (on this limited set of data points) than just a church problem? I go to some geeky voluntary events which tend to be fairly male - but that's on a pretty male concentrated population to draw on? Is it that men are too busy wanting to be the main wage earner even when they're retired?

Mutterings - Jul 15

This week's free word associations from Unconscious mutterings are:

1. Baby :: Talk
2. Stripes :: Tiger
3. Family :: Home
4. Draw :: Firearms
5. Girl :: Power
6. Cup :: Ball
7. Tested :: Allergy
8. Vanilla :: Sex
9. Bronze :: Medal
10. Visit :: Holiday

Starting the Caminho

We left the Quinta da Malta - taking the packed lunch in a monogrammed bag and after a taxi transfer to the Santuario Nossa Senhora da Aparecida (a place of pilgrimage) we followed the Caminho de Santiago for the rest of the day. Fairly gentle and flat meeting a few fellow walkers en route who were mostly intending to walk a little further than us that day - onto Ponte da Lima - we were taking 2 days over that.
I think we got to our stop that night early afternoon Quinta do Sobreiro - we were the only guests that evening but were well looked after. It was a very hot day so we stayed in the shade the rest of the day.