There are hundreds and it was the Ameixial Hiking Festival that brought them. But, unlike those who climb the Serra do Caldeirão to participate in this event year after year, the approximately 450 trees that were planted this Sunday, October 19, in this parish in the municipality of Loulé, are here to stay – hopefully, by many and good years.
The initiative, promoted by the QRER - Cooperative for the Development of Low Density Territories, which organizes the WFA – Walking Festival Ameixial, brought together 45 volunteers who helped to plant cork oaks, holm oaks and strawberry trees in a land located near the town of Vermelhos. One morning, two slopes located next to the road that connects Ameixial to that location were full of young trees, typical of the mountain species.
A journey that had the technical support of a team from the Association of Forestry Producers of Serra do Caldeirão, who provided the necessary tools, guided the volunteers and also helped in the reforestation action. The planted trees were acquired with the funds resulting from the entries in the fifth edition of the WFA.
This initiative, in which the Sul Informação was present, served to close the 2017 Ameixial Hiking Festival, which took place between April 28 and May 1st. But it was also a moment to launch the next edition of the event, which will take place between the 27th and 29th of April 2018.
The duration of the sixth edition of the WFA is one of the new features. This year, Festival organizers took advantage of the fact that May 1, a holiday, falls on a Monday to have a four-day event, instead of the traditional three. In 2018, it will return to the three-day model.
To compensate, the organization will extend the time, on the last day of the event, a Sunday. "The Festival starts on Friday, the 27th, in the middle of the day and runs until 18:30 pm on April 29, instead of ending at lunchtime," he told the Sul Informação Bruno Rodrigues, from the QRER cooperative.
Those who remain at Ameixial, on this day, will have the opportunity to participate in the “Jogos Serrenhos”, a novelty in the 2018 edition of the festival. «Imagine the Games Without Borders, but in the Serra do Caldeirão version. We will have a series of competitions, with themes linked to the traditions of the Mountain, in an initiative that is very family-oriented», he revealed.
The WFA will, moreover, bet on more walks designed for this audience. “We are going to have new proposals and some news when it comes to family walks. We will also have more inclusive walks than in 2017», anticipated Bruno Rodrigues.
Other novelties are the literary walk, where «poems and texts about Ameixial by local authors will be made known», and the 50-kilometer walk that will link Loulé to the village that gives its name to the festival, which will leave the county seat «on Friday Thursday and will arrive at Ameixial at the time of the golden slice».
WFA 2018 will also feature a upgrade, which arises from the success that the workshops of bread had, in the last edition of the festival. “We will have bread work workshops on Saturday and Sunday. We are also going to institute the tiborna hour, after the walks are over and the bread baked», he announced.
These will be some of the proposals that will be included in the program of the 2018 Ameixial Hiking Festival, which is not yet fully closed. This should only happen in February, when, estimates Bruno Rodrigues, registration for the different initiatives will be opened.
Those who already have a paid subscription, if you so wish, are the volunteers who rolled up their sleeves yesterday to help plant the approximately 450 trees, an offer from the organization.
In the reforestation action on Sunday, the QRER had the support of several regional partners, namely the Parish Council of Ameixial, the Association of Forestry Producers of Serra do Caldeirão, the Municipality of Loulé, ProActiveTur, the Estela Project, the Institute for the Conservation of Nature and Forests and the Algarve Tourism Region.
Photos: Hugo Rodrigues|Sul Informação
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