Don’t worry, we aren’t going far, seems like only yesterday. Oh wait, it was only yesterday. Let’s start at the end and go from there.
It was Wingsday so I had me some from the pub. Brought them home to eat as usual.
Prior to The Pub, I visited Adam’s Sports Bar for the first time in quite a while. My purpose in doing so was to knock out another bar review, but I wound up having a pretty good time while I was there. You can see my review in the post previous to this one.
My afternoon was spent at Alley Cats where I played dart league with my teammates from Lagoon. The ‘cats are a strong team, in fact, they were undefeated coming into yesterday’s match. I had very little expectation that we would actually win so my attitude was let’s just have a good time, chuck some darts, and drink some drinks. Speaking of drinks, I’m cutting back on beer in an effort to trim away some of my big ol’ belly. I’m drinking gin and soda instead because it’s lower in carbs and calories. It is also higher in alcohol, so I was buzzing more than usual. I was engaging in friendly banter with our opponents and I guess I pissed off their captain who admonished me to throw more and talk less. I guess (s)he (yeah, it was Billy) wasn’t happy that we were winning the match. When it was all said and done, Lagoon came out on top 8-5. I bought Billy a beer as a conciliatory gesture and (s)he accepted, so it’s all good.
Getting to the match on time proved to be more challenging than I expected. Well, when I heard the Wednesday Walkers were hiking to Tralala I knew it was going to be tough. In fact, I considered bailing out, but damn, I didn’t want to miss out on the annual trek to the mountaintop. It took us until 11:00 to reach the summit, darts started at 2:00, and we were a long way from Barretto. Jim graciously agreed to lead me back down and estimated we’d be off the mountain by noon. We left the rest of the group behind and I hoofed it as fast as these tired old legs of mine can move, but my actual arrival on the pavement in Barretto was 12:20 I immediately caught a trike for home which was on the opposite side of town. Hit the shower, changed clothes, and hoofed it back to Alley Cats with enough time to get some warm-up throws in.
And that leaves the hike to Tralala itself. The starting point is in the Gordon Heights part of Olongapo. We hired a van-like vehicle to take us there, a 30-minute ride. Then we did the long climb up to the top, consisting of seemingly endless steps, and then a winding upward path to the small village. We don’t do this hike very often because it’s challenging for us old folks, but I really enjoy the unique views and scenery along the way. Once a year is just about right. Surprisingly, this time the hike up didn’t totally kick my ass. Hard, but not exhausting like it was in the past. Felt good about that. I wish I didn’t have to be in such a rush to get back to Barretto.
Here are some photos from the hike:
As days go, this was a good one. Thanks for taking a step back in time to enjoy it with me.
187 floors = up only, or up and down, total? If it’s up only, that’s pretty impressive. At 14 feet per floor (source), that’s a change in elevation of 2618 feet.
As to that house in the middle of nowhere—how do you suppose they deal with garbage? Does a garbage crew come around, or must they tote their trash down the mountain to a dumping point?
Wings look good.
Well, the Fitbit apparently counts 10 feet as a floor. I think it only tracks the up though, not down. I can’t attest to its accuracy, however. Our climb as I understand it was 400 meters, which is only 1312 feet. That 187 was the total floors for the day though, including my dog walk and getting to the bar.
Well, no one collects the trash up there, that’s for sure. People up on the mountains either burn their garbage or create their own backyard landfill. It’s pretty disgusting, but if I had to carry the trash all the way down I can’t say I’d not find a similar alternative.
Great hike. Thanks for sharing!