31 March 2025 – Parcent to Alcalali

 

Lovely sunny morning at last

Still a little chilly when we met at Parcent

So quite a few jumpers on parade

But also a lot of shorts

The weather forecast was 12-18c during our walk

But it felt much warmer even as we started the walk

The pipeline section of the walk is always lovely

But particularly on a clear and sunny day

And the jumpers were all removed by the time we had our banana stop

 And most would have been happy to sit there much longer than the 15 minutes allowed

 Thanks to Tina for allowing me to use some of her photos

Particularly this one of the many colourful flowers on display

 

Photographs from other members of the group are always welcome to add a different perspective

I think this is the first time this year that we looked for shade for our water stops

There were 20 of us on today’s walk

Including a few we have not seen for a while

It is about a month since we saw Maureen

She has been converting a vehicle for her Santiago de Compostela walk in April

It was also nice to see Deb and Phil who we last walked with us in December

And Rob and Mandy who last walked in June

Also nice to welcome John, who has just retired to join Paula in Benichembla

It was very hot for the last section of the walk from the Ermita to Parcent

So the long awaited cold drink was particularly welcome

Temperature – 14 to 20c

Time Taken – 3 hours

Distance – 10 km

24 March 2025 – Jalon to Alcalali

It is expected to be the wettest and coldest March in Spain since 1919

As a result we have had to cancel two out of the three walks planned

And the third was a “one off” walk due to high levels of water in the normally dry river beds

So it was a great relief to have a dry forecast for today

It was quite cold when we met outside the Jalon tourist information centre

But this did not stop quite a few members wearing shorts

We should have had 18 walking today

But we had one cancellation on Sunday night

It was nice to see Duncan and Marilyn for the first time since December

They have just arrived for a two week stay

Fortunately they seem to have missed the worst of the weather

It was also nice to welcome Alle, a new resident member

And to see Kris again, who had an accident on his bike almost five weeks ago

He is making a good recovery with bruised ribs

But still finds it painful to ride his bike

But I think he enjoyed this relatively easy walk

Jan was also walking today, her second walk since January

Despite all of the injured and recovering we made very good progress

Last time this walk took us 3 hours and 20 minutes

Today we finished in less than 3 hours

So we were a little early at bar Casa Claudia

For our well deserved after walk drink

Temperature – 12 to 16c

Time Taken – 3 hours

Distance – 10 km

10 March 2025 – Alcalali to Parcent

 

We cancelled last week’s walk due to the weather

We had six days of grey skies and nonstop rain

It was so bad schools were closed and non urgent hospital appointments cancelled

Fortunately it started to clear on Sunday

Despite a forecast of light rain we decided to walk today

But we did change the walk for fear of high water levels

We had planned to do the bee hive walk

But that includes crossing a river

So instead we avoided rivers and kept to good paths

We were rewarded with a cloudy but dry start

Which soon cleared to blue skies and mostly sunny

It was a real delight to be able to walk with the group again

And the recent poor weather made us appreciate it even more

As an added bonus Jan was able to walk for the first time in eight weeks

She has had problems with her hips which made it too painful to do much walking

Neither the doctor nor physio could help much

But exercise and pain control has led to gradual improvement

She did join us for after walk drinks most weeks

But that is not the same as doing the actual walk

Hopefully this will lead to a return to normal walking

Lovely walk improved by a well deserved drink at No Nombre in Alcalali

Temperature – 10 to 15c

Time Taken – 3 hours

Distance – 9 km