27 January 2025 – Lliber River Walk

Nice to be back to our more usual valley walks

Lovely weather today, sunny and 22c

It was comfortable enough to sit for our banana stop, but not too hot to walk

It was a real joy to walk on such a lovely day and in such good company

There were 14 on today’s walk

This is considerably less than pre Christmas

That is not unusual, we often lose members when we have a long break

Just before Christmas there were seven members who had not walked for at least one month

None of them replied to my membership review email

I have now deleted all seven from the membership list

There are a further five who have not walked since December, nor replied to the membership email

I suspect that I will have to delete them shortly

That leaves 23 residents and 18 non residents who have confirmed that they want to continue to walk with the group

There are also five who have applied for membership but are still pending

It is a shame that there is such a large turnover, but I have accepted that is just the way it is

It is natural that many new members will decide to “do their own thing”

The aim of the group is to introduce new members to walking in this area, and hopefully to make friends amongst the existing group, and it seem clear that this objective is being met .

Temperature – 19-22c

Time Taken – 3 hours

Distance – 9 km

 

20 January 2025 – Olta Circuit

 

This is one of the occasional more challenging walks

Last time we did it, in May 2023, we did a shorter version

Then we did it clockwise and avoided the scramble

However I prefer a circular walk, and felt we were now ready for the scramble

I did warn everyone and, probably as a result, only 17 signed up for the walk

On the day only 13 turned up

It is hard to convert a normal mountain walk to something suitable for a valley walking group

And I may have put some off by stressing how difficult the scramble was

But it is true to say that some of the group did find it difficult on the day

We were lucky with the weather

It was a typical cold but sunny winter morning

Ideal walking conditions and Olta looked its best

It was particularly cold for the first half hour of the walk

But everyone was warmed up by the time we started the scramble

We did it as a group and had frequent halts to allow everyone to complete any particularly difficult section

Everyone reached the top and we had our first break to allow all to recover

The rest of the walk was relatively easy

We had our usual banana stop at Finca Pastor

And a longer picnic stop at the Ermita

We completed the walk in four hours, which is what I had anticipated

I hope that everyone enjoyed the walk, even if some might not want to repeat it.

Temperature – 10-14c

Time Taken – 4 hours

Total Ascent – 331 metres

Distance – 8.5 km

13 January 2025 – Parcent to Murla

19 of us, including Julie and Don, for today’s walk

It was good to see them back in Spain, even if they did bring the cold weather with them

It was 6c, with a cold wind, when we met in Parcent

 

Everyone was well wrapped up, and that was the way it remained for the whole walk

Anyone tempted to remove a layer soon put it back on again

We had a lovely blue sky for most of the walk

And even a little sun, but unusually not much heat from it

However it is mid January, and even in Spain it can be very cold in the winter

I no longer use Jan’s phone to take photos, so she can take some of me

I am using my new IPhone, which is so much easier to use.

Or perhaps I am just getting used to using it rather than my Samsung camera

We passed the abandoned restaurant, and were pleased to see that work is progressing

They have refurbished and painted the sleeping accommodation

Still a lot of work to do, but someone must have plans for this long abandoned project

We choose the park for our banana break because everywhere else was in shade

It was a lovely sun trap, with lots of seating

Some of the group were encourages to remove a layer – but not me

Kris was on his own this week, Barbara is having back problems

Similar to Jan, but too painful to walk today

Jan was also suffering, but managed to complete the walk

In fact I think most of the group have back, knee, hip or ankle problems

Hence the shorter and easier valley walks, rather than day long hill walks

We have changed the return part of the walk

It involves a little more climbing and difficult terrain

But makes it more of a circular walk

The Pensionista in Parcent is still our bar of choice

Where a well deserved drink was a fitting end to another very enjoyable walk

Temperature – 6-10c

Time Taken – 3 hours

Distance – 9 km