26 May 2025 – Jalon to Alcalali Mirador

 Nice easy valley walk

Much more suitable given the higher temperatures

Teresa’s husband joined us because it is a bank holiday

Lynn also returned after a break for visitors

We also had Gary, a new member who lives in Jalon

Our summer walks will start next week

During June and September we walk from 0900 to 1200

We aim to reach the bar before the hottest time of the day

My first cataract operation is scheduled for next Monday

And I have no indication when the second one will be done

I am not sure how this will affect my walking routine

But clearly I will not be able to walk next week

Allie has offered to lead a local walk from Jalon

It will then be up to the group to decide what to do after that

Hopefully we will be able to get back to walking before the end of June

Otherwise it is going to be an extra long summer break this year

We will really miss the group during this enforced break

It is the highlight of our week

After our banana break we made our way back to Jalon through the valley

By now it was very hot, and we made use of any shade

We also had a final water stop

And were surprisingly fresh when we reached Jalon

Fortunately it was not too busy in Casa Claudia

And we managed to find enough tables and chairs to sit together

Temperature – 23 to 26c

Time Taken – 3 hours

Distance – 9 km

19 May 2025 – Benimeli Aerials

Once a month we try to do a more challenging walk

This is usually part of one of the hill walks we used to do

However this was a full hill walk

Although one of the easiest of the 40 odd we used to do

We only do each of these walks once a year

So I always want to have good weather to see the views at their best

Poor weather forecast forced me to postpone this walk for the past month

But today we had a forecast of 27c, cloudy but dry

Despite this it started to rain as we met opposite bar Tormos

We agreed to ignore the rain, and it had stopped by the time we reached Benimeli

I was quite surprised that there were 18 of us walking today

This included Jan, who had some reservations about how difficult it would be

Teresa also asked to bring along two visitors

Don and Amy were really nice, but very young

It is more than two years since I last did this walk

And I must admit that it was much harder than I remember

This despite the absence of sun due to the cloudy sky

I was not the only one who found it hard going

And there was some relief when we reached our scenic picnic spot

The views are spectacular

With lots of space to spread out and enjoy our break

During lunch the sky cleared and the sun came out

But fortunately the return journey was all downhill

The first part was back along the ridge

With lovely views along the Orba valley to the coast

Then down the road for half an hour

The track we usually use was closed because some has built a new house over it

So we had to climb back up the road and follow the new route

By now it was 30c without any cover and really hard going

Lovely walk, great views but much harder than I remembered

Temperature – 23 to 30c

Time Taken – 6 hours

Distance – 8 km

Total Ascent – 410 metres