6 May 2024 – Lliber River Walk

 Our first walk in three weeks

We had to cancel the last two Monday walks due to forecast of rain

It was very annoying that it only seemed to rain on Monday

The rest of the week was largely bright sunny days

The forecast for today was cloudy but dry, until 3pm

However we had a few drops of rains about half way through the walk

No problem, it fact it was quite pleasant as it was quite warm today

There were 17 on today’s walk

This included Ali and Faezeh’s grandchildren Amir and Maryam

It is always nice to have some young people on the walk

And they were kind enough to say that they really enjoyed the experience

The recent rain came at a very bad time for us

We had hoped to get in a couple of more challenging walks before it became too hot

We had planned to do Montgo Iberian Settlement for the first time with this group

That was the walk we cancelled on 22 April

Not everyone wants to do the more difficult walks

So we want to ease everyone back into walking with a couple of easy ones

However that will take us up to 20 May, when it may well be too hot to do a hill walk

I am not too concerned; it is just nice to be able to walk again after the two week break

And hopefully we will be able to do another easy walk next week

Temperature – 23 to 25c

Time taken –3 hours

Distance – 9 km   

 

15 April 2024 – Parcent to Murla

 

We had planned to meet in Parcent and to walk along the pipeline to Alcalali

On Sunday there was a major fire between Tarbena and Parcent

However by the time it had become a major fire it was too late to change the walk

We did consider whether to cancel the walk, but decided to wait and see

This morning it looked quite clear, though the fire was ongoing on the other side of the mountain

There was a smell of burning in Parcent, so we decided to walk to Murla instead of the pipeline to Alcalali

It remained cloudy throughout the walk, though no smell or taste of smoke

And the further we went from Parcent the clearer the air

There has been a lot of work on the river, clearing and laying black plastic sheeting to get rid of the undergrowth and bamboo

Not sure what this was about, perhaps Jan thought she was on the airstrip on Cocoll

We were very impressed at the amount of work which has been done on the abandoned restaurant

It has become a ruin since it was closed in 2008

But it looks like it is being renovated and hopefully will open again as a restaurant in the near future

There were 15 of us today

This included one new member, Gary, on his first walk

And also one guest, Richard, who is a resident and who hopefully will become a member

I was expecting it to be very hot, as the weather forecast was 27c

But the morning was surprisingly pleasant, with a gentle breeze

However it did heat up during the walk back to Parcent

And we could smell, and taste, the smoke as we neared the end of our walk

Perhaps because of this everyone joined us for a drink at the cooperativa

Despite the heat, and the fire, a very enjoyable walk

Temperature – 18 to 26c

Time taken –3 hours

Distance – 9 km

14 April 2024 – Major fire Tarbena to Col de Rates

 

About 3pm we noticed this large, thick column of smoke above Col de Rates

A major fire had started about noon between Tarbena and Col de Rates

It was started by someone who had pruned their trees and then set fire to the resulting waste.

Within an hour the restaurant at Col de Rates had been closed and everyone told to leave

By 6pm there was dense smoke throughout the valley and we could see flames on the Col de Rates

170 people were told to leave their homes, including 50 on Col de Rates and in Parcent

We were surprised that we could see, or hear very little air activity.   Just  one plane and a couple of helicopters who seemed to be watching for signs that the fire was spreading.   None had water containers below them.  But of course there could have been a lot of activity behind the mountain

The blood red sun looked like a very bad omen

At 10pm there were two areas of blazing fire on the Parcent side of Col de Rates.   The planes stopped at  8pm, but there were a lot of blue lights at  the mirador, and a steady stream of vehicles with flashing blue lights making their way up the mountain

This photo appeared on Facebook about 1800.  It was taken above  Denia and shows how thick the smoke from the fire was

This shows the area of the fire, but clearly it moved some distance to the right towards Col de Rates.