27 May 2024 – Parcent to Alcalali

 

 21 walking today

This included 6 non residents

It is a good sign that the club is thriving

But it is considerably more than my preferred maximum of 16

All are regular members, and I don’t like to turn down anyone who supports the group

I have put new members on the reserve list, and have lost four because of that

At least four from this group will not be walking next week

Two are residents and two non resident

So the numbers should ease

From June members go on holiday or visit the UK

And numbers always fall off as a result

You will see from the photos that it was cloudy and overcast today

It is also getting warmer each week, despite the official temperatures

From next Monday we start our summer walks

These are the same valley walks that we do all year

But we start an hour earlier at 0800

And aim to finish by midday, when the temperatures start to rise considerably

It was a mixed blessing that it was overcast today

We did not have the very hot direct sun

But on the other hand it tends to be more humid with the cloud

Fortunately we had a cooling breeze for most of the walk

A larger group can be a problem for the after walk drink

But there is always plenty of room at the Cooperativa in Parcent

Though we did spread out over two large tables today

Temperature – 22 to 24c

Time taken –3 hours

Distance – 9 km

20 May 2024 – Alcalali to Parcent

We had planned to do the Montgo Iberian Settlement walk today

But once more had to cancel due to wet weather forecast

This is the second time I have had to do so

We have had really bad weather for the last four Mondays

Most of the week has been warm and sunny, particularly Sunday and Tuesday

So it has been really annoying that Monday is always worse day of the week

Despite the forecast we have managed two weeks out of four

One of those two Mondays we were lucky to get home before the worse of the rain

Once more this week I cancelled Montgo and arranged to meet in Jalon

We would decide which walk to do depending on the weather

Fortunately it was warm and sunny, with rain forecast for 1300

We walked to the Alcalali Ermita

As we had our banana break it was starting to cloud up, but not too bad

So we carried on up to the pipeline

Here we met up with the goat walking holidays from Col de Rates

It was sad to hear that they had very serious damage in the recent fire

Such a shame, as they are such a nice group of people

The promised rain arrived just as we reached bar Claudia

But we were home and dry before the hail stones arrived

Temperature – 20 to 24c

Time taken –3 hours

Distance – 9 km

 

   

 

13 May 2024 – Alcalali to Parcent

Lovely sunny morning for our “bee hive” walk

Not sure how, but we had 24 on today’s walk

This is way above our preferred 12-16

It is partly because of the way we allocate if too many want to walk

We always give priority to those who walked the previous week

Then regular walkers who for whatever reason did not walk the previous week

And finally non residents, who always walk when they are here

Any vacancies then go to new members or guest walkers

Guest walkers are usually friends or family of members

This priority system has served us well over the years

It gives priority to those who support us most

But it is flexible enough to allow for unforeseen circumstances

Numbers often increase at this time of year as non residents start to arrive

When this happens we are prepared to increase the number on each walk

But we have always had a rule not to allow it to increase beyond 20

This is because the group starts to break up into sub groups or cliques

It then becomes harder to keep the group together and maintain a comfortable pace for all

This can put a lot of pressure on the slower walkers who get left behind

It can also be a problem when we visit a bar at the end of the walk

It becomes more difficult for everyone to sit together

This usually means that those who walked together then sit together

And this reinforces the creation of cliques or groups within the group

It is then the new members, or the quieter ones, who get left out

Despite all of the above this was a very enjoyable walk

There were no new members, so everyone knew each other

And it was lovely to have a nice sunny day for such a pleasant walk

As you can see from the photos it was a bit of a shambles at the end of the walk

But I think everyone enjoyed it despite that

It should get easier as holidays and visitors mean less want to walk each week

Temperature – 17 to 24c

Time taken –3 hours

Distance – 9 km