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 t o 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 – 27 to 24c

Time taken –3 hours

Distance – 9 km   

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