28 of us walking today
It should have been 30, but fortunately two dropped out
It’s not too much of a problem, because they all know each other
And no one is likely to get lost of a valley walk
Once more we had lovely walking weather
Despite having some scattered rain all week
This was Gary’s last walk with the group; he has bought a property down south
It was nice to see Duncan and Marilyn again
They arrived yesterday, but wanted to get out as soon as possible
It is also the last walk for Ann and Peter for this visit
It was really nice to meet up with them again after many years
Everyone was very quiet walking across the bee hive field and no problems this time
The river was not as deep as I had feared it might be
Most followed me in walking across
But a few brave, or fool-hardy ones, did the obstacle course
We had a short break and I gave Jan a ring to meet us at the font in Parcent
Her hip is very painful and she did not want to risk the whole 9km
But did feel up to walking down to the font and then with us to Alcalali
Lynn and Barry seemed to be enjoying the walk, after a break of a few weeks
Jan joined us at the font just after we arrived there
Valencia had decreed a five minute silence at 1200 for victims of the terrible flood
And we had our own during our picnic break at the font
The flood was last Tuesday, but they are still finding bodies in the wide spread destruction caused by the water
It is only 116 km from Parcent to Valencia, and it could so easily have been our Jalon valley which suffered the damage.
It was a more subdued group which set off on the last leg back to Alcalali
But it was not long before there was the usual hum of chatter
With such a large group it is difficult to keep aware of what is happening at the back
And the bigger the group the easier to push the pace and forget the slower ones at the back
So we have frequent water/photo stops to allow everyone to recover
And they are quick to tell me if the pace is too fast
Jan often walks at the front to make sure I keep the pace down
Because it is easy to forget the pace if I get talking with one of the faster walkers
We had a very short water stop at the Ermita
We needed to decide where to have our after walk drink in Alcalali
Both bars in the square are closed because of the extensive road works
The two alternatives were No Nombre and Musette
We had heard not very good reports about No Nombre
Musette is a cycle cafe and there is not very much space
We decided on No Nombre and were very pleasantly surprised
Very friendly host and lots of space for our larger than normal group
Temperature – 16-19c
Time Taken – 3 hours
Distance – 9 km
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