10 June 2024 – Alcalali to Jalon Play Area

Our second summer walk was from Alcalali to Jalon

There were 16 on today’s walk

This is a little more than usual for our summer walks

Numbers usually drop off as members go on holiday or have visitors

Whatever the reason it is good that so many want to do our summer walks

We had our banana/picnic stop at the Jalon play area

This was because there are so many shaded picnic tables amongst the trees

It is also a very attractive area, particularly at this time of year

No one complained about the climb following the Stations of the Cross to the play area

The cool breeze also helped a lot

After our picnic the zip wire attracted a lot of attention

The more energetic members of the group took up the challenge

With Pierre giving an impressive display

Whilst the rest of the group looked on and offered encouragement

The weather had been sunny/cloudy all morning

But it had turned more threatening by the time we were ready for the return to Alcalali

The weather forecast was for cloudy morning and possible rain from 1300

Two ducks ran towards us in the rastro, but no one had any bread left

The threatening clouds prompted us to set a faster pace to Alcalali

But it was still dry when we reached the square, and warm enough to sit outside

The rain did arrive, but not until we were safely home

Temperature – 24 to 26c

Time taken –3 hours

Distance – 9 km

3 June 2024 – Lliber to Senija

We met in Lliber for the first of our summer walks

We start at 0900, an hour earlier than our normal walks

We only do the valley walks and avoid the more challenging ones

We also have more water stops, usually every half hour

And we aim to finish at a suitable bar by midday

This is to avoid the hottest part of the day

It was quite hot today, but fortunately we had a cool breeze

We also had tree shade for about half of the walk

It was nice to reach the shaded streets of Senija

And the very pleasant square where we had our picnic break

The village was decorated and looking particularly attractive

Apparently the festival was more than a week ago

But no one had bothered to take the decorations down

They blended in very well with the wall paintings for which the village is well known

Jan distributed the boiled sweets

In preparation for the return journey

Which took us past our favourite wall painting

And also this tiny dog on his colourful, and very crowded, balcony

We used to take our summer break from June to October

This is similar to most of the local walking groups

However we missed the walks

And even more the company

So about five years ago we decided to do summer walks in June and September

They proved very popular, and we have done them each year since

We made good time today and arrived back in Lliber about 1230

We took a slightly different route to the bar in the square

And discovered this lovely house in one of the back streets

The bar was surprisingly quiet

And it was particularly pleasant for those of us who spent an hour there

Sad to say farewell to Rob and Mandy who return to UK next week

Temperature – 23 to 25c

Time taken –3.5 hours

Distance – 9 km