Walkies

I finally got back together with the Thursday walking group led by Helen. I haven't done any serious walking since Mallorca in September, and she proposed a relatively easy 2-hour walk with a bit of up and down. Sounded good.

About sixteen of us set off from Velez de Benaudalla, where Helen lives. I haven't been there since we scattered her husband Rob's ashes almost a year ago. We actually passed the spot, but then went up and up, higher and higher, under the motorway, then up some more ... phew. There was then a bit of dodgy scrambling over rocks in a gully in order to get onto the return path on the other side. I freely admit I was one of the laggards at the back, but I was with T and G, whom we'd met at the intercambio last year, so we had a pleasant time chatting. It was nice weather too -- the clouds cleared, and it was sunny, a light breeze, not too hot.

After 2 1/4  hours, we arrived at a spot where Helen said we could return directly to the village down a concrete track -- "takes about ten minutes" -- while she would go on with anyone who wanted to via a longer path for about half an hour.  Needless to say all the laggards signed up for the short cut ... it took us half an hour. We fully expected the others to be at the bar before us, but no, they strode up fully 20 minutes after us. Stats: 8.5 km, probably 300 m of ascent and descent (I didn't measure it), a disgraceful 2.75 hours. See extra for another view.

Anyway, beer and tapas of ham, cheese and tomato rolls all round were most welcome. It was very pleasant sitting outside in the sunshine. When I got home, much later than expected, S had made a salad lunch and we had it on the terrace, only the second time we've eaten outdoors since we've been here. Let's hope the weather is on the turn and spring really is on the way.