27 February 2023 – Jalon to Parcent

 Only ten of us walking from Jalon to Parcent today

It should have been twenty on the Pinos Fossil walk

But a weather forecast of -2c and a snow warning prompted me to cancel

As often happens, quite a few did not want to do the alternative walk

The actual weather was much better than forecast with 2c and sunny skies

It was still very cold, as you can see from this photo of the banana break

Everyone came well prepared so the cold did not bother us much

And it was quite pleasant when the wind dropped and the sun shone

We also made good time because we walked quicker than normal

Just one of the many dogs who “barked us on our way”

We were lucky to have a sunny period for our picnic lunch

No one was in any hurry to resume walking

Richard spotted this snake that had caught a gecko

When we gathered around the snake panicked and let go of the gecko

Despite the sun and the pace not many layers of clothing were removed

Jan did remove her coat when we had a final water stop at Alcalali Ermita

However everyone remained well wrapped up

There was some discussion about where to have our after walk drink

And whether it should be indoors or outside

We settled for outdoors at Riu Rau

Jan settled for a large glass of red wine

Temperature – 2-6c

Time taken – 5 hours

Distance – 14 km

23 February 2023 – Parcent to Alcalali via Pipeline

 Just 8 of us on today’s walk

It should have been 10, but two could not find the car park in Parcent

It was Rhona’s first walk with the group

Fortunately she could find the car park

We waited ten minutes, so we started a little late

It was quite cold and cloudy when we started the walk

This was another recce walk

We know the area well, but wanted to record this new route

The water was high, but fortunately the temporary bridge was in place

The path is getting very overgrown, adding a bit of interest to the walk

It was a little later than planned when we reached Alcalali mirador

So I will have to adjust the route slightly next time

Improvements at the Alcalali mirador include some new trees

Recently they added a wooden stand decorated with photos of the area

They also repaved the whole area

On the way back to Parcent we encountered a dog playing in the river

He was very friendly and we made a great fuss of him

It’s a shame Bianca was not walking, she would have loved him

We didn't have time to take a break at the Ermita

But we did find time to feed "Mr Piggy"

Temperature – 6-10c

Time taken – 3 hours

Distance – 9 km

20 February 2023 – Javea Port to Denia Tower

 

20 of us for today’s walk

That included Jan on her first long walk since her accident in April 2022

It also included Annie who has not walked for about a year

We last did this walk in November 2019

This was partly due to covid and partly because Javea is a long drive

Consequently it was the first time that most of the group have done this walk

I think that they were impressed, particularly with our banana stop at the picnic site

They were also interested in the abandoned police post

I was impressed that everyone found the parking area at Javea port

And all of them arrived early

I was quite surprised how different the whole area looked

When we were last here there was no undergrowth

This was due to the extensive fire damage

However today it looks more like it used to before the fire

We were almost an hour late for our picnic lunch at the tower

This was partly because Jan had not done such a hard walk in a long time

Also because we had longer than usual stops to enjoy the scenery and the warm weather

But we made better time on the return journey

Walking downhill through the urbanisation also cut down the return journey

And we arrived at the car park just 20 minutes late

Our usual bar was closed, but we found a very suitable alternative

A little more expensive, but well worth it

Temperature – 7-17c

Time taken – 6.5 hours

Distance – 15 km

  Total Ascent – 294 metres