26 November 2015 – Benimeli Aerials

Ten of us today, our best turnout yet.  There were four new faces for this walk.   Dave and Sue, Helen and Anneke.    Once again the weather was kind, sunny but with a strong cool wind.

There is a steep climb as soon as we leave the village, and the wind is quite strong.  So we kept up a good pace to keep warm.    However we do stop two or three times to admire the view.

In less than an hour we reach our first stop, by an abandoned finca.   We manage to find a windbreak from the strong winds and settle down for a well deserved break.

Then it’s off again towards the aerials.   The first half of the climb was on a narrow path, this second part clambering over the rocks.   It’s well signposted, indeed too well.   There are at least three or four signed routes, plus an odd collection of cairns.   

Once more we have a couple of stops to recover, admire the view and take a few photos

Once we reach the aerials the climbing is over for the day.  It is then an easy walk out to our picnic spot  

The views from here are amongst the best of all our walks, and it only takes about two hours to reach it

there were plenty of suitable wind breaks and flat rocks to enjoy our picnic. 

We had a slightly longer than usual lunch break, but were on our way back down well before 1pm

The descent is on very good paths, and we were in no hurry.  So we arrived at the last water stop with plenty of time to spare

This was a particularly relaxed walk, and no one was in any hurry to make a start on the final leg

This last part is down a difficult, narrow track with its fair share of loose rocks.  So once more it was necessary to take some care

The best part of this walk is the bar in the village square.  The walk had only taken 4 ½ hours, so we had a little longer than usual at the bar.   No complaints on that  score!

Thursday 3 December 2015

Next week will be The Green Horse from Benimaurell.   This is a similar walk to today.  A slightly longer, but less steep, climb from the village.   Followed by a longer walk along the ridge with plenty of opportunities to stop and admire the views.