14 January 2016 – Lliber Hidden Valley

Our first walk of 2016 was the circular walk from Lliber through the hidden valley, and with a detour to visit the “zoo”. 

Jan did not join the walk, she has injured her knee and foot whilst in the UK.   This resulted in visits to a podiatrist in Calpe, which also prevented me from joining our Monday group for their first two walks of the year.

It seemed strange to be walking without Jan, but it was good to get out for a proper walk after such a long break.   The weather was a little overcast, but that did not damped my enjoyment of the walk.

This is a particularly short walk, even with a detour to visit to the unfinished zoo.   This is a large sprawling area with a strange assortment of animals.  Apart from a little renovation it has changed little in the nine years since we first found it.   Often it is deserted, apart from the animals.   Today we could hear voices, but did not actually see anyone.  A lot of effort and expense has been spent on this project, but it seems as far from completion as it was nine years ago.

It is a month since our last walk.  That is a long break, but most of the group had commitments over the Christmas and New Year.   We could have walked last week, but we wanted to attend the U3A meeting, which is also on a Thursday.

It’s been a particularly mild winter, which makes it difficult to decide what to wear for each walk.  It tends to be quite cold at the start of the walk, but we soon warm up and remove layers of clothing.

We have always liked this walk, particularly because of the “hidden valley” section.   The route follows a path through a wooded valley, with views of the towering hills.   It always reminds me of walking in England, and particularly in the Mendips.

The sunny afternoon promised by the weather forecast did not appear, which was not a problem whilst walking.  But it did result in a shorter than usual lunch break, and a short cut back to the bar in Lliber.  Despite this everyone enjoyed the opportunity to get  out in the fresh air.

Thursday 21 January 2016

Our next walk will be from Tormos to Campbell, via Isbert’s Dam.   It will include a short section through the rail tunnel, so a torch would be useful.