Saturday, 17 September 2016

17 September 2016 – Parcent to Jalon


Apart from our early morning walks, we have not done any walking since we returned from the UK in June.   It has just been too hot
For the past few days the temperature has fallen slightly, so we decided to walk to Jalon today.   This is our usual end of summer/start of autumn walk.
In fact it was hotter than we expected particularly where there was no shade.   It was 30c on the naya when we got home, but probably closer to 27c when we were walking.
The grapes looked like they were ready for picking, looking very tasty and tempting.  However we resisted.   We have picked the occasional orange, but would not dream of picking the grapes.
The walk is quite exposed the early part of the walk was quite hard going.   I suspect this was a mixture of the high temperatures and the fact that we had not done any long walks for so long.
Even this horse we passed was taking advantage of his shelter from the sun
The Saturday Rastro Market was as busy as ever and the crowds obviously not put off by the heat.  There were also a couple of coach groups making the pavements even busier than usual.
This is not an usual sight in Jalon at this time of year, the building in the background is the largest Bodega.   A German couple asked the driver if he would sell them a bunch of grapes.   He must have been in a good mood, because he gave them a large bunch for free. 
Despite the large crowds around the rastro, the square was pretty quiet.   We did not have our usual “boccie” because it was too hot.   We settled for a couple of toastada which were very tasty.   Most of all we just wanted to get out of the sun and have a rest.
We expected the walk back to Parcent to be even hotter and more uncomfortable.  But in fact it seemed a little easier than the morning walk to Jalon
Even the horse has abandoned his shelter and was walking around in the sun
However we were still glad to reach the church where we would have a short water sto
We always stop here on the return journey and the deep shade is very welcome.   In the winter we use the picnic tables, but not at this time of year
We were surprised to find that the walk from Parcent to the start of the rastro market  took us just 50 minutes, which is the same as our early morning Parcent circuit walk.   We were also surprised to find that we did the return journey in the same time, even though there is more uphill walking than in the morning.

As always we were glad that we had parked the car at the “chicken shacks”.   We are sometimes tempted to start the walk from the house, but we are always glad at the end that we did not do so.   The whole walk is about 10 kilometres and we were pleased to have completed it in three and a half hours, including quite a long lunch break.

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