It is difficult to know how to start this month’s contribution as I am writing with very mixed feelings.
Firstly and positively, there are four walks to talk about and I am relying on our intrepid band of walkers to give you a taste of the walks as I was unable to do any as I was in either Mexico or the UK.
Secondly and sadly, we had already taken the decision to cancel the walk on 14th March and a day later decided to cancel all of March’s walks once we saw the advice from the Murcian government. Let’s not dwell on it, but enjoy both the descriptions and photos of the four walks.
On 15th February Rick led a walk at the Santuario del la Esperanza, Calasparra. This was a great walk with lots of helpful local information completed in glorious sunshine, followed by a lovely meal at the restaurant.
On 22nd February there was a coastal walk and as the pictures show, the Murcia coastline was stunning. This 13.5km walk was led by Yvonne and Paul around San Pedro del Pinatar with flamingos, salt lagoons, windmills, mud baths, exotic birdlife, a marina and both the Mediterranean and Mar Menor seas.
29th February and the WARM walk took in Moratalla’s Mirador, Castillo and Old Town with the wonderful floral displays before heading up the Ruta del Agua. One of our members Juan had persuaded the town to open the castle early to allow us to set off on our trek. This 9km walk was led by Sheila and Doug.
The only March walk was on 7th and a total of seventeen walkers enjoyed and easily completed the 6km Three Rivers Walk; a beautiful walk ending with a picnic lunch at the Iberian settlement and led by Judy and Tony. It had a bit of everything with geology, archaeology, plants, animals and the local heritage and culture around Moratalla.
As we move into an enforced rest, it will give us all an opportunity to reflect on our WARM experiences. We have an enthusiastic and growing group of nearly 200 people of whom about half have done at least one walk this year. We are slowly encouraging and developing more walk leaders, most of whom have been helped along by existing leaders. We have walkers of mixed abilities and next season we may be able to offer more graded walks. A huge thank you goes out to all of our leaders.
I will end positively and say, subject to advice about COVID-19, our next walks are:-
- April 4th Castellar
- April 18th Cegehin
- May 2nd To be advised
- May 7th To be advised
We send details of the next walk to our WARM mailing list, normally about a fortnight ahead. If you are interested in joining us on a walk and want to be on our mailing list, please contact Norma on Warm2005@gmail.com. Please indicate your nearest town. The majority of the outings will be in Northwest Murcia (approximately 1½ hours’ drive from the coast).