Memories

What an achievement, the 100th gate was installed on Friday 25th July '09. The 100th gate day was good fun but the weather was not kind. The RWP and Sue ( Rights of Way Officer) who walked with us on her day off, walked to the gate and Paul Hendry ( Chief Officer - Country and Environment), Sallie ( Rights of Way Officer), Gary ( Ranger ) arrived at the same time.. When we left to walk back to the pub it poured and thundered. The gate group had a hard time because there was concrete which had to be broken up. So despite some early prep. by Colin and having three 'boys' they had to work on in the rain to finish. The pub celebration went well. A sort of informal chaos with food being served up during the presentations. The cake was cut and a good time had by all. (of course we are now well in excess of 100 gates installed)

As you will have read on the "Work Party" page, Colin's team of gate installers have been hard at work but as we see here, installing the "Nelson" gate on the 200th anniversary of Admiral Nelson's death wasn't all strenuous activity. But hey I guess they deserve a break!

I think someone forgot the hip flask when the 50th gate was installed in December 2006. Serious stuff this gate building. And just in case you are thinking, this gate building looks fun, how about building mud pies instead.

Wednesday 21^st April - Spain 2010 our "final flourish" and by jove it started off with a trauma which hopefully will never be repeated. A final "go ahead” was given by the airline at 01.00 hrs with our Mini Coach on standby for either go ahead or reschedule - it was on time at 02.45 !!!!! The hotel was on standby awaiting an email saying we were departing - a lot goes on here at "all hours" ! In between time our Malaga transfer coach had to be used for taking a group of stranded passengers to Paris. However, our host, Andy Chappell, had a contingency, a 4x4, a local bakers van, two motor cycles and a couple of tandems ! we were very pleasantly surprised to find a full size luxury coach awaiting us at Malaga ! We arrived at Molino del Santo full of the joys of spring and in good holiday spirit to a wonderful greeting of tea and home made cakes served outside on the hotel’s verandah prior to our introductory tour of the village.

Thursday - Walk No 1 - From historical Ronda (reputed to be Hemmingway’s favourite Spanish town) in its dramatic setting to one of the Sierra de Grazalema’s prettiest white villages Montejaque. There’s always something satisfying about a point-to-point walk, even more so when the views along the walk were superlative, birdlife rich and diverse and wild flowers in abundance.

Friday, We repeated our 2005 “Walk of Mr Henderson’s Railway” – re-titled by the English host of a local hostelry to the ‘Walk of David Cameron’ ! An easy walk which followed along a delightful riverside path linking the sleepy village of Benaojan with the sleepier still village of Jimera de Libar, a tapas lunch enjoyed by all before returning to our hotel, some on foot, and others by the local train.

Our FREE DAY optional walk ‘The Walk of the Hidden Valley’ without doubt one of the Sierra’s most special walks into the heart of the Grazalema Park. The long walkers striding out from the hotel with the short walkers being taxied to the top of the pass El Puerto del Boyar.

“THE WALK OF THE GOATHERD'S LEAP” was the choice for Day 4: An outstanding walk with magnificent scenery connecting two of the prettiest white villages of Andalucia (Grazalema and Benaocaz) taking in the famous “Salto del Cabrero” (Goatherd’s Leap ) which in fact is a great cleft in the limestone rocks of a ridge . We witnessed masses of Griffin Vultures perched on the rocks, circling above us and overseeing a very large herd of goats with their new born in one of the goat farms en route. The wild flowers were unbelievable from Paeonies to Blue Iris to Bee Orchids etc……

THE 'WALK OF THE BAND0LEROS' another of the great walks in the national park albeit a very enduring one! We started off along an old drovers path before picking our way through rocky terrains and snaking our way around the flank of the Sierra de Benaojan with great views back to Ronda, climbing ups and downs to the most beautiful Libar valley. It was very easy to see how 19^th century bandoleros and later persecuted Republicans were able to give the authorities the slip in this wild and rugged terrain. A long but fantastic walk with spectacular scenery and magical flora landscapes.

Our final walk, for which we had to obtain a special permit, was the LA Garganta Verde Walk (the green gorge) – A 400 metre deep limestone gorge with Europe's largest Griffon Vulture colony at the top and at the bottom ‘La Ermita’ a pink cave which was compared to a “landscape from another planet”. Some descended to the bottom whilst others climbed to a very high viewpoint to witness the impressive birds returning to and from their nests. Not only did we see vultures which have an 8 ft wingspan but many choughs and Eagles. A truly memorable day and a grand finale to our holiday.

Mention must be made to the hospitality extended from our host Andy Chappel and his wife Pauline of the Hotel Molino del Santo, Eva, Paco, Victor and all the staff, the attention, the wonderful dinners and two special evenings. One being our St George’s Day Celebration on the 23rd complete with national flags, a delicious cake, beautifully iced in white with the red cross depicted in strawberries and several of us being dressed in red/white. Colin commenced the readings with “I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips, Straining upon the start. The game's afoot: Follow your spirit, and upon this charge Cry 'God for Harry, England, and St George! ' followed by a rendering from our two chums from ‘north of the border’ who raised the roof with a Flanders & Swan “English are Best” and many more readings all adding up to a splendid evening. Finally, our last night was celebrated with the “Parade of the Paella” which was thoroughly enjoyed by all.

Our special thanks to all, past and present Spanish walkers, we have enjoyed making our contributions, coming up with the ideas, planning, writing the scripts and most importantly a thank you to you all for playing your parts with enthusiasm and the great camaraderie amongst all. Pat & Colin

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