10 Jun 2009 - Fire in Parcent

When we first saw the smoke we thought it was someone burning garden rubbish, which they do all the time. However it was very windy, and we could soon see flames. It was quite close to our house, about 5 minute walk.

Within 10 minutes we heard the police helicopter, which flew over the hill and away. Another 10 minutes and the plane made its first pass and dropped water on the fire. It was closely followed by the helicopter, which collects the water from Alcalali. For the next half hour they made repeated passes and dropped water until the fire was extinguished.

In the meantime the local fire brigade had arrived, and they spent a couple of hours hosing the hill, which continued to smoke for another hour or so. This morning you can see the black burnt patch quite easily, and see just how close it came to a nearby house.

10 Jun 2009 - David and Rosemary in Moraira

David and Rosemary invited us to lunch at their house in Moraira. We have visited Moraira a few times, but they know it much better than we do. It was interesting to visit the new civic centre, and in particular the library, which has a shelf of books in English. Wish we had that in Parcent. Then we had a walk to El Portet, where we had a coffee and watched the children playing on the beach - reminded us of Jack. Then we walked along the beach and back to the house. Very pleasant day.

8 Jun 2009 - Monday Club Javea

Although the CBMW have stopped walking for the summer, the Monday Club keeps going. However we did a coastal and beach walk hoping it would be cooler - and it was. We started from the car park near Scallops in Javea and walked along the beach to a small cove. Then uphill and along to another beach, where the braver souls, Pat, Peter, David and Rosemary, had a swim. Jan and I, together with Ken, watched on. It was actually quite cool at this time, and they did not stay in the water too long.

Then it was along to another beach, this time for lunch. It was very quiet, apart from the noise of building nearby. We then walked around the rocks, another climb and back to Javea and a cool shandy on the sea front.

3 Jun 2009 - CBMW Parcent Walk

This was the last CMBW walk of the season. It would be too hot to walk until the end of September, when the new season starts. It is a tradition for the last walk of the season to be a hsort one, and then have a menu del dia at a nearby restraurant. This year it was decided to hold it at Parcent and have the meal at the cooperativea

We would rather not do the last walk, because there are always a lot of walkers, many of whom are really only there for the meal. And we are not very keen on a large meal at lunchtime. But David and Rosemary were walking, and it is our local walk, so we decided to go.

There were more than 80 walkers, and poor sleepy Parcent must have wondered what was happening. It was a new walk to us, and quite enjoyable despite the huge crowd. But the meal was a disappointment. The cooperativea was just not up to serving 80 people all at once and the service was pretty slow. It usually only has the Parcent people to cater for and did not appear to have increased their normal staff to cater for the bigger numbers. We were also quite surprised that the cost of the meal was considerably more than their normal menu del dia.

1 Jun 2007 - Monday Club Montgo

Now that the summer has arrived we shall soon have to stop our Monday walks as it will be too hot. However we will keep it going as long as possible, and keep the walks shorter, like this one to the Montgo Iberian setlements. This is an easy walk starting through the woods, then along the lower side of Montgo and out to the end of the ridge, where there are the remains of an old settlement. Lovely spot for our picnic lunch, providing it is not too hot. Today was ideal, with a nice cool breeze. We also had a rare butterfly who put on a show for us.