5 October 2017 – Lliber Hidden Valley

We had a good turnout for our first Thursday Explorers walk after the summer break.   There were 16 in all, though all are not shown in this photo

All of our regulars turned up today, or at least all who are currently in the area.   And in addition Jean joined us for the first time

We like to offer an “easier” route for the first walk after the summer break.   We decided on this one because we have not done it for some time

In the past we have often done this walk in four hours, which we felt was a little short and might feel a little too easy for the group 

So we decided to start and finish the walk in Jalon, which would add an extra four kilometres and about an hour

However when we made that decision we assumed that the temperatures would be normal for October, that is to say 20c to 25c

We were a little concerned when we read the weather forecast and found that there would be a spike on Thursday, with expected temperatures of 32c

Last October we had to cancel a couple of walks due to rain, and we were not inclined to cancel this year due to the heat.  Particularly as this was an “easy walk”

It was great to meet up with “the gang” at the Jalon tourist information centre.   And all were just as pleased as we were to be able to get back to our Thursday walks

We had a cool breeze, which balanced the higher temperatures.   And certainly for the first part of the walk no one had any problems

We had our banana stop at ”the zoo”.  We were pleased to find that most of the animals were still there and that all seemed to be well fed and well cared for

We fed our banana skins to the goats, who seemed very pleased to get them.   I tried to get some photographs, but failed to get any good ones.   There was a lot of shade and they all turned out very dark

It was when we reached the start of the Hidden Valley that we realised it was actually pretty hot.   There was not much breeze there to keep us cool

There was also more climbing that I remembered.   Nothing extreme, in fact nothing I would normally call climbing.  But there were steep sections which in this weather were harder than normal.

This resulted in more water stops than usual, and I also had to find a shaded spot for our picnic lunch

 After lunch it was downhill all the way back to Jalon, and much of it was shaded

This walk proved an excellent start to the autumn season and a cold drink at Claudia Bar completed another enjoyable walking experience

Walk Stats

Distance - 15 kilometers

Time - 5 hours and 30 minutes

Total Ascent - 295 Metres