For those who don’t know about us a few words of
introduction:
We are an informal walking group,
no committees, very few rules and those only for safety and we are open to
anyone who is able to walk without endangering others or spoiling the enjoyment
of others. For safety reasons we prefer English speakers, but we are a multinational
group with British, of all sorts, Dutch, German, Belgian and Spanish members.
There are no fees, no obligations about the number of walks that you
participate in and no obligation to join the occasional social activity if you
don’t want to.
As we live inland and in the case
of Hondón de los Frailes, for example, at heights between 400 and 500m (1,300
to 1,640ft) we are inevitably a hill walking group, so if you don’t like or
can’t climb and descend hills we are probably not for you. However, if hill
walking is for you then please feel free to come along and give us a try. At
present we do two or three walks a month and for simplicity we have three
grades of walk. Our standard walk is graded as Moderate and tends to be
8 to 12Km with a height gain up to 500m and might include some rough ground and
short scrambles. Either side of this we have an Easier grade, which might
be shorter, will certainly have a smaller height gain, and might have less
demanding terrain underfoot. Our More Demanding walks might be
longer, have more height gain, be on rougher terrain or any combination
thereof. We aim to have one easier and one moderate walk per month and in some
months we will have a more demanding walk. So, there is an easy entry option if
you are new to walking and a route up through the grades as you gain experience
and fitness.
Some walk leaders arrange their
walks to allow a menu del dia
afterwards, but these are entirely optional. Some people go to the pub for a
drink after, whilst others just go home. It is entirely up to the individual
walker. So, if you are reading this and hesitating about giving it a try, why
not come along to one of the walks this month and give it a go? J
The first walk will be on Thursday, 23rd
October at 10.00, and it will be very easy,more a social amble of just under 9Km on predominately good tracks with
a little road work and it is almost level, apart from a couple of ups and downs
in and out of a dry river bed. Unlike most of our walks, there will be a coffee
and comfort stop, just after the half-way point, so this, is, an ideal walk for
those, who would like to, try us out and, for our regular walkers who may need
a more gentle walk to, get their legs back into gear after the summer recess.
The second walk will be on Friday, 31st October
at 10.00, and it will still be quite easy, but, nonetheless, rather more
demanding to help get us all back to walking fitness. This will be almost
entirely on unmade roads and tracks. There will be more ups and downs, but no
significant overall height gain. The distance is about the same as the first
walk, but it is a bit more strenuous, which should help to get us all into
some sort of hill walking fitness for the rest of the season.
Normally
you just turn up, but for new people we like to have contact details so
if you fancy one or both of the walks please e-mail me: philipthewalker@fastmail.es
with your preferred e-mail address and contact telephone number and I
will then send you details of the walks. If you would like to know more
about us and what we got up to last year have a look at our blog:
Regards,
Philip
Philip Woolford
HV Walking Group Founder
Group Blog: http://hondonwalkinggroup.wordpress.com/