Days 71-75 - Six Pathfinding Problems and a Paella

We had a day off so I decided I would have a bit of an adventure to explore the nature all around us. The idea was to climb up Lizard Mountain and then run along the mountain ridge up to the higher peaks for some spectacular views all the way down to the sea near Altea, and then back along the valley floor alongside the river. I had done a rough plan of the route via Google maps and it was supposed to be 16 miles in total (the “supposed to be” might be a little clue where this is going), so setting off at 9am I told Becki I should be back some time around 3 in the afternoon. By the way Becki doesn't think the mountain looks as much like there's a lizard climbing it as I do, so here's the evidence highlighted with excellent MS Paint skills, judge for yourselves. See also, "Steven Seagal" Loves Eco Fairs...

Problem #1: Despite being the start of a chain of 5 peaks and overlooking some cool waterfalls about halfway up, no-one ever took the time to build a path up this mountain.

So I had to go old school and make my own path. This meant the usual combination of climbing, dodging thorny plants and trying to avoid causing rockslides. There are only two rules you need to guarantee you get to the top when making your own path up a mountain 1.) Keep going up, & 2.) Don’t fall. So after about an hour and a half of diligently following these I made it.

First thing I did on reaching the top was startle an eagle, not deliberately mind you, this isn’t some kind of new game I’ve invented, although if it were, my scorecard for ‘animals started while turning up places they didn’t expect me to be’ be would read; Eagle, Deer, Spider, Snake (any animals a sensible person would keep as a pet e.g. rabbits, dogs etc don’t count). Anyway this is the view from the top, you can just about see the finca where we’re staying, and the nearby village of Bolulla. At was at this point as I looked along the ridge and it became apparent; there wouldn’t be much running.

Problem #2: It turns out mountain ridges area  a lot longer, steeper, narrower and windier up close than they look from far away……who knew!

In fact even walking along the top was ruled out in favour of climbing for large parts. After reaching the second peak I spotted the ruins of a fort so went down to investigate..

Now there was only the big peak left to climb, and after another 45minutes I could look down over the entire chain.

Problem #3: No route down the other side towards the sea, the smooth mountain slope was interrupted by small but still big enough not to want to fall down cliff faces at regular intervals.

So I had to find another path down to the sea. Which I did, but…..

Problem #4: Like most paths in Spain, they have long forgotten the lessons the Romans taught us, and spend  large portions of the time winding in the opposite direction to the way you want to go.

But on the plus side, now on a less steep slope and an actual path we could finally do some running. Finally at about half 4 in the afternoon I arrived at the beach, ok it’s a little later than planned but it’s a nice flat 5 miles along a well marked path down by the river all the way home, I’d be there in less than an hour.

Problem #5: Even where there is a path marked for public use, people still sometimes build gates, build fences, dig away the path, or leave angry Alsatians rendering the said path un-negotiable.

So after 4 failed attempts to find routes along by the river, and 4 times of having to track back along the way I’d just came I decided the best option was just to follow the road that ran nearby the river, which surely would go to the next village along.

Problem #6: See problem #4

Now the road did eventually go to the village I wanted but only after it went to another one further away and up a hill first. But finally the end was now in sight, it was just a race against time before it got dark. There I was only 200m from home, when Thorsten’s car appeared down the road, apparently the combination of being gone for over 10 hours, making up your own route, and it starting to get dark makes people start to worry.

Final adventure stats:

Distance covered: 24.5 miles

Mountain peaks climbed: 4

Total Height Ascended: 6405 ft

Time Taken: 10 hours 15 minutes

Girlfriends to apologise to for making them think they needed to call mountain rescue: 1

And finally lessons learnt:

Drawing straight lines on top of a Google map does not constitute ‘planning’ an actual route.

On to a new day and we were back to work in the morning at the finca. That evening we had a giant paella. The whole thing isn’t for us, I know I can eat but that would be pushing it even for me!

Apparently the traditional Spanish accompaniment for Paella is lots of wine, and it would be rude of us not to join in with the local customs. This was especially funny when Becki decided it would be a good idea to have a drunken video chat with her mum and sister, I’m sure they won’t let her forget that in a hurry!

However as should have been expected this resulted in waking up the next day not feeling so good, which meant we had to make a trip down to Altea for the slightly less authentic Spanish ‘Full English Breakfast’ as a hangover cure.

Thorsten and Svenja’s friends arrived during the week, and on Sunday all of us went down to the nearby harbour to check out the big yachts. Altea harbour is a favourite haunt for owners of big yachts because its built right on the meridian line, so as they pull in to moor they get to see their navigation panel read 0:00:00 which I guess is kind of like when you were a kid and you used to wait for your digital watch to read 11:11:11 except it costs you about £10million more to see.  Also it means you can stand on your boat and jump backwards and forwards from one hemisphere to the other.  I don’t have any actual evidence that anyone who owns an 80ft yacht does this, but surely you’d have to.  After a wander round the marina we finished the week off by heading back into town for Pizza.

 

And finally, while we were having dinner we spotted what looked like a large green spider scuttling across the dining room floor. On closer inspection it turned out to be this cheery little fellow. In case the scale isn’t clear he’s about 6-7cm long and makes the loudest clicking sound you’ve ever heard an insect make!