Hiking Around The Lake Guadalest

How much time has passed since my last #WednesdayWalk? I scrolled down a bit on my blog and found out that it was two months ago.
I was already missing the writing on a topic other than music. Maybe some mushroom or succulent related topic found its place to reach out, however, the truth is that not many great and long walks happened either. I’ve been spending a lot more time behind the screen lately, and I’m mostly based only on music themes and posts. Also, the end of the school year is approaching, so the activities around the lessons have intensified a lot. On top of all that, I have to study for a concert that will take place in two weeks and go to rehearsals.

We needed to get out. Not just somewhere to walk around our town, but to go out all day. Somewhere we love to spend the day in the fresh air. So on Saturday evening we decided and promised ourselves to go to the mountains the next day, a place we usually go to disconnect from the stress and work.

The place is about half an hour's drive away and the biggest gem that adorns it is the artificial lake. My husband and son brought fishing rods, and I decided to do a tour around the lake.

Three villages surround this lake. More precisely, the lake is in the valley, and the villages are on the hills and mountains. Beniarda, Benimantell and Guadalest. Actually, one of those, Guadalest already came to this community a few months ago.

I made the yellow marked route, which is 9 km long. As we can see from this board, it is strictly forbidden to light a fire, because forest fires are very frequent and spread quickly. Vegetation is dry and conifers burn fast. Also, there is always wind to help spread the fire, and extinguishing is difficult due to the terrain. Only helicopters and hydroplanes can approach.

On these roads, you can walk or ride a bike, and if you are lucky you can even see some wild animals, such as a fox or a wild boar. My husband once went fishing alone and stayed up all night and he met some foxes. Nice encounter, but I prefer to meet cats on my walks. Or dogs, like that one that came to us. He was tame, but we didn't see who would be the owner. Later he went away, I hope it found his family.

So I left my boys and the guest dog, they were fishing and I went for my walk. The terrain is like this, small paths between the pine trees. Sometimes the path goes up, or down and if you don't have a bottle of water and it is summer, well, then you are in a trouble :) I did have water with me this time, but as it was sunny and I didn't apply sunscreen, I got sunburnt.

As I walked through the woods there was shade, that was good. But sometimes the road goes along the shore of the lake and there was more sun there. An additional factor was the time of my walk, it was noon, just when the sun was strongest. But for this view, everything pays off, the sun and the wind were no longer important to me. My favourite colours, blue and turquoise. Sorry for the mention @kohsamui99 , but a few days ago you asked about where my walks are... Here comes one, enjoy :)

The view of my loved colour was enjoyable, but I did not look just for that big picture. I saw some small details too while I was listening to the sound of birds and breathing the fresh air. A lot of small flowers, by the side of the path. I saw those purple flowers that have crumpled petals, Cistus x purpureus, or at least a similar plant. I am not sure if it is the same or not. In one of the flowers, where was a hungry guest :)

A grasshopper tried to escape from my view:

When I crossed the dam and walked to the other side of the lake, the path was no longer narrow and just pedestrian. There was an asphalt road. This is because it connects nearby villages with orchards and gardens, where people have olives and almonds. Due to landslides, the wall of the hill was concreted in some parts of the road. Some artists used it as a canvas for their graffiti, which you can see in the following photos.

Hope you enjoyed this #WednesdayWalk, an event hosted by @tattoodjay . Greetings.